Arabic Numbers: How to Count in Arabic from 1 to 1,000+

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Want to count in Arabic, from 1 all the way up to 1,000 and beyond?

In this article I'll walk you through Arabic numbers: how to say them, how to write them, and the handful of quirks that can make them feel tricky at first. By the end, you'll be able to count out loud, read a price in a Cairo market and say your phone number.

A quick reassurance before we start. Two things can make Arabic numbers look daunting: the unfamiliar digit shapes (٠ ١ ٢) and the reputation of Arabic number grammar. The digits are a small set you can drill on their own, while spoken dialects simplify some parts of the formal grammar in different ways. So let's get counting.

I've been down this road myself. A few years ago I took on a three-month Egyptian Arabic mission, run entirely from Brazil to prove you don't need to be in the country, and went from a standing start to holding real conversations. Here's an unscripted, unedited chat in Arabic from the end of that mission, so you know the tips below come from someone who has actually sat in the deep end:

By the way, the word for “numbers” in Arabic is أَرْقَام (ʾarqām), and a single “number” is رَقْم (raqm).

Arabic Numbers 1-10

Here are the Modern Standard Arabic forms conventionally used when counting on their own and with masculine nouns. Arabic normally leaves short vowels unwritten, but I've added them here to make the pronunciation clear. I use ʿ for the letter ع and ʾ for the glottal stop ء. We'll deal with gender after the tables.

Number	Arabic	Pronunciation
1	وَاحِد	wāḥid
2	اِثْنَان	ithnān
3	ثَلَاثَة	thalātha
4	أَرْبَعَة	ʾarbaʿa
5	خَمْسَة	khamsa
6	سِتَّة	sitta
7	سَبْعَة	sabʿa
8	ثَمَانِيَة	thamāniya
9	تِسْعَة	tisʿa
10	عَشَرَة	ʿashara

And zero is صِفْر (ṣifr). Keep an eye on that word, because it has a brilliant backstory we'll come to in a moment.

Three pronunciation pointers before we go further: the ʿ in ʾarbaʿa, sabʿa, tisʿa and ʿashara marks ʿayn, a constriction deep in the throat with no close English equivalent. The kh in khamsa is the rasp at the end of “loch”. And the th in thalātha is the unvoiced th in “three”. More on these sounds later, so don't worry about nailing them yet.

Within MSA, you'll also meet اِثْنَيْن (ithnayn). It is the accusative and genitive form of nominative ithnān, not a separate everyday word. Egyptian Arabic uses اتنين (itnēn), which we'll come back to below.

Arabic-Indic Digits: The Other Way to Write Numbers

Across much of the Arabic-speaking world, you'll see another set of digits on prices, number plates, shopfronts and banknotes:

Western digits	Arabic-Indic digits
0	٠
1	١
2	٢
3	٣
4	٤
5	٥
6	٦
7	٧
8	٨
9	٩

Unicode calls these Arabic-Indic digits, and Arabic speakers often call them “Hindi numerals”. Many English-language learning materials call them Eastern Arabic numerals, but Unicode uses Eastern Arabic-Indic for the related Persian-style set ۰۱۲۳۴۵۶۷۸۹. You'll meet ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩ across Egypt, the Levant and much of the Gulf, often alongside Western digits. Western digits are the default in much of the Maghreb. If the script itself is still new to you, start with our guide to the Arabic alphabet and come back to the numbers afterwards.

Two shapes deserve extra practice: ٥ is five, although it resembles a Western zero, and ٦ is six, although it can resemble a backwards seven.

Arabic text runs right to left, but the digits inside a multi-digit number keep the same place-value order as English: hundreds, tens, then units. So ٢٠٢٦ is 2026, not 6202. Mixed Arabic and Latin text can make punctuation or currency symbols jump to the other side on screen because software applies bidirectional layout, so focus on the digit sequence itself.

Why we call our own numbers “Arabic numerals”

The digits used in English (1, 2, 3…) belong to the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. The decimal place-value system developed in India and reached Europe through mathematical works written in Arabic, which is how the digits picked up the English name “Arabic numerals”.

Al-Khwarizmi wrote about calculation with Indian numerals around 825 CE, and a Latin form of his name later gave English the word “algorithm”. Remember Arabic ṣifr, “zero”. English “zero” ultimately traces back to it through Medieval Latin and Italian, while “cipher” shares the same Arabic source.

Arabic Numbers 11-20

The masculine forms from 11 to 19 put a unit before a form of ten. Eleven and twelve have their own patterns; from thirteen on, the structure is regular.

