Counting in Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic

The following chart compares how to count from 1-10 in Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic.  I included transliterations of all three languages so everyone can compare the similarities and dissimilarities between the languages.  In all three languages, cardinal and ordinal numbers must agree in gender (masculine or feminine; mixed groups are treated as masculine) with the noun(s) they are describing.  All of the forms here are cardinal (numbers that express amount; one, two, three of something) as opposed to ordinal numbers (which indicate position in a series or order; first, second, third).  Interestingly, Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic numbers all exhibit ‘polarity,’ that is, masculine numbers are used for feminine nouns and feminine numbers are used for masculine nouns.

In Modern Hebrew, if a noun isn’t being referred, the feminine form is used.  In Modern Hebrew many speakers commonly use the feminine form as the default, even in instances in which it would be grammatically wrong to do so.

You may be wondering where the Arabic feminine numbers have gone, all of the Arabic numbers can be made feminine by adding “ة” at the end.

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