We discussed cardinal numbers 0 – 10 in Level I, Lesson 6. In this lesson, we discuss other cardinal numbers and their usage in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic.
Table of Contents
- Numbers 11 – 19
- Numbers 20 – 99
- Numbers 100 – 999
- Numbers 1,000 – 999,999
- Millions, Billions, and Trillions
- Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
Numbers 11 – 19
The numbers 11 – 19 are formed by combining a modified version of the units (1, 2, 3, …, 9) and the suffix ـَـعْــش (-a‘sh).
If followed by a noun, the suffix is changed to ـَـعْــشَــر (-a‘shar).
| Standalone | Followed by a noun | ||
| 11 | ١١ | اِحْــدَعْــش iḥda‘sh | اِحْــدَعْــشَــر iḥda‘shar |
| 12 | ١٢ | اِتْــنَــعْــش itna‘sh | اِتْــنَــعْــشَــر itna‘shar |
| 13 | ١٣ | ثَــلَــتَّــعْــش thalatta‘sh | ثَــلَــتَّــعْــشَــر thalatta‘shar |
| 14 | ١٤ | أَرْبَـعْــتَــعْــش ’arba‘ta‘sh | أَرْبَــعْــتَــعْــشَــر ’arba‘ta‘shar |
| 15 | ١٥ | خَــمْــسْــتَــعْــش khamsta‘sh | خَــمْــسْــتَــعْــشَــر khamsta‘shar |
| 16 | ١٦ | سِــتَّــعْــش sitta‘sh | سِــتَّــعْــشَــر sitta‘shar |
| 17 | ١٧ | سَــبَــعْــتَــعْــش sab‘ta‘sh | سَــبَــعْــتَــعْــشَــر sab‘ta‘shar |
| 18 | ١٨ | ثَــمَــنْــتَــعْــش thamanta‘sh | ثَــمَــنْــتَــعْــشَــر thamanta‘shar |
| 19 | ١٩ | تِــسِــعْــتَــعْــش tis‘ta‘sh | تِــسِــعْــتَــعْــشَــر tis‘ta‘shar |
The noun following a number from 11 to 19 is always indefinite and in the singular form.
Here are some examples:
| اِحْــدَعْــشَــر شَــبّ iḥda‘shar shabb 11 young men | اِتْــنَــعْــشَــر مَــرَة itna‘shar mara 12 women |
| ثَــلَــتَّــعْــشَــر وَلَــد thalatta‘ashar walad 13 boys | خَــمْــسْــتَــعْــشَــر بِــنْــت khamsta‘shar bint 15 girls |
| سَــبَــعْــتَــعْــشَــر كْــتَــاب sab‘ta‘shar (i) ktāb 17 books | تِــسِــعْــتَــعْــشَــر سَــيَّــارَة tis‘ta‘shar sayyārah 19 cars |
Numbers 20 – 99
The cardinal numbers of the tens (20, 30, … 90) are considered plural nouns, ending with ـيْـن (-īn).
| 20 | ٢٠ | عِــشْــرِيْــن ‘ishrīn |
| 30 | ٣٠ | ثَــلَاثِــيْــن thalāthīn |
| 40 | ٤٠ | أَرْبْــعِــيْــن ’arb‘īn |
| 50 | ٥٠ | خَــمْــسِــيْــن khamsīn |
| 60 | ٦٠ | سِــتِّــيْــن sittīn |
| 70 | ٧٠ | سَــبْــعِــيْــن sab‘īn |
| 80 | ٨٠ | ثَــمَــانِــيْــن thamānīn |
| 90 | ٩٠ | تِــسْــعِــيْــن tis‘īn |
The compound numbers from 20 to 99 are formed by inserting the conjunction و (w-) ‘and’ between the units and tens. The noun following a number from 20 to 99 is always indefinite and in the singular form.
Here are some examples:
| تِــسْــعَــة وتِــسْــعِــيْــن زَلَــمِــة tis‘ah w-tis‘īn zalameh 99 men | عِــشْــرِيْــن مَـــرَة ‘ishrīn mara 20 women |
| سَــبْــعَــة وأَرْبْــعِــيْــن وَلَـــد sab‘ah w-’arb‘īn walad 47 boys | ثَــلَاثِــيْــن بِــنْــت thalāthīn bint 30 girls |
| خَــمْــسِــة وعِــشْــرِيْــن كْــتَــاب khamseh w-‘ishrīn (i) ktāb 25 books | وَاحَــد وثَــمَــانِــيْــن سَــيَّــارَة wāḥad u-thamānīn sayyārah 81 cars |
Note that in Arabic, the units are read before the tens in numbers from 21 to 99, in contrast to English, e.g., سَــبْــعَــة وأَرْبْــعِــيْــن (sab‘ah w-’arb‘īn) ‘forty-seven.’
Numbers 100 – 999
The number hundred in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic is مِـــيِّـــة (miyyeh). The percentage sign % is read as فِــيْ الْـمِـــيِّـــة (fi -l-miyyeh) or بِــالْـمِـــيِّـــة (bi-l-miyyeh).
Here are some examples:
| مِـــيِّـــة وتِــسْــعَــة وخَــمْــسِــيْــن miyyeh w-tis‘ah w-khamsīn 159 | مِـــيِّـــة فِـيْ الْــمِـــيِّـــة miyyeh fi -l-miyyeh 100% |
| مِـــيِّـــة وأَرْبْــعِــيْــن وَلَـــد miyyeh w-’arb‘īn walad 140 boys | مِـــيِّـــة وأَرْبَـــع طُـــلَّاب miyyeh w-’arba‘ ṭullāb 104 students |
| خَــمْــسِــيْــن بِـالْـمِــيِّــة khamsīn bi-l-miyyeh 50% | مِـــيِّـــةْ طَــالِــب miyyet ṭālib 100 students |
Notice that the noun following the number مِـــيِّـــة (miyyeh) ‘hundred’ is considered a مُـضـاف إِلَـيْـه (muḍāf ’ilayh) ‘annexer,’ e.g., مِـــيِّـــةْ طَــالِــب (miyyet ṭālib) ‘a hundred students.’
