How to count in Arabic
Counting aloud from one is واحد، اثنان، ثلاثة and on through the words on the 1 to 10 page. Saying any number beyond that is a matter of putting parts in the right order and joining them with و.
Updated 8 October 2026
Building a number, one step at a time
Each line adds one idea to the line before it. Every Arabic word here comes from the same engine that writes the worksheets.
- 7سبعةStep 1One unit word.
- 16ستة عشرStep 2A teen: the unit, then عشر.
- 40أربعونStep 3A round ten.
- 48ثمانية وأربعونStep 4Unit, then و joined to the ten.
- 300ثلاثمائةStep 5A hundred: one word.
- 348ثلاثمائة وثمانية وأربعونStep 6The hundred, then و and the unit, then و and the ten.
- 2,348ألفان وثلاثمائة وثمانية وأربعونStep 7The thousand first (here the dual), then the rest, each part joined by و.
- 52,348اثنان وخمسون ألفا وثلاثمائة وثمانية وأربعونStep 8The thousands counted (52 thousand, with the singular ألفا after 11 to 99), then the rest.
The order, in one line
Thousands, hundreds, units, tens, each joined to the one before with و. English says forty-eight; Arabic says ثمانية وأربعون, eight and forty. The thousands use their own counted form (ألف, ألفان, آلاف, ألفا), which the big numbers page sets out.
Practise
Write the number in Arabic. The check works like the worksheet key: vowel marks are ignored and مئة counts the same as مائة, but the letters must match, so the feminine form (خمس for خمسة) is marked wrong here, as it would be in a counting exercise.
Write it in Arabic
25
Counting objects
Counting objects adds a noun, and the noun changes the number’s form: ثلاثة أقلام (three pens) but ثلاث سيارات (three cars). After 11 the noun is singular: أحد عشر قلما, eleven pens. These rules are on the gender page; when counting aloud with no noun, the forms on this page are the ones to use.
For classroom practice, the worksheet generator makes counting runs with gaps (Fill the gaps), read from right to left as an Arabic line is.
Questions
What order do the parts of a long number go in?
Largest first, with one exception. Thousands come before hundreds, hundreds before the rest, and inside the last two digits the unit comes before the ten: 2,348 is ألفان وثلاثمائة وثمانية وأربعون, two thousand and three hundred and eight and forty. Every part after the first is joined with و.
Where does و (and) go?
Before every part except the first, and written onto the word that follows it, with no space: وثلاثمائة, وأربعون. English uses and once at most (three hundred and forty-eight); Arabic repeats it between every part.
How do I type Arabic without an Arabic keyboard?
The practice box on this page has a letter pad with every letter the number words use. On a computer you can also add an Arabic keyboard layout in the language settings of Windows or macOS; on a phone, add Arabic as a keyboard language. The box ignores vowel marks, so either typing style is accepted.
Do Arabic speakers count on their fingers the same way?
Customs vary by country and family, and there is no single Arabic finger count to learn. Prayer beads (سبحة) are also used to keep count in religious practice. For classroom counting, the spoken sequence on this page is what matters.