As stated in the previous post, the agreement between the gender of the noun and the number that qualifies it is confusingly difficult for native speakers and learners of Arabic alike. This is especially true with cardinal numbers الأَعْدَاد الأَصْلِيَّة. With other number types, the agreement is straightforward and always requires the addition of the feminine marker ـة / ة, the taa’ marbuuTah, to the end of the masculine to match with the feminine noun. This post explains number-gender agreement in Arabic and highlights some other issues that pertains to the use of numbers.

Cardinal Number and Agreement:  

Numbers 1 and 2:

Individual, part of compound numbers, or coupled with tens (numbers), the numbers 1 and 2 always match the gender of the noun they qualify. That is, their form is masculine with masculine nouns and feminine with feminine nouns. These are وَاحِد  or أَحَدَ with masculine nouns and وَاحِدَة or إِحْدَى with feminine nouns, as in these examples:

(أ) عِنْدِي تِلِفُون وَاِحد.     I have one phone

(ب) اِشْتَرِيْتُ سَاعَة وَاحِدَة.     I bought one watch

(ج) رَأَيْتُ رَجُلَيْن اِثْنَيْن.     I saw two men

(د) جَاءَ رَجُلَان اِثْنَان.     Two men came

(هـ) عِنْدِي بِنْتَان اِثْنَتَان.     I have two daughters

(و) فِي الغُرْفَة نَافِذَتَان اِثْنَتَان.     There are two windows in the room

(ز) قَرَأنَا أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كِتَابًا.     We read eleven books

(ح) كَتَبَت الرُّوائِيَّة إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ قِصَّةً.     The (female) novelist wrote eleven stories

(ط) فِي الشَّرِكَة اِثْنَا عَشَرَ رَجُلًا واِثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ سَيْدةً.      There are twelve men and twelve women in the company.

(ك) عِنْد وَاحِد وثَلاثُون كِتَابًا فِي النَّحو.     I have thirty-one grammar books.

(ل) قَرَأْتُ إِحْدَى وأَرْبَعِيْن رُوَايَةً السَّنَةُ المَاضِيَة.     I read forty-one novels last year.

(م) فِي الصَّف اِثْنَان وَسْتُّونَ طَالِبًا واِثْنَتَان وعِشْرُونَ طَالِبَةً.     There sixty-two male students and twenty-two female students in the class.

From the above examples, you can deduce the follow rules about numbers 1 and 2: 1) when used individually, they are adjectives; for this reason, they follow the nouns, 2) when compounded or coupled, they are nouns; therefore, they precede the noun, and 3) when preceded by the compound or coupled number, the noun must be indefinite accusative singular (this is called تَمْيِيْز).

Number 3 to 9:

Numbers from 3 to 9 are nouns, and hence, they have reverse agreement with the nouns which they modify. This is applicable with all number types they are part of, that is individual numbers, compound numbers, and tens (numbers). Nouns that follow these numbers should: 1) be indefinite genitive plural if preceded by numbers 3-9, and 2) be indefinite accusative singular if they are preceded by compound or coupled numbers, as in these examples:

(أ) أَكَلْتُ ثَلَاثَ تُفَّاحَاتٍ.     I eat three apples

(ب) كَتَبَتْ فَاطِمَةُ بِثَلَاثَةِ أَقْلَامٍ.     Fatima wrote with three pens

(ج) فِي بِيْتِي أَرْبَعُ غُرَفٍ.     There are four rooms in my house.

(د) قَتَلَ الإِرْهَابِيُّون أَرْبَعَةَ مَدَنِيِيْن.     The terrorists killed three civilians.

(هـ) حَضَرَ خَمْسَةُ طُلَّابٍ وَخْمسُ طَالِبَاتٍ.     Five male students and five female students came.

(و) فِي هَذَا الشَّارِع سِتَّةُ بُنْوكٍ وسِتُّ بَقَّالات كَبِيْرَة.     There are six banks and six big grocery stores in this street.

(ز) اِنْتَظَرْنَا فِي المَطَار سَبْعَ سَاعَاتٍ.     We waited for eight hours in the airport.

(ح) اِشْتَرَى المُتَمَرِّدُون سَبْعَةَ مَدَافِعٍ.     The rebels bought three cannons.

(ط) فِي هَذِهِ الحَضَانَةِ ثَمَانِيَةُ أَوْلادٍ وَثَمَانِ بَنَاتٍ.      There are eight boys and eight girls in this kindergarten.

(ي) اِشْتَرَيْتُ تِسْعَةَ كُتُبٍ مِن مَعْرَضِ الكِتَاب.     I bought nine books from the bookfair.

(ك) رَأَيْنَا تِسْعَ سَيَّارَاتٍ تُسْرِعُ فِي الطَرِيق السَّرِيع.     We saw nine cars speeding in the highway.

