Arabic: An Essential Grammar

are formed by prefixing the definite article َأْلـ.. to the corresponding

cardinal numbers. They are inflected for case but not for gender, e.g.

َأْل ِب ْن ُت ْل ِعـ ْش ُرو َنَأْل َوَل ُ د /^

al-waladu /

al-bintu l-



isˇru ̄na, the 20th boy / girl

35.7 Ordinal adverbs are derived from ordinal numbers simply by

inflecting them for the indefinite accusative case (see chapter 38 on

adverbs), e.g.

etc.

35.8 The fractions from

(^1) -
2 to
---^1
10 are formed mostly according to the
pattern ُف ْع ٌل fu

lun, for the singular, and َأ ْفـ َعا ٌل


af

a ̄lun, for the plural:
Examples:
35.9 The word for percentage is ي ُةَّّو
َن ْس َب ُة ْلـ ِم َئََّأل


an-nisbatu l-
mi


awiyyatu. Percentage figures (%) are expressed by adding the
و ًلاََّأ^


awwalan, firstly َثا ِن ًيا t
̄
a ̄niyan, secondly َثاِل ًثا t
̄
a ̄lit
̄
an, thirdly
Singular Plural
1

• 2 ِنـ ْصـ ٌف nis
  ̇

fun َأ ْنـ َصا ٌف

ans

̇

a ̄fun

(^1) -
3 ُثـْلـ ٌث t
̄
ult
̄
un َأ ْثـ َلا ٌث


at
̄
la ̄t
̄
un
1

• 4 ُر ْبـ ٌع rub



un َأ ْر َبا ٌع

arba ̄



un

(^1) -
5 ُخـ ْمـ ٌس h
̆
umsun َأ ْخـ َمـا ٌس


ah
̆
ma ̄sun
1

• 6 ُسـ ْد ٌس sudsun َأ ْسـ َدا ٌس^

asda ̄sun

(^1) -
7 ُسـ ْبـ ٌع sub

un َأ ْسـ َبـا ٌع


asba ̄

un
1

• 8 ُثـ ْمـ ٌن t
  ̄

umnun َأ ْثـ َمـا ٌن

at

̄

ma ̄nun

(^1) -
9 ُتـ ْسـ ٌع tus

un َأ ْتـ َسـا ٌع


atsa ̄

un
1

10 ُعـ ْشـ ٌر^

usˇrun َأ ْعـ َشـا ٌر


a

sˇa ̄run
ُثـْلـ َثـا ِن َثـ َلا َثـ ُة َأ ْخـ َمـا ٍس َأ ْثـ َمـا ٍنَخـ ْم َسـ ُة
t
̄
ult
̄
a ̄ni (dual),

-^2
3 t
̄

ala ̄t

̄

atu

ah

̆

ma ̄sin,

(^3) -
5 h
̆
amsatu


at
̄
ma ̄nin,
5

• 8

ِتـ ْسـ َعـ ٌة َو َثـ َلا َثـ ُة َأ ْر َبـا ٍع َأ ْر َبـ َعـ ٌة َو َخـ ْمـ َسـ ُة َأ ْسـ َدا ٍس

tis



atun wa-t

̄

ala ̄t

̄

atu

arba ̄



in, 9

3

• 4

arba



atun wa-h

̆

amsatu

asda ̄sin, 4

5

• 6

273

Ordinal

numbers,

fractions,

expres-

sions of

time,

calendars