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The Number System From 21-99
By ArabicTree | February 24, 2008
The number system from 21 onward is the same up to 99–then the entire system repeats (it’s cyclic). How does it work?
‘Adad: like the number system from 3-10, the case of the ‘adad is not specified–it can be marfoo’, majruwr, or mansoob. It depends how you use the system. But, unlike before, we now use wa (”and”) to specify the numbers–so 25 is really “twenty and five.”
If the ‘adad is 1 or 2 (eg. 21, 22, 31, 32, …) then the single digit matches the gender of the ma’duwd; if it’s 3-9, it opposes, just like the number system from 3-9 and 13-19.
Here are the numbers for the tens digit:
- (20) عَشرُونَ
- (30) ثَلَاثُونَ
- (40) أَربَعُونَ
- (50) خَمسُونَ
- (60) سِتُّونَ
- (70) سَبعُونَ
- (80) ثَمَانُونَ
- (90) تِسعُونَ
These numbers are the same for either gender, and they have a ya (instead of a waw) in the majruwr and mansoob cases, eg. khamsuwna becomes khamsiyna.
Ma’duwd: Like the number system from 11-19, the ma’duwd here is also singular, mansoob, and mabani. But don’t be confused–when we say “singular,” we mean the WORD used is the singular form of the word–it’s still 25 cows, or 37 houses, no matter if we use baqarah and bayt instead of baqaraat and buyuwt.
Some examples, for clarity:
- لِي تِسعُ و ثَلَاثُونَ صَدِيقَةً: I have 39 friends (feminine). Tis’a is masculine because sadiyqah is feminine. Since it’s a nominal sentence, the numbers are both marfuw’.
- رَأيتُ خَمسَةَ و عَشرِينَ جَمَلً: I saw 25 camels. Khamsa is feminine because jamal is masculine. Ashriyna is used because this is what we saw–25 camels–so the ‘adad becomes mansoob.)
Topics: Grammar, Intermediate, Vocabulary | 2 Comments »
December 16th, 2008 at 4:44 am
I think تِسعُ is 9, not 7, but I could be wrong.
“لِي تِسعُ و ثَلَاثُونَ صَدِيقَةً: I have 37 friends”
December 16th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Oops, typo! Should say “39″…