1: Wá7ad
2: Tnén
3: Tléte
4: Arb3a
5: Khamse
6: Sette
7: Sab3a
8: Tméne
9: Tes3a
10: 3ashra
(Zero is sifr)

Note: 2 is tnén, but when giving the time, we often say tentén. I’m not sure why that is, but it does prevent confusion with tméne (8).

Numbers after ten follow the following patterns:
21 (2 digits): one and twenty
121 (3 digits): a hundred and one and twenty
1,121 (4 digits): a thousand and a hundred and one and twenty
33,121 (5 digits): three and thirty tousand and a hundred and one and twenty
Although this looks a little daunting at first, notice that the order is very much like English, except for an inversion when there are two digits together, as in 21 or 33, 000. For such numbers, running from 11 to 99, the unit is said before the ten.

Here are the numbers from 11 to 19:
11: 7da3sh
12: tna3sh
13: tletta3sh
14: arb3ta3sh
15: khamsta3sh
16: setta3sh
17: saba3ta3sh
18: tmenta3sh
19: tes3ata3sh
Notice the –a3sh ending to them all? That’s because they were originally said wáhad-w-3ashar (1-and-10), tnén-w-3ashar (2-and-10), etc, and got compressed by use.

From 20 onwards, there is no compression anymore. All the numbers neatly follow the form unit-w-ten, where "unit" is between 1 and 9 and "ten" is one of the words in the following list:
20: 3ashreen
30: tléteen
40: arb3een
50: khamseen
60: setteen
70: sab3een
80: tméneen
90: tes3een
You can now mix-and-match them easily to get any number. The only change that occurs in the units is that a short -a is added to them or replaces the final vowel to make pronunciation easier: instead of saying tnen-w-tleteen, we say tnena-w-tleteen.

Now we have reached the hundreds, where things are much simpler.
100: myye
200: mytén
300: tlet myye
400: arba3 myye
500: khams myye
600: sett myye
700: saba3 myye
800: tmén myye
900: tes3a myye
As you can see, 200 is the only one whose form has changed; it is the dual form for 100, and any dual can be obtained by the addition of –én (this is also true of nouns). The others are all literally 4-100, 5-100, etc. For 600 we are using sett instead of the word for 6 sette, but that’s all. To add a hundred-digit to a number, we just paste it at the beginning of it and use the element –w- to link them: myye-w-wahda-w-sab3een (171).

Note: When a number ending in myye is used before a noun, the myye turns into meet. For instance to say 300 pounds, we don't say tlét-myye leera but tlét-meet leera.

The thousands follow the same rules as the hundreds, except that the word alf (thousand) becomes plural (taléf).
1,000: alf
2,000: alfén (same dual ending as myten)
3,000: tlet taléf
4,000: arba3 taléf
5:000: khams taléf
6,000: sett taléf
7,000: saba3 taléf
8,000: tmen taléf
9,000: tes3a taléf

I doubt you’ll have much opportunity to go as far as millions and billions, but here they are. They follow the thousands exactly.
1 million: malyoon
2 million: malyunén (dual; notice that the stress abandons the oo and migrates to the newly added long vowel)
millions: malayeen (for 3 million and above)
1 billion: milyár
2 billion: milyarén (dual)
billions: milyarát (for 3 million and above)

Translate the following.

1. Wahda w arb3een
2. Alf w khams myye.
3. Alfen w tmen myye w setta w sab3een
4. 65
5. 134
6. 5, 208

See solutions

B. Ordinals

Adjectives come after the noun they modify, but in Lebanese ordinals come before the noun. In more formal speech, for instance when announcing the opening of an event (the 6th tennis championship etc), the arabic turn of phrase is used where the ordinal comes after the noun like any other adjective.
Here I will limit myself to the first ten numbers: <>
First: Awwal
Second: Téne
Third: Télet
Fourth: Rábe3
Fifth: Khámes / khémes (the second is heavier-sounding)
Sixth: Sédes
Seventh: Sébe3
Eighth: Témen
Ninth: Tése3
Tenth: 3ásher

After "tenth" we tend to switch to cardinals, or to borrow from Arabic if it doesn't sound too weird.

The ordinals above are used in two cases:
- When they are adjectives followed by a noun, either masculine or feminine (The third president, the first woman).
- When they are stand-alone adjectives standing for a masculine noun.
- When for formal purposes they are used after the noun and the noun is masculine.
When used without or after a feminine word, the ordinals take on the feminine gender. Eg: Nobody was there when Mona arrived; she was the first -- "First" would be here not awwal but its feminine versionoola. Here are the feminine ordinals:
First: Oola
Second: Ténye
Third: Télte
Fourth: Ráb4a
Fifth: Khámse
Sixth: Sédse
Seventh: Séb3a
Eighth: Tménye
Ninth: Tés3a
Tenth: 3áshra

There is a way to get around having to use the feminine forms in the stand-alone use, and it's exactly the same as in English. In English you can say "She's the first" or "She's the first one". In Lebanese the verbatim equivalent is used: Hye l'oola or Hye awwal wa7de, where wa7de is the feminine of wa7ad=one. Stick wa7de after the ordinal and you can forget about the headache of feminizing it!

To summarize: use of the ordinals:

- Adjective use: "This is the first time" - Héy awwal marra. Ordinal before noun; no article is used on the adjective or the noun; default masculine form of the ordinal.

- Stand-alone use: "she's the first" - Hye l'oola. Ordinal alone; article used; ordinal must be gendered appropriately. OR Hye awwal wa7de. See first use.

- Formal use: "The 6th play" - El-masra7yye l-sédse. Ordinal after noun; article used for both noun and adjective; ordinal must be gendered appropriately.

Chapter 14: Indefinition and Negation

Tutorials and articles © Joumana Medlej