Counting

0 - sifr 1 - wāhid 2 - ithnān 3 - thalātha 4 - 'arbaca 5 - khamsa 6 - sitta 7 - sabca 8 - thamāniya 9 - tisca 10 - cashra 11 - 'ahada cashra 12 - ithnā cashra 13 - thalātha cashra 14 - 'arbaca cashra 15 - khamsa cashra 16 - sitta cashra 17 - sabca cashra 18 - thamāniya cashra 19 - tisca cashra 20 - cishrūn 21 - 'ahad wa-cishrūn 22 - ithnān wa-cishrūn 23 - thalātha wa-cishrūn 24 - 'arbaca wa-cishrūn 25 - khamsa wa-cishrūn 26 - sitta wa-cishrūn 27 - sabca wa-cishrūn 28 - thamāniya wa-cishrūn 29 - tisca wa-cishrūn 30 - thalāthūn 35 - khamsa wa-thalāthūn 40 - 'arbacūn 42 - 'ithnān wa-'arbacūn 50 - khamsūn 59 - tisca wa-khamsūn 60 - sittūn 66 - sitta wa-sittūn 70 - sabcūn 73 - thalātha wa-sabcūn 80 - thamānūn 84 - 'arbaca wa-thamānūn 90 - tiscūn 91 - 'ahad wa-tiscūn 100 - mi'a 102 - mi'a wa-ithnān 153 - mi'a thalātha wa-khamsūn 1000 - 'alf 1111 - 'alf mi'a 'ahada cashra 1603 - 'alf sitt mi'a wa-thalātha

Grammar: Use of numbers

Numbers in Arabic are quite complicated, there are different rules for the numbers, numbers are declined according to gender. Getting the grip on numbers in order to make practical use of them (few Arabs used numbers correctly), is however reasonably easy.

From 21 to 99 you count like this: (example) 24: Four wa-twenty.From 12 to 19 you count like this (example) 15: Five Ten. 11 is slightly slightly diverging. When putting numbers together with nouns you do like this:

1: (example) 1 book is said as simply as "book", "kitâb", you leave 1 out, unless it is very important to emphasise that it is one book. 2: (example) 2 books is a special case, as Arabic not only has singular and plural, but also dual. The rules here are straight, but often ommitted by students, who wind up saying "2 books",

ithnân kutub.

That is not correct, and the correct dual for 2 books is

kitâbâni.

3 and up: You place the full form of the number first, immediately followed by the noun: 42 books:

ithnân wa-'arbacûn kutub.

While this is not the correct form, it is OK to say it this way at the present level. If you're curious, this is the correct way for saying 42 books:

ithnân wa-'arbacûn kitâbân.