Number	Arabic	Pronunciation
11	أَحَدَ عَشَرَ	ʾaḥada ʿashara
12	اِثْنَا عَشَرَ	ithnā ʿashara
13	ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ	thalāthata ʿashara
14	أَرْبَعَةَ عَشَرَ	ʾarbaʿata ʿashara
15	خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ	khamsata ʿashara
16	سِتَّةَ عَشَرَ	sittata ʿashara
17	سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ	sabʿata ʿashara
18	ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ	thamāniyata ʿashara
19	تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ	tisʿata ʿashara
20	عِشْرُون	ʿishrūn

The second half of each teen is a form of “ten”. Learn the 1 to 10 forms, recognise ʿashara, and the teens become much easier to read.

Counting to 100 in Arabic

First, the tens. From 30 to 90, you'll recognise the small-number stem plus the nominative ending -ūn. Twenty has its own stem. In the accusative and genitive, these numbers end in -īn instead.

Number	Arabic	Pronunciation
20	عِشْرُون	ʿishrūn
30	ثَلَاثُون	thalāthūn
40	أَرْبَعُون	ʾarbaʿūn
50	خَمْسُون	khamsūn
60	سِتُّون	sittūn
70	سَبْعُون	sabʿūn
80	ثَمَانُون	thamānūn
90	تِسْعُون	tisʿūn

You can hear the family resemblance: thalātha (3) to thalāthūn (30), khamsa (5) to khamsūn (50), and so on. The forms ʿishrīn and thalāthīn are not casual variants: they are the accusative and genitive forms. Dialects also commonly use an -īn sound.

For numbers such as 21, Arabic says the ones first, then “and”, then the tens. So 21 is literally “one and twenty”:

• 21 = وَاحِد وَعِشْرُون (wāḥid wa-ʿishrūn), literally “one and twenty”
• 35 = خَمْسَة وَثَلَاثُون (khamsa wa-thalāthūn), “five and thirty”
• 47 = سَبْعَة وَأَرْبَعُون (sabʿa wa-ʾarbaʿūn), “seven and forty”
• 99 = تِسْعَة وَتِسْعُون (tisʿa wa-tisʿūn), “nine and ninety”

That little و (wa) means “and” and attaches to the following word in Arabic writing. Once you know 1 to 9 and the tens, this pattern lets you build the remaining numbers from 21 to 99. The unit still changes for the gender of anything you count.

100, 1,000 and Beyond in Arabic

One hundred is مِئَة (miʾa). The ʾ is hamza, the glottal stop in the middle of “uh-oh”, rather than the deeper ʿayn. You'll also see the traditional spelling مِائَة, so don't be thrown when both turn up.

Number	Arabic	Pronunciation
100	مِئَة	miʾa
200	مِئَتَان	miʾatān
300	ثَلَاثُمِئَة	thalāthumiʾa
1,000	أَلْف	ʾalf
2,000	أَلْفَان	ʾalfān
1 million	مِلْيُون	milyūn
1 billion	مِلْيَار	milyār

Two hundred (miʾatān) and two thousand (ʾalfān) use the Arabic dual rather than a separate word for “two”. The hundreds from 300 to 900 combine a number stem with “hundred”: thalāthumiʾa (300), ʾarbaʿumiʾa (400), and so on. You may see these compounds written together or with a space.

“Million” is مِلْيُون (milyūn). For the English short-scale “billion”, meaning one thousand million, مِلْيَار (milyār) is the clearest choice. You may also encounter بِلْيُون (bilyūn).

To build a large number, string the parts together with wa (“and”), working from largest to smallest. So 1,250 is “one thousand and two hundred and fifty”: أَلْف وَمِئَتَان وَخَمْسُون (ʾalf wa-miʾatān wa-khamsūn).

The Arabic Number Grammar You Need First

Arabic number grammar changes by range, which is why a single table can't show every form. You don't need to master every case ending before you start speaking, but this compact map will stop the examples above from misleading you.

The central rule is gender polarity. With 3 to 10, the number uses the opposite gender to the singular form of the noun: the ـة form goes with a masculine noun, while the shorter form goes with a feminine noun. The counted noun is plural and genitive.

For example, “book” (kitāb) is masculine, so “three books” is ثَلَاثَةُ كُتُبٍ (thalāthatu kutubin). “Car” (sayyāra) is feminine, so “three cars” is ثَلَاثُ سَيَّارَاتٍ (thalāthu sayyārātin). In connected speech, the final -a of thalātha becomes -at before the noun.

