Learning numbers in Arabic and how to use them is one of the more challenging aspects of learning the language. One reason they are difficult is that Arabic uses alternative digits (Hindi numerals), though sometimes the same digits used in English are used in Arabic.

- 0 (zero) - صِفْر (sifr)

- 1 (one) - واحد (wahid)

- 2 (two) - اثنان (ithnan)

- 3 (three) - ثَلاثة (thalatha)

- 4 (four) - أربَعة (arba’)

- 5 (five) - خَمْسة (khamsa)

- 6 (six) - ستًة (sitta)

- 7 (seven) - سَبْعة (saba’a)

- 8 (eight) - ثمانية (thamania)

- 9 (nine) - تسْعة (tisa’a')

- 10 (ten) - عَشَرة (ashara)

These numerals are used on money, sometimes on gas station signs to show the price, and other places. Here is a 100 Egyptian pound bill:

Now, listen to the Arabic numbers from one to ten:

In Arabic, there are both masculine and feminine forms of the numbers, with grammar rules about when to use which gender. Further discussion of this will come later.

The BBC Xtra English segment from December 5, 2005 is about various terms in English for streets, including the term “lane” which is deemed “classier” and can help a property sell for more.

Again, while this segment of the BBC Xtra program is intended for Arabic speakers who are learning English, it is also very helpful for learning Arabic since they explain things in both English and Arabic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/elt/newsid_4493000/4493070.stm

Here are some Arabic words used in the BBC Xtra audio clip:

The BBC Xtra English segment for January 30th discusses employment agencies in the UK, and bogus ones.

Here is the link to the BBC segment, which discusses various English phrases such as “wannabe stars” and “take advantage of”. The BBC page also includes the ability to listen to the clip:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/elt/newsid_7217000/7217474.stm

Here are some words mentioned in the clip:

The word for “employ” is وظف (wathafa) and “employment” is توظيف (tawthif).

مزيف (muzayyaf) - fake

وكالة (wakala) - agency

ممثل (mumaththil) - actor

عارض الأظياء (arada al-azya) - fashion model

رسم (rasm) - fee; رسوم (rusam) - fees [pl]

والدان (walidan) - parents

طفل (tifl) - child; أطفال (atfal) - children [pl]

مجاني (majjani) - free

عقد (aqd) - contract

نقد (naqd) - money

غير (ghayyara) - to change

BBC Arabic radio has a regular feature to teach some English language (اللغة الانجليزيه - lughata inglizia) to Arabic listeners. BBC also posts these audio clips on its website, along with accompanying written information. While intended for people learning English, these BBC features are useful the other way around, for learning Arabic, to hear the Arabic equivalents of the words spoken and how they are used in sentences.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/elt/newsid_7073000/7073727.stm (Segment from November 4, 2007)

In this segment, they discuss the words (كالمات) “prefer” (أفضل - afadil) which is a verb (فعل), and how it differs from the word “preference” (مفضلة - mufadila) which is a noun (اسم). For example, انا افضل الموز (I prefer bananas). Examples they use are music preferences, such as يفضل موسيقى الكلاسيكيه (yufadilu musica clasikia), “He prefer classical music”.

The segment also discusses the words “popular” (محبوب - mahbub) compared to “popularity” (شعبية - shabiya). For example, يتمتع محبوب (yatamatta mahbub) - “he enjoys popularity”, with the word used as a noun.

The segment ends with discussion of the English phrase, “to make your mind up”, using the Arabic word “to decide” (قرر - qarrara) and “decision” (قرار - qarar).

A new word for the day is الأمم المتحدة (al-omma al-mutaheeda), which is Arabic for “the United Nations”. Google is a good friend for learning a language. Searching الأمم المتحدة, I found a United Nations radio website (إذاعة الأمم المتحدة) that has Arabic-language news stories, along with audio. The audio stories tend to be the exact same thing that is written in the article text. Also, these clips are fairly short — just a few minutes, and can be replayed over and over again in case you missed something or want to stop and look up a word.