Counting in Arabic

Language overview

Arabic language (Al-ʻarabiyyah, العَرَبِيَّة) is a Central Semitic language from the Afro-Asiatic family. Official or co-official language in 26 countries, it is spoken by about 422 million people. It is also the liturgical language of Islam. Its Modern Standard Arabic form, derived from Classical Arabic, is a lingua franca as it encompasses many dialectal varieties. Arabic is written for right to left in an abjad, a writing system where each symbol stands for a consonant.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 1,000,000 in Arabic. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Arabic numerals

What is commonly known as “Arabic numerals”, and more rarely Hindu–Arabic numerals, is the set of characters or graphemes which represent the digits 0 to 9, as well as the positional decimal system attached to it. Those digits, invented in India around the III^rd century BC, have transited within the Arab civilization from the IX^th century before arriving in Europe in the X^th century. In the Mashreq countries, that is to say mainly Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, the Hindu numerals are used in conjunction with Western numerals.

Arabic numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

• Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely sifr (صِفْرٌ) [0], wahid (وَاحِدٌ) [1], ithnan (اِثْنَانِ) [2], thalatha (ثَلَاثَةٌ) [3], arba’a (أَرْبَعٌ) [4], khamsa (خَمْسَةٌ) [5], sitta (سِتَّةٌ) [6], sab’a (سَبْعَةٌ) [7], thamaniya (ثَمَانِيَةٌ) [8], and tis’a (تِسْعَةٌ) [9].
• The tens are based on the root of the digit names, suffixed by un (ون), except for ten: ‘ashra (عَشَرَةٌ) [10], ‘ishrun (عِشْرُونَ) [20], thalathun (ثَلَاثُونَ) [30], arba’un (أَرْبَعُونَ) [40], khamsun (خَمْسُونَ) [50], sittun (سِتُّونَ) [60], sab’un (سَبْعُونَ) [70], thamanun (ثَمَانُونَ) [80], and tis’un (تَسْعَوْنَ) [90].
• From eleven to nineteen, compound numbers are formed by stating the unit, then a form of the word for ten: ahada ‘ashar (إِحْدَى عَشَرٍ) [11], ithna ‘ashar (اِثْنَا عَشَرٌ) [12], thalatha ‘ashar (ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ) [13], arba’a ‘ashar (أَرْبَعَةَ عَشَرَ) [14], khamsa ‘ashar (خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ) [15], sitta ‘ashar (سِتَّةَ عَشَرَ) [16], sab’a ‘ashar (سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ) [17], thamaniya ‘ashar (ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ) [18], and tis’a ‘ashar (تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ) [19].
• Above twenty-one, compound numbers are formed by stating the unit then the ten, linked with the and word connector (wa-, وَ). Hence we get: thalatha wa-khamsun (ثَلَاثَةُ وَ خَمْسُونَ) [53], sab’a wa-tis’un (سَبْعَةُ وَ تَسْعَوْنَ) [97].
• Hundreds are formed by stating the multiplier digit before the word for hundred, except for one hundred itself: mi’a (مِئَةٌ) [100], ithnan mi’a (مِائَتَانِ) [200], thalatha mi’a (ثَلَاثَةَ مِئَةَ) [300], arba’a mi’a (أَرْبَعَةَ مِئَةَ) [400], khamsa mi’a (خَمْسَةَ مِئَةَ) [500], sitta mi’a (سِتَّةَ مِئَةَ) [600], sab’a mi’a (سَبْعَةَ مِئَةَ) [700], thamaniya mi’a (ثَمَانِيَةَ مِئَةَ) [800], and tis’a mi’a (تِسْعَةَ مِئَةَ) [900].
• The word for thousand is alf (أَلْفٌ). Two thousand is using the dual form of thousand: alfain (أَلْفَيْنِ) [2,000]. Above two thousand, the plural form of thousand is used: thalatha alaaf (ثَلَاثَةُ آلَافٍ) [3,000], arba’a alaaf (أربَعة آلَافٍ) [4,000], khamsa alaaf (خَمْسَةُ أَﻟﺎف) [5,000], sitta alaaf (سِتَّةُ أَﻟﺎف) [6,000], sab’a alaaf (سَبْعَةُ أَﻟﺎف) [7,000], thamaniya alaaf (ثَمَانِيَةُ أَﻟﺎف) [8,000], and tis’a alaaf (ﺗﺴِﻌﺔ أَﻟﺎف ) [9,000].
• The word for million is malioun (مَلِيُوْن) [1 million, 10⁶], and the word for billion is maliâr (مَلِيَار) [1 billion, 10⁹].

Write a number in full in Arabic

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Arabic. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

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