Arabic: An Essential Grammar

numeral phrase ِبـˆ ْلـ ِمـ َئـ ِة bi-l-mi

ati or ِفي ْلـ ِمـ َئـ ِة fı ̄ l-mi

ati to the

cardinal number, e.g.

35.10 Days of the week

The names of the days of the week, لأ ْس ُبو ِعُيا ُم  ََّْأ

ayya ̄mu l-

usbu ̄



i, are

formed by combining the word for ‘day’, َي ْو ٌم yawmun (masc. sing.),

with nominal forms of the numerals (except for Friday and Saturday,

which have their own names) in the

id

̇

a ̄fah construction. Sometimes

the word َي ْو ُم is, in fact, left out.

َي ْو ُم ْ َلأ َح ِد yawmu l-

ah

̇

adi, Sunday

َي ْو ُم  ِْلا ْثـ َن ْيـ ِن yawmu l-it

̄

nayni, Monday

ّث َلا َثا ِءَُي ْو ُم ل yawmu t

̄

-t

̄

ula ̄t

̄

a ̄

i, Tuesday

َي ْو ُم ْ َلأ ْر ِب َعا ِء yawmu l-

arbi



a ̄

i, Wednesday

َي ْو ُم ْلـ َخ ِمي ِس yawmu l-h

̆

amı

• si, Thursday

َي ْو ُم ْلـ ُجـ ُم َع ِة yawmu l-g ̆umu



ati, Friday

س ْب ِتَّ َي ْو ُم ل yawmu s-sabti, Saturday

35.11 The calendars and names of the months

The names of the months of the year, س َن ِةَّ َأ ْش ُه ُر ل (sing.: َش ْه ٌر ),

according to the different prevalent calendars are:

َثـ َلا َثـ ٌة ِبـˆ ْلـ ِمـ َئـ ِة ِبـˆ ْلـ ِمـ َئـ ِةَأ ْر َبـ ُعـو َن ِبـˆ ْلـ ِمـ َئـ ِةِمـ َئـ ٌِة

t

̄

ala ̄t

̄

atun bi-l-mi

ati, 3%

arba



u ̄na bi-l-mi

ati, 40% mi

atun bi-l-mi

ati,

100%

used in Egypt,

Sudan and

North Africa

used in

eastern Arab

world

the Islamic or

lunar months

(1) January َي َنا ِي ُر ثا ِنيَّر ُم َكا ُنو ُن لَُّم َح

ka ̄nu ̄nu t

̄

-t

̄

a ̄nı

• muh
  ̇

arramu

274

Ordinal

numbers,

fractions,

expres-

sions of

time,

calendars