A1Unit 4 · Numbers, time and the market · Lesson 31 of 100
Numbers 20 to 100
wāḥad w ʿishrīn · khamse w talātīn · miyye
Goal: Count from twenty to one hundred and say any number in between.
Dialogue
Early in the morning, Sam finds Abu Samir counting crates at the market and decides to help. You will learn the tens from 30 to 90, the numbers in between, and miyye "a hundred".
Early morning at the market in Ramallah. A truck has just brought crates of tomatoes to Abu Samir's stall.
- Samṣabāḥ il-khēr, ya Abu Samīr! shu btiʿmal?Good morning, Abu Samir! What are you doing?
- Abu Samirṣabāḥ in-nūr! baʿidd iṣ-ṣanādīʾ: sabʿa w talātīn, tamānye w talātīn…Good morning! I'm counting the crates: thirty-seven, thirty-eight…
- Samkam ṣandūʾ ʿindak?How many crates do you have?
- Abu Samiryimkin khamsīn, yimkin sittīn. ma baʿrafsh!Maybe fifty, maybe sixty. I don't know!
- Sambiddi asāʿed. tisʿa w talātīn, wāḥad w arbaʿīn…I want to help. Thirty-nine, forty-one…
- Abu Samirlaʾ, ya ḥabībi! tisʿa w talātīn, arbaʿīn, wāḥad w arbaʿīn!No, my dear! Thirty-nine, forty, forty-one!
- Samāsef! … tisʿa w khamsīn, sittīn, wāḥad w sittīn.Sorry! … Fifty-nine, sixty, sixty-one.
- Abu Samirwāḥad w sittīn ṣandūʾ! shukran, ya Sām. yaʿṭīk il-ʿāfye!Sixty-one crates! Thanks, Sam. God give you strength!
- Samalla yʿāfīk! w bukra? mīt ṣandūʾ?And you! And tomorrow? A hundred crates?
- Abu Samirā, mīt ṣandūʾ, w inte bitʿidd!Yes, a hundred crates, and you do the counting!
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| talātīn | thirty+ singular noun: talātīn ṣandūʾ thirty crates |
| arbaʿīn | forty |
| khamsīn | fifty |
| sittīn | sixty |
| sabʿīn | seventy |
| tamānīn | eighty |
| tisʿīn | ninety |
| miyye | hundredbefore a noun: mīt (mīt ṣandūʾ); 200 = mītēn |
| ṣandūʾ | box, cratepl. ṣanādīʾ |
| ʿadd | to countʿadd / yʿidd; baʿidd I count |
Grammar
1. The tens
You already know ʿishrīn "twenty". The other tens also end in -īn, and most of them look like the numbers 3 to 9.
| Number | Palestinian Arabic | Compare |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | talātīn | talāte 3 |
| 40 | arbaʿīn | arbaʿa 4 |
| 50 | khamsīn | khamse 5 |
| 60 | sittīn | sitte 6 |
| 70 | sabʿīn | sabʿa 7 |
| 80 | tamānīn | tamānye 8 |
| 90 | tisʿīn | tisʿa 9 |
| 100 | miyye | — |
2. From 21 to 99: the small number first
Say the unit, then w "and", then the ten, like "four-and-twenty" in old English.
3. With a noun
After 20, 30 … 90 the noun stays singular, just as after 11 to 19: ʿishrīn sane, sittīn ṣandūʾ. Before a noun, miyye becomes mīt.
Sound: the ʿ of arbaʿīn and sabʿīn is the voiced throat sound ayn.
Practice
1Choose the right number
Which one is 40?
arbaʿa is 4 and arbaʿtaʿsh is 14.
Which one is 70?
What is tamānye w khamsīn?
The unit comes first: 8 and 50.
Abu Samir has 61 crates. He says:
The unit comes first, and after 20, 30 … the noun is singular.
2Complete the sentence
khamse w ___ = 35
___ ṣandūʾ = a hundred crates
Before a noun, miyye becomes mīt.
Abu Samīr ___ iṣ-ṣanādīʾ. = Abu Samir is counting the crates.
baʿidd is "I count"; for "he" the form is biʿidd.
3Match the Arabic and the English
talātīn
khamsīn
sittīn
tisʿīn
ṣandūʾ
4Put the words in order
I'm counting the crates now.
How many crates do you have? (to a man)
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
Say the number 47.
sabʿa w arbaʿīn
I am twenty-five years old.
ʿumri khamse w ʿishrīn sane.
6True or false?
The first time, Sam says "forty" after "thirty-nine".
He jumps from tisʿa w talātīn to wāḥad w arbaʿīn.
In the end, Abu Samir has sixty-one crates.
Summary
- You can say the tens from ʿishrīn to tisʿīn, and miyye "a hundred".
- You can say any number from 21 to 99, unit first: khamse w talātīn.
- You can count things above twenty with a singular noun: sittīn ṣandūʾ, mīt ṣandūʾ.
- You can say "I count": baʿidd.