• 1 and 2 agree with the noun in gender; they usually follow it.
• 3 to 10 use opposite gender and take a plural genitive noun.
• 11 and 12 agree with the noun; the counted noun is singular accusative.
• 13 to 19 use opposite gender in the unit but matching gender in the “ten” part; the noun is singular accusative.
• 20 to 99 take a singular accusative noun. In compounds, the unit follows its own agreement rule.
• 100, 1,000 and their multiples take a singular genitive noun.

MSA case endings often disappear in ordinary speech, and dialects simplify the gender system in different ways. Egyptian Arabic usually uses one short form before plural nouns from 3 to 10, while other dialects preserve more distinctions. Learn the number pattern used in your target dialect rather than assuming every rule disappears.

How to Pronounce Arabic Numbers

A few sounds in these number words may be new to English speakers. Here's how to approach four of them:

• ع (ʿayn) appears in ʾarbaʿa (4), sabʿa (7), tisʿa (9) and ʿashara (10). It is made by narrowing the throat. Listen to a native recording and imitate it gently rather than forcing it.
• ح (ḥāʾ) is the ḥ in wāḥid (1), a breathy sound made deeper in the throat than English h.
• خ (khāʾ) is the kh in khamsa (5), similar to the rasp in “loch” or “Bach”.
• ث (thāʾ) is the unvoiced th in thalātha (3) and thamāniya (8), like the start of “three” in accents that preserve that sound.

The numbers also overlap neatly with the script. In our Arabic alphabet guide I point out that ت and ث differ by their dots: two on ت and three on ث. The English mnemonics “two” for t and “three” for th can help you remember which is which.

Give ʿayn focused listening practice, but don't wait for a perfect sound before using the numbers in conversation.

Arabic Numbers in Dialect

The tables above use MSA, the standard variety used in formal writing and news broadcasts. Everyday conversation runs on local dialects, and the number forms shift. Because my own mission was in Egyptian Arabic, here are four common Egyptian forms. Dialect spelling is less standardised than MSA spelling:

• 2: اتنين (itnēn)
• 3: تلاتة (talāta), with t instead of MSA th
• 8: تمانية (tamānya)
• 100: مية (miyya)

Many Levantine number forms also use t where MSA has th. If conversation is your priority, learn your target dialect's forms alongside the MSA forms rather than waiting until later.

Reading Arabic Numbers in the Wild

This is where your numbers earn their keep. A few real-world pointers:

• Prices. In Egypt and the Gulf, a price may use Arabic-Indic digits, Western digits or both. Practise the ٥/five and ٦/six pair so the shapes don't catch you out.
• Haggling. Hearing numbers matters as much as reading them. Learn the tens and hundreds aloud, plus نِصْف (niṣf, “half”); in Egypt, you'll hear nuṣṣ.
• Phone numbers. Egyptian mobile numbers begin 010, 011, 012 or 015. Saudi mobile numbers begin 05 when dialled domestically. Either digit set may appear.
• Banknotes. Some banknotes put Arabic-Indic numerals on the Arabic face and Western numerals on the other. When you find both, use the note as a quick matching exercise.

How to Learn Arabic Numbers (the Fast Way)

Numbers are one of the best early wins in any language, because you use them constantly and you get instant feedback every time. This is how I'd tackle the Arabic ones:

1. Lock in 1 to 10 first. Say them aloud in order and out of order until recall feels easy.
2. Learn the tens as a set. Once ʿishrūn, thalāthūn, ʾarbaʿūn and their neighbours are solid, the wa pattern lets you build numbers up to 99.
3. Drill Arabic-Indic digits separately. Match ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩ to 0123456789, with extra repetitions for ٥ and ٦. Reading the symbols is a different skill from saying the words.
4. Use them every day. Count stairs, read prices aloud, say the time and recite your phone number.
5. Say them to a real person early. Use them when buying something, sharing a number or telling someone your age. A short exchange gives your drills a real context.

Numbers are just the start. Once they're solid, build out from there with core Arabic words, useful Arabic phrases, a few ways to say hello in Arabic and a practical plan for learning Arabic. For more places to practise, browse these online Arabic resources. If you want guided audio lessons, my ArabicPod101 review will help you decide whether its mix of MSA and dialect material suits your goals.

That last point about speaking is the heart of how I approach every language. If you want a structured way to go from your first words to real conversations, that's exactly what we build inside the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp, a community and a method for getting you speaking your new language with real people, fast.

You now have a solid map for counting in Arabic from 1 to 1,000 and beyond. Pick one real-life use today and put the numbers to work.