This topic describes how to use numbers with nouns.
One or two:
Singular nouns are used to indicate one item:
a day, one day يَوْمٌ
an hour, one hour ساعَةٌ
Dual nouns are used to indicate two items:
two days يَوْمانِ
two hours ساعَتانِ
A number may be added for emphasis or contrast:
one day يَوْمٌ واحِدٌ
two days يَوْمانِ إثْنانِ
one hour ساعَةٌ واحِدَةٌ
two hours ساعَتانِ إثْناتانِ
Note that واحِدٌ and إثْنانِ are adjectives which agree in gender and case with the nouns they modify.
Three and above:
When numbers occur with counted nouns, the forms of both the number and the noun follow special rules. With some numbers, the counted noun is plural, while with others the noun is singular.
Both the number and the counted noun change according to case, as well as gender.
The rules for expressing numbers with counted nouns in Modern Standard Arabic are very complicated. Examples are given below so that you can recognize them when you are reading or listening.
When speaking, you may use the basic numbers followed by a plural noun, as is common in colloquial dialects.
Examples:
two seconds later; in two seconds بَعْدَ دَقيقَتَيْنِ
three minutes ثَلاثُ دَقائِقَ
four weeks أَرْبَعَةُ أَسابيعَ
one thousand and one nights أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ
I spent 23 years there. قَضَيْتُ ثَلاثَةً وَعِشْرينَ عامًا هُناكَ
for a period of 61 hours لِمُدَّةِ إحْدى وَسشتِّنَ ساعَةً
See also: