Arabic Numbers 1 to 10 (and Up to 100): Count Like People Speak

Quick answer The Arabic numbers 1 to 10 are wahid, itnein, talata, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, sab'a, tamanya, tis'a, 'ashara in spoken Egyptian Arabic, and wahid, ithnan, thalatha, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, sab'a, thamaniya, tis'a, 'ashara in Modern Standard Arabic. In much of the Arab world they are written with the digits ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩ ١٠. From 21 upward, the ones come first: 21 is wahid wi 'ishrin, literally "one and twenty".

Search for "Arabic numbers 1 10" and you get two kinds of results: tables of Standard Arabic words that nobody says in a taxi, and pages about the history of the digits we use in English. Neither helps much when a shopkeeper in Cairo says a price and you have two seconds to understand it.

This guide is built for that moment. You get the Arabic numbers in the standard form, in the spoken forms you will actually hear in Egypt, the Levant and Morocco, and in the Arabic-Indic digits you will see on price tags and menus. Then we go from 11 to 100, because once you see the system, the rest of Arabic counting takes an afternoon.

A quick note on spelling: the apostrophe (') stands for the throat sound ع, and "kh" is the rough sound in Scottish "loch". If those letters are new to you, our guide on how to pronounce Arabic letters walks through them one by one.

Arabic numbers 1 to 10 in words

Here are the numbers one to ten in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the written standard, with the Arabic script:

1. wahid (واحد): one
2. ithnan (اثنان): two
3. thalatha (ثلاثة): three
4. arba'a (أربعة): four
5. khamsa (خمسة): five
6. sitta (ستة): six
7. sab'a (سبعة): seven
8. thamaniya (ثمانية): eight
9. tis'a (تسعة): nine
10. 'ashara (عشرة): ten

And zero is sifr (صفر). That word traveled into Europe and gave English both "cipher" and, by a longer road, "zero".

If you only learn one version, do not make it this one. MSA is what you read in newspapers and hear on the news, but nobody counts change at a market in MSA. The forms below are what you will hear in conversation, and they are close enough to the standard that learning them first costs you nothing. If you are unsure how the two relate, our explainer on Modern Standard Arabic sorts it out.

How people actually count: Egyptian, Levantine and Moroccan

Spoken Arabic changes a few numbers, and the changes follow patterns. Here are one to ten in the three dialects most learners start with (Egyptian · Levantine · Moroccan):

• 1: wahid · wahad · wahed
• 2: itnein · tnein · juj
• 3: talata · tlate · tlata
• 4: arba'a · arba'a · rb'a
• 5: khamsa · khamse · khamsa
• 6: sitta · sitte · stta
• 7: sab'a · sab'a · sb'a
• 8: tamanya · tmane · tmanya
• 9: tis'a · tis'a · tes'ud
• 10: 'ashara · 'ashra · 'ashra

Three patterns explain almost everything in that list:

• "th" becomes "t". MSA thalatha becomes talata in Cairo and tlate in Damascus or Beirut. The same happens to eight: thamaniya becomes tamanya. Many Gulf speakers keep the "th", which is one reason Gulf numbers sound closer to the textbook.
• Levantine words often end in "-e". Where Egyptians say khamsa and sitta, a Lebanese or Syrian speaker says khamse and sitte.
• Moroccan drops short vowels. Sab'a becomes sb'a, arba'a becomes rb'a. Moroccan Arabic also has two numbers of its own: juj for two and tes'ud for nine. If Morocco is your destination, our guide to learning Moroccan Arabic covers what else changes.

Pick the column that matches the people you want to talk to and learn that one. If you have not decided yet, Egyptian and Levantine are both widely understood; our comparison of Egyptian and Levantine Arabic helps you choose.

Arabic digits: ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩

The digits used in English, 0 to 9, are called Arabic numerals because Europe learned them from Arabic-speaking scholars, who had taken them from India. That is why you also see the term Hindu-Arabic numerals. But in Egypt, Iraq, the Levant and the Gulf, you will often see a different set of digits, sometimes called Eastern Arabic or Arabic-Indic numerals:

• ٠ = 0, a small dot
• ١ = 1, a vertical stroke
• ٢ = 2
• ٣ = 3
• ٤ = 4
• ٥ = 5, a small circle
• ٦ = 6
• ٧ = 7, shaped like a V
• ٨ = 8, an upside-down V
• ٩ = 9

Two traps catch almost every beginner. The circle ٥ is five, not zero; zero is the dot ٠. And ٦ looks a lot like a 7 to English eyes, but it is six.

One pleasant surprise: although Arabic script runs right to left, numbers with several digits are written with the biggest place on the left, just like in English. ٢٠٢٦ is 2026, and ١٠ is 10. In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, everyday life mostly uses the digits you already know, so there you only need the spoken words.

From 11 to 100: the system behind Arabic counting

Once you know one to ten, the rest of Arabic counting is regular. Here is how it works in spoken Egyptian Arabic, with Levantine forms sounding very close.

11 to 19

The teens sound like short, merged words ending in -tashar, a worn-down form of ten: hidashar (11), itnashar (12), talattashar (13), arba'tashar (14), khamastashar (15), sittashar (16), saba'tashar (17), tamantashar (18), tisa'tashar (19). In the Levant the ending is shorter, closer to -ta'sh: khamsta'sh for 15.

