Dear Arabic fans, this is Hamid and I am happy that you found Linguamid, your companion for learning Arabic easy and fast. In this article, we dive into the world of numbers in Arabic and learn together the numbers 1 – 10 in Arabic. You can also check many interesting topics about the Arabic language and spoken Egyptian in my blog.
Many of my audience have a particular interest in Arabic numbers and I have got many questions on my channel platform (Linguamid) about their origin and how to write and pronounce them. Some of the students think that numbers in Arabic are difficult to learn. In this article, I will illustrate how numbers from 0 – 10 in Arabic are super easy to learn. Besides, I will talk about the origin of the numbers
So let’s start
What does ‘numbers’ mean in Arabic?
Numbers mean in Arabic Al-Ark’aam الأرقام, which is the plural of ‘rak’m رقم.’ It is important here to note that by ‘Ark’aam’, we mean numbers from 0 to 9. However. If you mean the numbers beyond 9, you refer to them as ‘Al-A3daad الأعداد, which is the plural of ‘a’adad’ عدد. Now let’ take a bit about the origin of the Arabic numbers.
Origin of the Arabic Numbers
In fact, there are two principle systems for writing the numbers in Arab countries:
- Western Arabic numerals system
- Eastern Arabic numerals system
Western Arabic system
‘Western Arabic numerals’ or ‘Hindu-Arabic numerals.’ were first developed by Indian mathematicians (Around 500 A.D.) then transferred to the Arab land in the 9th century by the mathematicians’ Al-Kindi’ and ‘Al-Khwarizmi.’
Europeans later adopted this system. It is interesting to know the name ‘Al-Khwarizmi’ then gave rise to the term ‘Algorithm.’
The numbers in Arabic systems are the numbers you write in English as 1, 2, 3, etc.
This system is based on the number of angles defining each number. For instance, the number 2 is written two because it includes two tips. Likewise, 3 contains 3 angels, and so on.
Eastern Arabic system
Eastern Arabic numerals’ or ‘Arabic-Hindu numerals’ or ‘Arabic-Indic’ is another variant introduced by ‘Al-Khwarizmi’ and derived from the Indian numbers.
They are also called ‘Hindi numerals.’ i system is used primarily alongside the ‘Western Arabic numerals’ system in many Athe rabic lands such as Egypt and UAE.
The following figure shows different Arabic system is different from the western one.
The following table shows the two systems and their transliteration of the numbers 1 – 10 in Arabic. You can listen to their pronunciation in my YouTube episode.
To give you the necessary foundation, I prepared a 100% free Modern Standard Arabic course (MSA 101), where you can lay a strong foundation and background in the most widely understood dialect in the Arab region, the Egyptian dialect.
Now you know valuable info about the numbers 1 – 10 in Arabic. Did you find their pronunciation easy or difficult? Please share with me.
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