Prices and phone numbers in Arabic
A price is a number with a noun after it, which is exactly where Arabic’s counting rules show. Learn them once with one currency and they hold for every other.
Updated 8 October 2026
One currency through the rules
The dirham (درهم, plural دراهم) is masculine. Read down the table and the noun changes three times.
| Amount | Arabic | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | درهم واحد | the noun, with واحد after it if stressed |
| 2 | درهمان | the dual noun alone |
| 3 | ثلاثة دراهم | 3 to 10: plural noun, number with ة |
| 10 | عشرة دراهم | |
| 11 | أحد عشر درهما | 11 to 99: singular noun, accusative |
| 25 | خمسة وعشرون درهما | |
| 100 | مائة درهم | 100 and 1,000: singular noun, genitive |
| 1,000 | ألف درهم | |
| 3,000 | ثلاثة آلاف درهم | the noun follows the last word, آلاف |
These are the same three shapes as the thousands on the big numbers page: plural after 3 to 10, singular with -an after 11 to 99, singular after a hundred or a thousand.
Currencies and their gender
| Currency | Singular | Plural | Gender |
|---|---|---|---|
| dirham (UAE, Morocco) | درهم | دراهم | masculine |
| dinar (Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria) | دينار | دنانير | masculine |
| riyal or rial (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Yemen) | ريال | ريالات | masculine |
| pound (Egypt, Sudan) | جنيه | جنيهات | masculine |
| lira (Lebanon, Syria) | ليرة | ليرات | feminine |
A feminine currency flips the number from 3 to 10: ثلاث ليرات, three lira, with no ة on three. The rule is explained on the gender page.
Decimals on a price tag
Where Eastern Arabic digits are used, the decimal point is the Arabic decimal separator ٫ (U+066B) and thousands may be grouped with ٬ (U+066C), though a comma or point is also common. Out loud, the main unit and the small one are said separately, joined by و: three dirhams and fifty fils. The digits themselves are on Eastern Arabic numerals.
Phone numbers
Read one digit at a time with the counting forms: صفر, خمسة, ثمانية. This is the place a learner hears صفر most often, and the one place where reading the digits in written order is right: no units-before-tens reversal applies to a string of single digits.
Questions
How do you say five dollars in Arabic?
خمسة دولارات (khamsat dūlārāt): after 3 to 10 the noun is plural, and dollar is masculine, so the number takes ة. Fifteen dollars is خمسة عشر دولارا, with the singular, and a hundred dollars is مائة دولار.
Does this page give exchange rates?
No. It covers how amounts of money are said and written in Arabic. For the value of a currency, use your bank or a current exchange-rate source; rates change daily and are outside what this site checks.
How are phone numbers read in Arabic?
Mostly digit by digit, with صفر for zero: 050 is صفر خمسة صفر. Some speakers group the digits in pairs or threes as they would a short number. On a printed card in Egypt or the Gulf the number is often in Eastern Arabic digits, written left to right as in English.