he table below shows examples of Arabic numbers.

The first and the fifth columns

have numbers used in some Arab countries; they’re not of Arabic origins but still used

in many places especially copies of the Holy Qur’an …. Nowadays what we call the

Arabic numbers are the numbers shown on the columns 2 and 6, which are used by

the Arab world as well as the rest of the world.

Arabic Numbers

٠ 0 sifr ‫صفر‬ ١ 1 wahid ‫واحد‬

2 ithnan ‫إثنان‬ 3 thalatha (th as in ‫ثالثة‬

٤ 4 arba’a ‫أربعة‬ ٥ 5 khamsa ‫خمسة‬

٦ 6 sitta ‫ستة‬ ٧ 7 sab’a ‫سبعة‬

٨ 8 thamaniya (th in thin) ‫ثمانية‬ ٩ 9 tis’a ‫تسعة‬

١٠ 10 ‘ashra ‫عشرة‬ ١١ 11 ahada ‘ashar ‫إحدى عشر‬

١٤ 14 arba’a ‘ashar ‫أربعة عشر‬ ١٥ 15 khamsa ‘ashar ‫خمسة عشر‬

١٦ 16 sitta ‘ashar ‫ستة عشر‬ ١٧ 17 sab’a ‘ashar ‫سبعة عشر‬

١٨ 18 thamaniya ‘ashar ‫ثمانية عشر‬ ١٩ 19 tis’a ‘ashar ‫تسعة عشر‬

٢٠ 20 ‘ishrun ‫عشرون‬ ٢١ 21 wahed wa-’ishrun ‫واحد و عشرون‬

٢٢ 22 ithnane wa-’ishrun ‫إثنان وعشرون‬ ٢٣ 23 thalatha wa-’ishrun ‫ثالثة و عشرون‬

٢٤ 24 arba’a wa-’ishrun ‫أربعة و عشرون‬ ٢٥ 25 khamsa wa-’ishrun ‫خمسة و عشرون‬

٢٦ 26 sitta wa-’ishrun ‫ستة و عشرون‬ ٢٧ 27 sab’a wa-’ishrun ‫سبعة وعشرون‬

٢٨ 28 thamaniya wa-’ishrun ‫ثمانية و عشرون‬ ٢٩ 29 tis’a wa-’ishrun ‫تسعة و عشرون‬

٣٠ 30 thalathun ‫ثالثون‬ ٣١ 31 wahid wa-thalathun ‫واحد و ثالثون‬

٤٠ 40 arba’un ‫أربعون‬ ٤٢ 42 ithnan wa-arba’un ‫إثنان و أربعون‬

٥٠ 50 khamsun ‫خمسون‬ ٥٣ 53 thalatha wa-khamsun ‫ثالثة و خمسون‬

٦٠ 60 sittun ‫ستون‬ ٦٤ 64 arba'a wa-sittun ‫أربعة و ستون‬

٧٠ 70 sab’un ‫سبعون‬ ٧٥ 75 khamsa wa-sab’un ‫خمسة و سبعون‬

٨٠ 80 thamanun ‫ثمانون‬ ٨٦ 86 sitta wa-thamanun ‫ستة و ثمانون‬

٩٠ 90 tis’un ‫تسعون‬ ٩٧ 97 sab'a wa-tis’un ‫سبعة و تسعون‬

١٠٠ 100 mi'a ‫مائة‬ ١٠٠٠ 1000 alf ‫ألف‬

100000 mi'at alf ‫مائة ألف‬ ٢٠٠٠ 2000 alfain ‫ألفين‬

10000000 Million ‫مليون‬

a number before ten for example 13 = three ten, instead of thirteen in English, 17 is

seven ten in Arabic. From 21 to 99 you just need to reverse the numbers and add (wa-

between the two numbers) 36 would be six wa- thirty instead of thirty six (sitta wa-

thalathun), (wa means and).

0 is sifr in Arabic, from which the word cipher came. For 11 and 12 they’re irregular,

so just remember how to write them by now (11 = ehda ‘ashar, 12 = ithna ‘ashar).

So in general, numbers standing alone are easy to use, or say. The hard part is that

numbers 3 to 10 have a unique rule of agreement with nouns known as polarity: A

numeral in masculine gender should agree with a feminine referrer and vice versa

(thalathatu awlaad = three boys), boys are masculine plural, so the feminine form of

number 3 should be used (which is thalathatu, and not thalathu which is the masculine

form, the u at the end of numbers is used when a number is followed by another word

to make an easy jump to the next word) (thalathu banaat = three girls) banaat = girls,

which is feminine plural, therefore a masculine form of number 3 should be used

(thalathu). That may sound complicated but once you get used to it, it will not be as

hard as it seems now, besides most Arab natives make mistakes or simply don’t care

about matching the gender and the number.

Ordinal numbers in Arabic are almost like the cardinal numbers, with some

exceptions in the numbers from 1 to 10, and a slight difference in numbers from 11

and up.

Note that ordinal numbers in Arabic are somehow like adjectives, so they have to take

the masculine, or feminine form. Please check the adjectives page for more

information.

Arabic Cardinal Numbers

First Awwal Oula

Second Thani Thania

Third Thaleth Thaletha

Fourth Rabe’ Rabe’a

Fifth Khaames Khaamesa

Seventh Sabe’ Sabe’a

Eighth Thamen Thamena

Ninth Tase’ Tase’a

Tenth acher achera

Eleventh Hady achar Hadiata achar

Twelfth Thani achar Thania achar

After 10 only the first number takes the feminine, for example 13 th is thaleth achar for

masculine, and thalethata achar for feminine, achar stays the same, the first half

“thaleth” which means 3rd takes “a” in the feminine, and so does the rest of the ordinal

number, except ten numbers like 20, 30, 40, 50, they look like cardinal numbers but

they add “a” as a prefix for numbers starting with a consonant, for example: 70 =

sab’un, 70th = asab’un (for both masculine and feminine), and they add “al” for ten

numbers starting with a vowel, like: 40= arba’un, 40th = alarba’un.