Number in Arabic

How we will approach this Topic

Consider the following grouping of numbers and try to become accustomed to this categorization. Notice that there is a lot of division based on putting 1 & 2 into one category, and 3 to 9 in another.

Group	Numbers
A	1, 2
B	3..10
C	11, 12
D	13..19
E	20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90
F	21, 22, 31, 32, 41, 42, 51, 52, 61, 62, 71, 72, 81, 82, 91, 92
G	23..29, 33..39, 43..49, 53..59, 63..69, 73..79, 83..89, 93..99
H	100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900
I	1000 onwards

For each of these groups, we want to consider the following:

· How do you construct the number – ordinal and cardinal?

· What is the grammatical gender of the number?

· What is the grammatical case of the number?

· What is the grammatical case of the counted word (by counted word we mean, for example, ‘men’ in the phrase ’22 men’)?

· Is the counted word going to be singular or plural?

Constructing the Numbers

Below are tables describing how we construct the different numbers mentioned. Both cardinals (one, two, three) are included, as well as ordinals (first, second, third).

Note that we can make any of the ones place numbers (as well as the word عشر) feminine simply by adding the تاء of femininity (suffix ة). The only exception is that احد has feminine form اِحْدى. Therefore, only the masculine forms have been shown.

The charts below are quite dense. To ease the learning process, familiarize yourself with this chart below which aims to introduce the core vocabulary of numbers. Most other numbers are simply manipulations of these words.

10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3
عَشَر	تِسْع	ثَمانِي	سَبْع	سِتّ	خَمْس	اَرْبـَع	ثَلاث

	2	1	A
	Use dual	Use singular	Cardinal
	ثاني	واحِد	Ordinal

10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	B
عَشَْر	تِسْع	ثَماني	سَبْع	سِتّ	خَمْس	أَرْبَع	ثَلاث	Cardinal
عاشِر	تاسِع	ثامِن	سابِع	سادِس	خامِس	رابِع	ثالِث	Ordinal

19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	C, D
تِسْعَ عَشَرَ	ثَمانِي عَشَرَ	سَبْعَ عَشَرَ	سِتَّ عَشَرَ	خَمْسَ عَشَرَ	أَرْبَعَ عَشَرَ	ثَلاثَ عَشَرَ	اِثْنا عَشَرَ	اَحَدَ عَشَرَ	Cardinal
تاسِع عَشَرَ	ثامِن عَشَرَ	سابِع عَشَرَ	سادِس عَشَرَ	خامِس عَشَرَ	رابِع عَشَرَ	ثالِث عَشَرَ	ثاني عَشَرَ	حادي عَشَرَ	Ordinal

90	80	70	60	50	40	30	20	E
تِسْعونَ	ثَمانونَ	سَبْعونَ	سِتّونَ	خَمْسونَ	أَرْبَعونَ	ثَلاثونَ	عِشْرونَ	Cardinal
								Ordinal

...	23	22	21	F, G
...	ثلاث وعِشْرونَ	إثنْان وعِشْرونَ	واحِد وعِشْرونَ	Cardinal
...	ثالِث وعِشْرونَ	ثاني وعِشْرونَ	حادي وعِشْرونَ	Ordinal

900	800	700	600	500	400	300	200	100	H
تِسْعمِائة	ثَمانيمِائة	سَبْعمِائة	سِتّمِائة	خَمْسمِائة	اَرْبَعمِائة	ثَلاثمـِائة	مِائَتانِ	مِائة	Cardinal
تاسِع مِائة	ثامِن مِائة	سابِع مِائة	سادِس مِائة	خامِس مِائة	رابِع مِائة	ثالِث مِائة			Ordinal

100,000	...	3,000	2,000	1,000	I
مِائة آلاف	...	ثَلاث آلاف	اَلْفانِ	اَلْف	Cardinal
	...	ثالِث آلاف			Ordinal

Examples

a floor	طابق	1st floor	الطابق الواحد
2 floors	طابقان	2nd floor	الطابق الثاني
5 tests	خمسة امتحانات	5th test	الامتحان الخامس
11 pictures	احدى عشرة صورة	11th picture	الصورة الحادية عشرة
18 arrows	ثمانية عشر سهما	18th arrow	السهم الثامن عشر
60 buckets	ستّون دلوا	60th bucket	الدلو الستون
31 cities	واحدة وثلاثون مدينة	31st city	المدينة الحادية والثلاثون
29 regions	تسع وعشرون منطقة	29th region	المنطقة التاسعة والعشرون
300 soldiers	ثلاثمائة عسكريّ	300th soldier	العسكري الثالث مائة
413 thieves	اربعمائة وثلاثة عشر لصا	413th thief	اللص الرابع مائة والثالث عشر
year 1985	سنة الف وتسعمائة وخمس وثمانين	1,985th year	السنة الالف والتاسعة مائة والخامسة والثمانون

Grammatical Gender of the Numbers

The table below explains what the gender of a cardinal number will be given the word being counted. The ordinals have not been included because, in most cases, they act as adjectives for the counted word. So they will match in gender. For example, الرجل الثالث and المرأة الثالثة.

To facilitate the understanding of these rules, let’s consider a rule of thumb: Consider the gender of the singular form of the word being counted. When the ones place is 1 or 2, the ones place will match that singular in gender. And when the ones place is a number between 3 and 9, it will mismatch.