If the number contains units, tens, and hundreds, e.g., 245, the last number that we read determines whether the following noun is in the singular or plural from. For example:
| مِـــيِّـــة وأَرْبْــعِــيْــن طَــالِــب miyyeh w- ’arb‘īn ṭālib 140 students | مِـــيِّـــة وأَرْبَــع طُـــلَّاب miyyeh w- ’arba‘ ṭullāb 104 students |
Notice that in the first example above, the noun following أَرْبْــعِــيْــن (’arb‘īn) ‘forty’ is in the singular, whereas in the second example, the noun following أَرْبَــع (’arba‘) ‘four’ is in the plural form.
The number two hundred is مِـــيْــتِــيـــن (mīteyn), which is the dual form of مِـــيِّـــة (miyyeh) ‘hundred.’
The numbers from 300 to 900 are as follows:
| 300 | ٣٠٠ | ثَــلَــث مِـــيِّـــة thalath-miyyeh |
| 400 | ٤٠٠ | أَرْبَـــع مِـــيِّـــة ’arba‘- miyyeh |
| 500 | ٥٠٠ | خَــمْــس مِـــيِّـــة kham(i)s-miyyeh |
| 600 | ٦٠٠ | سِـــتّ مِـــيِّـــة sitt-miyyeh |
| 700 | ٧٠٠ | سَــبْــع مِـــيِّـــة sab(i)‘-miyyeh |
| 800 | ٨٠٠ | ثَــمَــن مِـــيِّـــة thaman-miyyeh |
| 900 | ٩٠٠ | تِــسْــع مِـــيِّـــة tis(i)‘-miyyeh |
Numbers 1,000 – 999,999
The word for ‘a thousand’ in Arabic is أَلْـف (’alf). To refer to numbers between three thousand and ten thousand, we use the plural آلاف (’ālāf) instead.
We add a euphonic ت (t) before آلاف (’ālāf) when preceded by a number between 3 and 10.
The dual form of أَلْـف (’alf) ‘a thousand’ is أَلْـــفِــيــن (’alfeyn) ‘two thousand.’
Here are some examples:
| أَلْـــف وَلَـــد ’alf walad 1,000 boys | أَلْـــفِــيــن بِــنْــت ’alfeyn bint 2,000 girls |
| خَــمْــس (ت)آلَاف زَلَــمِــة khams (t) ālāfzalameh 5,000 men | عَــشَــر (ت)آلَاف مَـــرَة ‘ashar (t) ālāfmarah 10,000 women |
| أَرْبَـــع (ت)آلَاف كْــتَــاب ’arba‘ (t)ālāf ktāb 4,000 books | ثَــلَــتَّــعْــشَــر أَلْـــف سَــيَّـــارَة thalatta‘ashr ’alf sayyārah 13,000 cars |
| سَــنِــةْ أَلْــف وتِـسْـعْ مِــيِّــة وخَــمْــسِــة وأَرْبْــعِــيْــن sanet ’alf w-tis(i)‘-miyyeh w-khamseh w-’arb‘īn the year 1945 | |
| سَــنِــةْ أَلْــف وَثَــمَــن مِــيِّــة وسِـــتِّــة وتِــسْــعِــيْــن sanet ’alf w-thaman-miyyeh w-sitteh w-tis‘īn the year 1896 | |
| سَــنِــةْ أَلْــفِــيــن وخَــمْــسِــة sanet ’alfeyn w-khamseh the year 2005 | |
Notice that in numbers between 21 and 99, the units are read before the tens. However, for numbers in the hundreds, thousands, and beyond, the order follows the same pattern as in English.
Millions, Billions, and Trillions
The numbers million, billion, and trillion are as follows:
| مِــلْــيُــون milyown million | مِــلْــيَــار milyār billion | تْــرِلْــيُـــون trilyown trillion |
Here are some examples:
| مِــلْــيُــون ومِــيْــتِــيــن أَلْــف milyown u-mīteyn ’alf 1,200,000 | مِــلْــيُــونِــيــن milyowneyn 2,000,000 |
| خَــمْــسِــيْــن مِــلْــيَــار khamsīn milyār 50 billion | ثَــلَــتَّــعْــشَــر مِــلْــيُــون شَــخْــص thalatta‘ashar milyown shakhṣ 13,000,000 persons |
The plural forms, used only with 3 – 10 multiples, are as follows:
| مَــلَايِــيْــن malāyīn millions | مِــلْــيَــارَات milyārāt billions | تْــرِلْــيُـــونَــات trilyownāt trillions |
Many people ignore the above plural forms and use the singular form in most cases including when referring to 3 – 10 multiples.
| أَرْبَـــع مَــلَايِـــيْـــن ’arba‘ malāyīn 4,000,000 | أَرْبَـــعَــة مِــلْــيُــون ’arba‘ah milyown 4,000,000 |
| سَــبْــع مِــلْــيَــارَات sab(i)‘ milyārāt 7 billion | سَــبْــعَــة مِــلْــيَــار sab‘ah milyār 7 billion |
Other lessons in Level III:
Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
2. Expressing Desire – “To Want”