LinguaCounting from zero to ten
| Digit | Western digit | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ٠ | 0 | صِفْر |
| ١ | 1 | وَاحِد |
| ٢ | 2 | اِثْنَانِ |
| ٣ | 3 | ثَلَاثَة |
| ٤ | 4 | أَرْبَعَة |
| ٥ | 5 | خَمْسَة |
| ٦ | 6 | سِتَّة |
| ٧ | 7 | سَبْعَة |
| ٨ | 8 | ثَمَانِيَة |
| ٩ | 9 | تِسْعَة |
| ١٠ | 10 | عَشَرَة |
You know the digits from the alphabet course: the zero ٠ is only a dot, and ٥ (5) is a small circle – do not read it as 0. When you count aloud, the words from three to ten end in ة: ثَلَاثَة (thalātha), أَرْبَعَة (ʾarbaʿa), خَمْسَة (khamsa), سِتَّة (sitta), سَبْعَة (sabʿa), ثَمَانِيَة (thamāniya), تِسْعَة (tisʿa), عَشَرَة (ʿashara).
“Two” has two shapes: اثْنَانِ (ithnāni) and, for feminine things, اثْنَتَانِ (ithnatāni) – the same ending -āni as in أُخْتَانِ. For now just recognise both.
Arabic text runs right to left, but numbers are written and read left to right, like at home. A phone number is read digit by digit: ٠٥٩ – صِفْر، خَمْسَة، تِسْعَة. To ask for it: مَا رَقْمُ هَاتِفِكَ؟ – “what is your phone number?”
رَقْمُ هَاتِفِي ٠٧٩٤٦٣٢١٨٥.My phone number is 0794632185.
وَاحِدٌ، اثْنَانِ، ثَلَاثَةٌ، أَرْبَعَةٌ، خَمْسَةٌ!One, two, three, four, five!
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| صِفْر | zero (0) | صِفْرٌ، وَاحِدٌ، اثْنَانِ zero, one, two |
| وَاحِد | one (1) | كِتَابٌ وَاحِدٌ one book |
| اِثْنَان | two (2) | اِثْنَانِ فِي الْغُرْفَةِ Two are in the room. |
| ثَلَاثَة | three (3) | وَاحِدٌ، اثْنَانِ، ثَلَاثَةٌ one, two, three |
| أَرْبَعَة | four (4) | أَرْبَعَةٌ فِي الْغُرْفَةِ. Four are in the room. |
| خَمْسَة | five (5) | خَمْسَةٌ هُنَا. Five are here. |
| سِتَّة | six (6) | سِتَّةٌ، سَبْعَةٌ، ثَمَانِيَةٌ six, seven, eight |
| سَبْعَة | seven (7) | رَقْمُ الْغُرْفَةِ سَبْعَةٌ. The room number is seven. |
| ثَمَانِيَة | eight (8) | ثَمَانِيَةٌ وَوَاحِدٌ eight and one |
| تِسْعَة | nine (9) | رَقْمُ الْبَيْتِ تِسْعَةٌ. The house number is nine. |
| عَشَرَة | ten (10) | تِسْعَةٌ، عَشَرَةٌ! Nine, ten! |
| رَقْم | number | رَقْمٌ جَدِيدٌ a new number |
| هَاتِف | telephone | هَاتِفُ الْمَدْرَسَةِ the school’s phone |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 4
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which digit is **خَمْسَة**?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.