Numbers 11-20 and Sentence Construction in Arabic
ArabicNumbersGrammar rulesCase endingsSarfBeginner
This lesson covers Arabic numbers from 11 to 20, explaining the gender-agreement rule for مُذَكَّر (mudhakkar : masculine) and مُؤَنَّث (mu'annath : feminine) counted nouns, and introduces basic sentence construction with فَاعِل (fā'il : doer) and مَفْعُول (maf'ūl : object).
Original Recording
Original class recording
Key Points
- 1The number nineteen is تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ (tis'ata 'ashara : nineteen); note that تِسْعُون (tis'ūn) means ninety and must not be confused with it.
- 2Numbers 13–19 follow the gender-reversal rule: the units digit takes the opposite gender marker of the counted noun.
- 3Sentence construction example: كَاتِبٌ بِقَلَمٍ (kātibun bi-qalamin : a writer with a pen).
- 4كَمْ (kam : how many/much) is used to ask about quantity and is followed by a مُفْرَد (mufrad : singular) مَجْرُور (majrūr : genitive) noun.
- 5Counted nouns for numbers 11–99 remain مُفْرَد (mufrad : singular) and مَنْصُوب (mansūb : accusative).
Discussion Questions
- What is the مُذَكَّر (mudhakkar : masculine) جَمْع (jam' : plural) of كَسُول (kasūl : lazy)? — كُسَالَى (kusālā : lazy ones [plural]).
- How does the gender rule apply to the number 19 when counting مُذَكَّر (mudhakkar : masculine) nouns vs. مُؤَنَّث (mu'annath : feminine) nouns?