Numbers in Hebrew are rather confusing topic, especially for English
speakers. In English we have two types of numbers: cardinal and ordinal: one and
first, two and second, seventeen and seventeenth, and so on.. That's pretty
simple and straightforward (or at least they seem to be if English is your first
language.) They are all gender neutral, and the ordinal numbers are derived from
their cardinal form with a simple addition of -th suffix.
Let's start using this as basis for Hebrew. First of all, we need to add
another "dimension": grammatic gender. Numbers in Hebrew are, strictly speaking,
nouns, and they can be masculine or feminine:
English |
|
Hebrew (fem.)
|
|
Hebrew (masc.)
|
one |
1 |
אַחַת |
|
אֶחָד |
two |
2 |
שְׁתַיִם |
|
שְׁנַיִם |
three |
3 |
שָׁלוֹשׁ |
|
שְׁלוֹשָה |
four |
4 |
אַרְבַּע |
|
אַרְבָּעָה |
five |
5 |
חָמֵש |
|
חֲמִשָּׁה |
six |
6 |
שֵׁשׁ |
|
שִׁשָּׁה |
seven |
7 |
שֶׁבַע |
|
שִׁבְעָה |
eight |
8 |
שְמוֹנֶה |
|
שְׁמוֹנָה |
nine |
9 |
תֵּשַׁע |
|
תִּשְׁעָה |
ten |
10 |
עֶשֶׂר |
|
עֲשָׂרָה |
Worth to mention, that the "default" form for nouns is feminine. When you
count, it's אחת, שתים, שלוש, ארבע, etc,
Also, note the following:
- For most of numerals you say just ארבעה בנים or שלושה אמהות - which is the
way you're used to say it: "four sons", "three mothers".
- For ONE, you put the numeral after the object: בֵּן אחד
(one son), בַּת אחת (one daughter.)
- For TWO, the stand-alone number changes into its combinational form (a.k.a.
Nismakh): שְׁנֵי
בָּנִים,
שְׁתֵי בָּנוֹת (two sons, two daughters.)
Zero is אֶפֶס
and it doesn't have masculine or feminine form. Nothing is nothing.
Similar to English, there are ordinal numbers in Hebrew. The first one is
"first", and it does not look like "one": it's
רִאשׁוֹן
rather than אַחַת.
You may notice that the word
רִאשׁוֹן is derived from
רֹאשׁ (head), that's why it
doesn't look like אַחַת.
Here are all the ordinal numbers 1 to 10 -- you may note that they look
pretty much like ordinary adjectives, derived from the cardinal numbers (which
are nouns.)
English |
|
Hebrew (fem.)
|
|
Hebrew (masc.)
|
first |
1 |
רִאשׁוֹנָה |
|
רִאשׁוֹן |
second |
2 |
שְׁנִיָּה |
|
שֵׁנִי |
third |
3 |
שְׁלִישִׁית |
|
שְׁלִישִי |
fourth |
4 |
רְבִיעִית |
|
רְבִיעִי |
fifth |
5 |
חֲמִשִּית |
|
חֲמִשִּׁי |
sixth |
6 |
שִׁשִּׁית |
|
שִׁשָּׁי |
seventh |
7 |
שְׁבִיעִית |
|
שְׁבִיעָי |
eighth |
8 |
שְמִינִית |
|
שְׁמִינִי |
ninth |
9 |
תְּשִׁיעִית |
|
תְּשִׁיעִי |
tenth |
10 |
עֲשִׂירִית |
|
עֲשִׂירִי |
As you can see, ordinal numbers from 2nd to 10th are derived directly from
the cardinal numbers.
I would recommend to memorize this part before going any forward. Both
cardinal and ordinal numbers are essential parts of the vocabulary in any
language; but we also can find many ancient and modern Israeli names which
include numbers. Let's read some of them, which is also a good exercise for you:
Hebrew (fem.)
|
|
Translation:
|
בְּאֵר-שֶׁבַע |
|
"Well of (the) Seven"
well --
בְּאֵר
|
קִרְיַת-אַרְבַּע |
|
"Town of (the) Four"
town -
קִרְיָה (combinational
form) - קִרְיַת
|
קִרְיַת-שְׁמוֹנָה |
|
רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן
|
|
"First in Zion" (a city
near Tel-Aviv) in Zion --
לְצִיּוֹן
|
שְׁנַיִם - מִי יוֹדֵעַ?
|
|
Two - Who Knows? (from
the Haggadah) who knows -
מִי יוֹדֵעַ
|
שִׁשָּׁה סִדְרֵי מִשְׁנָה
|
|
The six "orders" (books)
of
Mishnah
|
וּבַיּוֹם הַשְׁבִיעִי
שָבַת וַיִּנָּפָש
|
|
And in the 7th day
stopped working and rested.
and in the day -
וּבַיּוֹם
the -
הַ
stopped working -
שָבַת and rested -
יִנָּפָש
|
הַקּוֹנְגְרֶס הַצִּיּוֹנִי
הָעוֹלָמִי הָרִאשׁוֹן
|
|
First World Zionist Congress
(1897)
|
אַרְבָעָה בָנִים
|
|
"The four sons" (from
Haggadah)
sons -
בָּנִים
|
שְׁלוֹשָה אִמָּהוֹת
|
|
The Four Mothers
(mothers --
אִמָּהוֹת)
|
כְּבִישׁ אַרְבַע
|
|
Route -
כְּבִישׁ
(Route 4, the "Coast
Route")
|
כְּבִישׁ מִסְפַּר
שֵׁשׁ |
|
number -
מִסְפָּר
(Route number 6)
|
Next time reading your prayer books or Israeli tourist guide, you will
probably start to understand the meaning of some names. :)
Look on the phrase וביום השביעי
שבת וינפש. It's a perfect example of ordinal numeral: it's clearly an
adjective, and it behaves like one. It's getting the "article" (ha-
similar although not equivalent to English the), literally:
וביום השביעי -- "and in
the day the seventh", and it has the same gender (masculine) as the word
יום (day.)
Remark about modern spoken Hebrew:
Also, the good
news is, when you are talking about something abstract, you might simplifying
the grammar too: "שלוש דולר" or "עשר
שקל" rather than "שלושה
דולרים" or "עשרה שקלים"
(which is "more correct", as your grammar teacher would probably say.) It's hard
to formalize it as a rule though. It works for sure with money, in most cases
with measurement units too, and in some other cases. I'm not sure whether the
same simplification existed in classic Hebrew though.
As an exercise, go and read the Passover song "One - who knows?" :)
You will find a lot of numericals there.
Good luck, and see you in the next lesson about numerals!