The first number (3 to 9) of these have the same rule as above. The second number (the -teen) must agree with the subsequent nouns, as in these examples:

(أ) أَخَذْنَا ثَلاثَةَ عِشَرَ دَرْسًا.     We took thirteen lessons.

(ب) فِي الفَصْل الدِّرَاسِي ثَلاثُ عَشْرَةَ مُحَاضَرَةً.       There are thirteen lectures in the semester.

(ج) دَفْعَتُ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ دُوْلارًا.     I paid fifteen dollars.

(د) فِي المَزْرَعَة خَمْسُ عَشْرَةَ بَقَرَةٍ.     There are fifteen cows in the farm.

(هـ) اِصْطَدْنَا ثَمَانِيَةً عَشْرَ أَرْنَبًا بَرِيَّا.     We hunted eighteen wild rabbits.

(و) حَفِظَ الطَّالِبُ ثَمَانِيَ عَشْرَةَ سُوْرَةٍ مِنْ القُرْآن.     The student memorized eighteen surahs of the Quran.

With couple numbers, the first number (i.e. the one preceding و) follow the same rule of reverse agreement, while the second is a sound plural form that can be nominative (i.e. ending in ون), accusative, or genitive (i.e. ending in يْنَ), as in these examples:

(أ) قَرَأْتْ زَيْنَب ثَلاثًا وَعِشْرِيْنَ قِصَّةً.      Zainab read twenty-three stories.

(ب) لَعِبْ الفَرِيْقَان خَمْسًا وَتِسْعِيْنَ دَقِيقَةً.     The two teams played ninety-five minutes.

(ج) جَاء أَرْبَعَةٌ وثَلاثُوْن جِنْدِيًّا.     Thirty-four soldiers came.

(د) فِي هَذِهْ الكُلِّيَّةِ خَمْسٌ وَخَمْسُونَ مُدَرِّسَةً.      There are fifty-five female instructors in this college.

Some Irregularities with Cardinals:

(1) The number 10: if this number is used alone (not compounded with 1 to 9), it follows the reverse agreement rule. If it is compounded with 1 to 9, it must agree with the noun it precedes (as in the examples above). Here are examples for individual use of this number.

(أ) سَجَّلْنَا عَشَرَةُ أَهْدَافٍ.      We score ten goals.

(ب) تُشَارِكُ فِي هَذِهِ المُسَابَقَة عَشْرُ لَاعِبَاتٍ.     Ten female players are participating in this tournament.

(ج) عَشْرَةُ رِجِالٍ حَضَرُوا الاِجْتِمَاع.     Ten men attended the meetings.

(د) فِي المُسْتَشْفَى عَشْرُ مُمَرِّضَاتٍ.     There are ten nurses in the hospital.

(2) Tens (number), hundred(s), and thousand(s) have the same form with both masculine and feminine nouns.

(3) The number 8: if it is used with masculine nouns, it always the same form, that is ثَمَانِيَة. If it is used with feminine nouns, it has two forms ثَمَان and ثَمَانِي. The first one is used when it occurs in a nominative or genitive position, and the second when it occurs in an accusative position.

Ordinal Numbers and Agreement:

Ordinal numbers are adjectives that weighed on the Morphological Measure as فَاعِل. Since they are adjectives, they obviously must agree with the noun that they qualify / describe. Their position is the regular position of adjectives in Arabic, that is after the noun. See the previous post for the masculine and feminine forms of these numbers. Here are some contextual examples:

(أ) أَسْكُنُ في الدَّورِ الرَّابِع.     I live in the fourth floor.

(ب) وَصَلَ الرَّئِيسُ السَاعَةَ الرَّابِعَة عَصْرًا.     The president arrived at four pm.

(ج) شَاهَدَت الأُسْرَةُ الحَلْقَةَ العَاشِرَة.     The family watch the tenth episode.

(د) اللَّاعِبُ العَاشِر هُو رَافَائِيل نَادَال.     The tenth player is Rafael Nadal.

(هـ) تَنَامُ سَلْوَى السَّاعَة الحَادِيَة عَشْرَة مَسَاءً.     Salwa sleeps tat 11 pm.

(و) عِيْدُ مِيْلاد مُحَمَّد هُو الحَادِي عَشَرَ مِنْ مَارِس.     Mohammed’s birthday is the eleventh of March.

(ز) وَصَلَ كُولُومْبُوس إِلَى أَمرِيْكا نَهَايْة القَرْن الخَامِس عَشَر.     Columbus landed in the Americas at the end of the fifteenth century.

(ح) حَفْظْتُ السُّورَةَ الخَامِسَة عَشْرَة مِنْ القُرآن.      I memorized the fifteenth surah of the Quran.  

(ط) يَحْتَفِلُ اليَمَن بِيَوم السَّادِس والعِشْرِيْن مِنْ سِبْتَمْبِر.     Yemen celebrates the 26^th of September.