The tens

The tens end in -in and are easy to spot because most of them contain the matching single digit: 'ishrin (20), talatin (30), arba'in (40), khamsin (50), sittin (60), sab'in (70), tamanin (80), tis'in (90). A hundred is miyya, and a thousand is alf.

"One and twenty", not "twenty-one"

This is the one real adjustment for English speakers. In Arabic, the ones come first, joined by "and" (wi in Egyptian, w in the Levant). 21 is wahid wi 'ishrin, "one and twenty". 35 is khamsa wi talatin. 99 is tis'a wi tis'in. If you know German or old-fashioned English nursery rhymes ("four and twenty blackbirds"), you have already met this order.

Bigger numbers are built from the largest part down: 125 is miyya khamsa wi 'ishrin, a hundred, five and twenty.

Numbers with nouns: the rules you can skip at first

Arabic grammar books spend pages on numbers, and that scares people off. Here is what matters for speaking, and what can wait.

• One and two usually skip the number. Arabic has a dual form, so "two years" is simply sanatein in Egyptian, not "two year". "One year" is just sana, or sana wahda for emphasis.
• Three to ten take a plural noun. Egyptian talat sinin means three years. Notice that talata shortens to talat before the noun; you will hear that often.
• From eleven on, the noun goes back to singular. 'ishrin sana is twenty years, literally "twenty year".

In Modern Standard Arabic there is an extra layer: the numbers three to ten take the opposite gender of the noun they count. It is a real rule and you will need it for formal writing, but it should not stop you from counting out loud in your first week.

Arabic numbers in daily life: prices, time and phone numbers

Numbers stick when you use them in the situations where you need them. Three come up on every trip:

• Prices: "How much?" is bikam? in Egyptian and addeish? in Levantine. The answer often comes with the currency: khamsin gineh, fifty pounds, in Egypt.
• Time: "What time is it?" is is-sa'a kam? in Egyptian. The answer starts with is-sa'a and the number: is-sa'a talata, three o'clock. Wi nuss means "and a half".
• Phone numbers: People read them digit by digit or in pairs, fast and without pauses. It is the best listening exercise there is, and it is exactly where textbook learners get lost.

For the polite phrases around these conversations, see our list of essential Arabic phrases for travelers. If you want to hear how a sentence with numbers sounds in a specific dialect, try our free Arabic dialect translator.

Why your Arab friends type 3 and 7 in words

Open a chat with Arabic speakers and you will see numbers inside words: 3arabi, 7abibi, ana 2ult. This is Arabizi, Arabic written with Latin letters, and the digits stand for sounds English letters cannot show. They were chosen by shape:

• 2 is the glottal stop ء, the catch in "uh-oh".
• 3 is ع, because it looks like a mirrored ع.
• 7 is the breathy ح.
• 5 often stands for خ, the "kh" sound, because the Arabic word for five, khamsa, starts with it.

For the very start, being able to read Arabizi is enough. The real script is worth learning too, and it is faster than most people think; our 7-day plan for the Arabic alphabet shows how.

How to learn Arabic numbers in a week

Counting from one to ten takes ten minutes. Understanding numbers at full speed takes practice. A plan that works:

1. Day 1 to 2: One to ten in your chosen dialect, out loud, forward and backward. Then count real things around you: steps, cups, coins.
2. Day 3: The digits ٠ to ٩. Write today's date and your phone number in them.
3. Day 4 to 5: The teens and the tens. Say every price you see during the day in Arabic, in your head or under your breath.
4. Day 6: The "one and twenty" order. Say your age, your house number and the year you were born.
5. Day 7: Listening. Have someone, or an app, read random prices and phone numbers to you and write them down.

Fifteen minutes a day for a week beats a two-hour session on a Sunday. Numbers are a speaking and listening skill, so treat them like one.

The fastest way to start using Arabic numbers in real conversations

A list gets you to ten. Real conversations need you to hear khamsa wi talatin at speed, say a price back, and keep going. That comes from speaking, with feedback on your pronunciation while the habits are new. Yallah Speak gives you AI conversations in real Arabic dialects from your first lesson, so you can practice prices, times and phone numbers the way people actually say them. Start speaking for free.

Frequently asked questions

How do you count from 1 to 10 in Arabic?

In spoken Egyptian Arabic: wahid, itnein, talata, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, sab'a, tamanya, tis'a, 'ashara. In Modern Standard Arabic, two, three and eight become ithnan, thalatha and thamaniya. Levantine Arabic is very close to Egyptian, with endings like khamse and sitte.

What are the Arabic digits from 0 to 9?

In Egypt, the Levant, Iraq and the Gulf you will often see ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩. The dot ٠ is zero and the small circle ٥ is five. In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the digits 0 to 9 used in English are standard in daily life.

Are Arabic numbers written left to right?

Yes. Arabic text runs right to left, but numbers with several digits are written with the largest place on the left, as in English. So ٢٠ is 20 and ٢٠٢٦ is 2026.

How do you say 21 in Arabic?

21 is wahid wi 'ishrin in Egyptian Arabic, literally one and twenty. Arabic always puts the ones before the tens from 21 to 99, so 35 is khamsa wi talatin and 99 is tis'a wi tis'in.

Why are they called Arabic numerals?

The digits 0 to 9 used in English came to Europe from Arabic-speaking scholars, who had adopted them from India. That is why they are called Arabic or Hindu-Arabic numerals, even though much of the Arab world writes its own form of the digits.