Numbers 11-100

Frequently asked questions

When is Numbers 11-100 used?

Once you know 1-10, the numbers up to 100 are built from them. For counting aloud the masculine column below is enough; the gender and case rules further down matter when a noun follows the number.

How is Numbers 11-100 formed?

The unit comes first, as in English "fif-teen". Recognise at A1, produce at A2. In 13-19 the unit takes the opposite gender of the noun, exactly as 3-10 do, while the ten agrees normally: عَشَرَ with a masculine noun, عَشْرَةَ (with a sukun on ش) with a feminine one. 11 and 12 agree in both halves. The teens keep the same ending in every position; only 12 changes, as an object or after a preposition: اِثْنَيْ عَشَرَ. From 30 to 90 each ten is its unit + ـونَ; 20 is built on the word for ten. The tens are the same for masculine and feminine nouns. As an object or after a preposition the ending is ـينَ: بِعِشْرينَ دِرْهَماً - for twenty dirhams.

What are common mistakes with Numbers 11-100?

1. Ten before unit in 21-99: *عِشْرونَ وَواحِدٌ. Arabic says واحِدٌ وَعِشْرونَ, "one and twenty". 2. A plural noun after 11-99: *عِشْرونَ كُتُباً. Say عِشْرونَ كِتاباً. 3. Gender in the teens: *خَمْسَ عَشَرَ طالِباً. With a masculine noun the unit takes ة and the ten does not: خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ طالِباً. 4. Mixing up خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ (15) and خَمْسونَ (50): listen to the end of the word. 5. Reading مائة with a long ā: it is said mi'a. English speakers: English puts "books" in the plural after every number above one. After 11-99 Arabic uses the singular, and after 3-10 the unit's gender runs opposite to the noun's, which has no English counterpart at all.

Sources

1. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   § 322 (pp. 256-257): in 11-19 the unit from 3 to 9 follows the reverse-gender rule while the ten does not (عَشَرَ with masculine nouns, عَشْرَةَ with feminine ones); the counted noun follows in the accusative singular; these compounds are indeclinable except for 12.

2. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   §§ 323-324 (p. 257): the tens are the same for both genders, end in -ūna in the nominative and -īna in the oblique cases, and take the counted noun in the accusative singular; 21-99 are formed by putting the unit first and joining it to the ten with وَ.

3. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   § 325, Rem. c (p. 258): مِئَة "usually takes the objects numbered after it in the genitive singular"; Rem. a notes the spelling مائة.

4. A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Karin C. Ryding) — Cambridge University Press, 2005

   Chapter 15, "Numerals and numeral phrases" (pp. 329-365), is the modern reference treatment of MSA cardinal numbers and the counted noun. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record; the chapter text was not consulted.