Numbers in Arabic

How numbers work in Arabic

Arabic is written from right to left, but numbers in digits run from left to right. Many Arab countries use the Eastern Arabic digits ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩, while the Maghreb uses the familiar 0 to 9.

The numbers 3 to 10 follow a reverse gender rule: with a masculine noun the number takes the form ending in ة (ثلاثة كتب, three books), with a feminine noun it drops it (ثلاث سيارات, three cars). When counting you use the form with ة: ثلاثة، أربعة، خمسة.

From 11 to 19 the unit comes before عشر: أحد عشر، اثنا عشر، ثلاثة عشر. The tens end in -ūn: عشرون، ثلاثون، أربعون. From 21 the unit comes first, followed by و (and) and the ten: واحد وعشرون (one-and-twenty), خمسة وأربعون.

100 is مئة (also spelled مائة), 200 is the dual مئتان, 300 ثلاثمئة. 1,000 is ألف, 2,000 the dual ألفان, from 3,000 to 10,000 the plural آلاف is used (عشرة آلاف), and after that ألف again: مئة ألف. A million is مليون.

The ordinals up to ten are الأول، الثاني، الثالث، الرابع، الخامس، السادس، السابع، الثامن، التاسع، العاشر. In everyday speech the dialects use much shorter number words than Modern Standard Arabic.

Modern Standard Arabic uses the feminine ordinal for the hour, because الساعة (the hour) is feminine: الساعة الثالثة literally means 'the third hour'. Quarters, halves and thirds are added with و (and): والربع (quarter past), والنصف (half past), والثلث (twenty past). With إلا (except, minus) you subtract from the next hour: الرابعة إلا ربعًا is 3:45.

The third of an hour is a special feature: والثلث means twenty past, إلا ثلثًا twenty to. الثالثة والنصف is 3:30, the hour that has passed plus a half. Everyday speech uses the 12-hour clock with صباحًا (in the morning) or مساءً (in the evening); in the dialects times sound quite different.