Group	Numbers	Gender of Cardinals	Example
A	1, 2	There is no number, the counted word is used either as singular or dual as needed	رئيس، رئيسان مرأة، مرأتان
B	3..10	Ones place: gender opposite of the counted word	(sing. امتحان) ثلاثة امتحانات (sing. مباراة)ثلاث مباريات
C	11, 12	Ones place: gender same as the counted word Tens place: gender same as the counted word	احد عشر بلدا إحدى عشرة ولاية
D	13..19	Ones place: gender opposite of the counted word Tens place: gender same as the counted word	أربعة عشر سبيلا أربع عشرة معجزة
E	20, 30, 40, 50, ...	Tens place: always masculine	خمسون صحيفا خمسون ورقة
F	21, 22, 31, 32, ...	Ones place: gender same as the counted word Tens place: always masculine	اثنان وستون مرابطا اثنتان وستون زوجة
G	23..29, 33..39, ...	Ones place: gender opposite of the counted word Tens place: always masculine	سبعة وسبعون ركنا سبع وسبعون صدقة
H	100, 200, 300, ...	Hundreds place: always masculine since the word مائة is feminine The word مائة is always feminine	ثمانيمائة وخمسة وعشرون بيتا ثمانيمائة وخمس وعشرون دار
I	1000, 2000, ...	Thousands place: always feminine since the word الف is masculine The word الف is always masculine	تسعة آلاف جلاّد تسعة آلاف هرة

Exercise: translate the following phrases into Arabic. The translations of the counted words have been provided. Where you see two words, you must use the underlined plural; the singular is there to help you figure out the gender.

a. a dog (كلب، كلاب)

b. 7 kittens (هريرة، هريرات)

c. 10 masc. students (طالب، طلاب)

d. 11 mice (فأرة)

e. 12 masc. classmates (زميل)

f. 14 windows (شباك)

g. 18 caravans (قافلة)

h. 32 dates (تمرة)

i. 51 journalists (صحافيون)

j. 96 frogs (ضفدع)

k. 99 nicknames (كنية)

l. 307 stars (نجم، نجوم)

m. 411 telephones (هاتف)

n. 789 beds (سريرة)

o. 1,718 apples (تفّاح)

p. 36,036 peaches (درّاق)

Grammatical Case of the Numbers & the Counted Words

The table below summarizes what grammatical case both the number and the counted word take.

Group	Numbers	Case of Number	Case of Word	Example
A	1, 2	There is no number	Determined by its position in the sentence	رأيت رجليـن
B	3..10	Determined by its position in the sentence	The number and word form اضافة, so it will be genitive	لعب في ثلاثةِ ميادينَ
C	11, 12	Both parts are indeclinable; final letters take the فتحة vowel in all cases	The number and word form تميز, so it will be accusative	ثلاثَ عشرةَ عيناً
D	13..19
E	20, 30, 40, 50, ...	Determined by its position in the sentence		خذ ثلاثاً وأربعيـن داراً
F	21, 22, 31, 32, ...
G	23..29, 33..39, ...
H	100, 200, 300, ...	The number’s case is determined by its position	The number and word form اضافة, so it will be genitive	أوقظ ثلاثُمائةِ الفِ نائمٍ
I	1000, 2000, ...

It is important to note that, when you have a complicated number like 1234, those numbers that form اضافة or تميز will do so with the words that follow them, whether those words are the thing being counted or other numbers.

For example, in “أوقظ ثلاثُمائةِ الفِ نائمٍ”, مائة forms اضافة with الف.

Exercise: correctly inflect the underlined words in the following sentences:

a. فانفجرت منه اثنتا عشرة عين

b. أنزل الله مائة الف وأربعة وعشرون الف نبي

Plurality of the Counted Words

The final task is to understand whether the word following the number will be singular or plural. This is a relatively simple topic summarized in the table below.

Group	Numbers	Plurality of Word	Example
A	1, 2	single or dual	ثعلب، ثعلبان
B	3..10	plural	خمسة ثعالبَ
C	11, 12	single	احدَ عشرَ ثعلباً
D	13..19		خمسةَ عشرَ ثعلباً
E	20, 30, 40, 50, ...		خمسون ثعلباً
F	21, 22, 31, 32, ...		واحد وخمسون ثعلباً
G	23..29, 33..39, ...		خمسة وخمسون ثعلباً
H	100, 200, 300, ...		خمسمائةِ ثعلبٍ
I	1000, 2000, ...		خمسة آلافِ ثعلبٍ

Exercise: correct the following phrases in terms of gender and grammatical case, as necessary:

a. أحدَ عشرةِ فنادقَ

b. اثنتا عشرةَ درهماً

c. تسعةَ عشرةِ كتابٍ

d. خمسو قضاةٍ

e. ثلاثةُ مائةٍ وإحدى وتسعين طاولاتٍ

Extend your Knowledge

Numerals

The numerals associated with the numbers are summarized in the following chart:

Number	Numeral
صفر	٠	0
واحد	١	1
اثنان	٢	2
ثلاثة	٣	3
أربعة	٤	4
خمسة	٥	5
ستة	٦	6
سبعة	٧	7
ثمانية	٨	8
تسعة	٩	9

Fractions

In Arabic, we use the word نصف to indicate one half. In order to indicate fractions with a numerator of 1 but denominators larger than 2, we place the cardinal numbers on the فُعُل pattern. The table below makes this clearer.

...	1/5	1/4	1/3	1/2
...	خُمُس	رُبُع	ثُلُث	نِصْف

In order to change the numerator, we use the rules of numbers we’ve just learned, using the denominator as the counted word. In essence, what we are saying is ‘three one-quarters,’ for example. Below are a few examples.

3/4	3/3	3/2	2/4	2/3	2/2
ثَلاثة أَرْباعٍ	ثَلاثة أَثْلاثٍ	ثَلاثة أنْصافٍ	رُبُعانِ	ثُلُثانِ	نِصْفانِ