Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 3.7. Cardinal Numbers II

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).

The noun following a number from 11 to 19 is always indefinite and in the singular form.

Here are some examples:

Numbers 20 – 99

The cardinal numbers of the tens (20, 30, … 90) are considered plural nouns, ending with ـيْـن (-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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Here are some examples:

The plural forms, used only with 3 – 10 multiples, are as follows:

Many people ignore the above plural forms and use the singular form in  most cases including when referring to 3 – 10 multiples.

Next: Future Tense

Back to: Interrogatives

Other lessons in Level III: