HURGHADA ONLINE YOR GUIDE TO HURGHADA

welyonlin · Site Admin Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 34

2. Counting

0 — sifr 1 — wâhid
2 — ithnân 3 — thalâtha
4 — 'arbaca 5 — khamsa
6 — sitta 7 — sabca
8 — thamâniya 9 — tisca
10 — cashra 11 — 'ahada cashra
12 — ithnâ cashra 13 — thalâtha cashra
14 — 'arbaca cashra 15 — khamsa cashra
16 — sitta cashra 17 — sabca cashra
18 — thamâniya cashra 19 — tisca cashra
20 — cishrûn 21 — 'ahad wa-cishrûn
22 — ithnân wa-cishrûn 23 — thalâtha wa-cishrûn
24 — 'arbaca wa-cishrûn 25 — khamsa wa-cishrûn
26 — sitta wa-cishrûn 27 — sabca wa-cishrûn
28 — thamâniya wa-cishrûn 29 — tisca wa-cishrûn
30 — thalâthûn 35 — khamsa wa-thalâthûn
40 — 'arbacûn 42 — 'ithnân wa-'arbacûn
50 — khamsûn 59 — tisca wa-khamsûn
60 — sittûn 66 — sitta wa-sittûn
70 — sabcûn 73 — thalâtha wa-sabcûn
80 — thamânûn 84 — 'arbaca wa-thamânûn
90 — tiscûn 91 — 'ahad wa-tiscûn
100 — mi'a 1000 — 'alf

Grammar: Use of numbers

Numbers in Arabic are quite complicated, there are different rules for the numbers, numbers are declined according to gender. Getting the grip on numbers in order to make practical use of them (few Arabs used numbers correctly), is however reasonably easy.
From 21 to 99 you count like this: (example) 24: Four wa-forty.From 12 to 19 you count like this (example) 15: Five Ten. 11 is slightly slightly diverging.
When putting numbers together with nouns you do like this:

1: (example) 1 book is said as simply as "book", "kitâb", you leave 1 out, unless it is very important to emphasise that it is one book.
2: (example) 2 books is a special case, as Arabic not only has singular and plural, but also dual. The rules here are straight, but often ommitted by students, who wind up saying "2 books",

ithnân kutub.

That is not correct, and the correct dual for 2 books is

kitâbâni.

3 and up: You place the full form of the number first, immediately followed by the noun: 42 books:

ithnân wa-'arbacûn kutub.

While this is not the correct form, it is OK to say it this way at the present level. If you're curious, this is the correct way for saying 42 books:

ithnân wa-'arbacûn kitâbân.
3. Meeting people
Click on transliterated text to play sound

mâ-smuk?
What's your name?

'ismî salîm
My name is Salim

'ismuhu rashîd
His name is Rashid

'ismuhâ warda
Her name is Warda

'anâ sâ'ih
I'm a tourist (as uttered by a man)

'anâ sâ'iha
I'm a tourist (as uttered by a woman)

'acmal hunâ
I'm working here

'anâ tâlib
I'm a student (as uttered by a man)

'anâ tâliba
I'm a student (as uttered by a woman)

Grammar: Basic Arabic sentences

"To be" and "to have" — verbs you don't use!

Two verbs are normally ommitted from Arabic (this thing makes learning the language a little bit easier). These two are to be and to have. The first of these two is well exemplified above. Instead of saying "My name is Erik", you say "Name mine Erik" — 'ismî 'îrîk
The same applies for qualities: Instead of saying "She is a teacher", you say "She teacher" — hiyya mudarrisa, "he tourist" — huwa sâ'ih
As for the verb "to have", which can also equal "to own": Instead of saying "He has a car", you say "To him a car" — lahu sayyâra, "to her a book" — lahâ kitâb, "to me a house" (="I own a house") — lî bayt
Elegant, don't you think?
Even if this could appear slightly confusing at the very first, the rules are terribly simple, and soon you will see yourself forming basic sentences,- without the use of any verb. However, be prepared, Arabic is full of verbs, and there is no way around them if you want to communicate properly in Arabic.