- Numbers
- Beginners
- Dialects
Arabic numbers1 to 10
By Ahmed Gadir · 20 September 2026
Numbers are the first Arabic most people actually use. You need them for a price, a phone number, a room number and a round of coffee, and unlike most early vocabulary you will hear them back immediately — which is exactly the moment you find out whether you learned the sound or only the spelling.
This page gives you one to ten in Modern Standard Arabic, then shows you how the first five change once you leave the textbook and land somewhere specific.
One to five, written out
These are the Modern Standard forms, the ones you will meet in a course book and in anything written formally. The final vowel marks are part of that formal register; in speech they are usually dropped.
| Arabic | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| وَاحِدٌ | waaHid | One |
| اِثْنَانِ | ithnaan | Two |
| ثَلَاثَةٌ | thalaatha | Three |
| أَرْبَعَةٌ | arba'a | Four |
| خَمْسَةٌ | khamsa | Five |
Six to ten, out loud
Six to ten are where the consonant clusters start, and where reading the transliteration quietly to yourself stops being enough. Play each one and say it back before you move on.
Six to ten in Modern Standard Arabic
- سِتَّةٌsittaSix
- سَبْعَةٌsab'aSeven
- ثَمَانِيَةٌthamaaniyaEight
- تِسْعَةٌtis'aNine
- عَشَرَةٌ'asharaTen
The same numbers, seven places
Here is the part a chart of Modern Standard numerals will not tell you. Below is "two" as ArabyBuddy teaches it in each of the seven varieties in the app. Six of the seven are recognisably the same word worn down in different directions. One is not.
| Dialect | Arabic | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| MSA | اِثْنَانِ | ithnaanThe full formal form, ending included |
| Egyptian | اِتْنِينْ | itneen |
| Levantine | تْنِينْ | tneenThe opening vowel goes altogether |
| Gulf | اِثْنِين | ithneen |
| Iraqi | اِثْنِين | ithneen |
| Sudanese | اِتْنِين | itneen |
| Darija | جُوج | joojA different word — see the note below the table |
Darija's جُوج is the odd one out, and not because it wore down further than the rest. It belongs to a different word: زَوْج, a pair. Harrell's dictionary of Moroccan Arabic records it as zuz, glossed "both, together" (Harrell), and Wiktionary gives the Moroccan entry as inherited from Arabic زَوْج (Wiktionary). So where the other six say a version of "two", Moroccan reaches for something closer to "a pair" — which is why no amount of squinting turns اثنين into جوج.
Hear the difference
Reading those rows and hearing them are not the same exercise. The gap between ithnaan and tneen looks small written down and is obvious in the ear, and جُوج does not sound like a variant of anything above it.
Two, in all seven
- اِثْنَانِithnaanMSA
- اِتْنِينْitneenEgyptian
- تْنِينْtneenLevantine
- اِثْنِينithneenGulf
- اِثْنِينithneenIraqi
- اِتْنِينitneenSudanese
- جُوجjoojDarija
Three, four and five
The other numbers move less, but they do move. Three is the one to watch: the same word carries a th in some places and a t in others, and the vowel at the end drifts between -a and -e.
| Dialect | Arabic | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| MSA | ثَلَاثَةٌ | thalaatha |
| Egyptian | تَلَاتَةْ | talaata |
| Levantine | تْلَاتَة | tlaate |
| Gulf | ثَلَاثَة | thalaatha |
| Iraqi | ثَلَاثَة | thalaatha |
| Sudanese | تَلَاتَة | talaata |
| Darija | تْلَاتَة | tlaata |
Check yourself
Which of these is not a worn-down version of the same word as the others?
جُوج, the Darija word for two, comes from زَوْج, "a pair" — it is a separate word rather than a local pronunciation of اثنين. The other three are the same word as it sounds in Egyptian, Levantine and Gulf Arabic.
Count out loud, to someone who is listening
Practise numbers by saying them, in the dialect you actually need, and find out straight away whether they landed.
References
- A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English — Richard S. Harrell, Thomas Fox and Mohammed Abu-Talib (eds.) Link
Georgetown University Press. Records the word as *zuz*, glossed "both, together" (b-zuz, "they came together"). Cited for the word itself and its sense of a pair, which is what it attests; the Moroccan-English volume carries no headword for the numeral, so the derivation is carried by the row below rather than by this one.
- Wiktionary: جوج (Moroccan Arabic), retrieved 2026-09-20 Link
Gives the Moroccan entry as inherited from Arabic زَوْج (zawj), "a pair". It is the source for the derivation specifically, and it is a community-edited dictionary — cited because it is the one a reader can open and check. A standard etymological reference would be the better row and should replace it before this page is published.