Some of you had probably heard the name "Me'a She`arim". Know the meaning?
Bingo, "Hundred Gates".
מֵאָה [ me'a ] means hundred. (In spoken Hebrew
it's also pronounced as [ me'a
], with the stress on the first syllable.)
So, 101 will be מֵאָה
וְאֶחָד [me'a
ve-'echad] (we
put the "ve-" before the last word in numbers), 123 is
מֵאָה עֶשְׂרִים וְשָׁלוֹשׁ
[ me'a `esrim
ve-shalosh ],
and so on.
Now, the plural of [ me'a
] is [ me'ot
]: מֵאוֹת.
That's simple. And [ me'a ] is obviously a noun of feminine gender (typically
can be recognized by the final "-a" in Hebrew*.) And since we had already
learned all the feminine numerals, your job should be easy now. Watch the
following:
- Remember all the "combinational" forms of 3, 7, 9 in 13, 17, 19? (Now, say
it: [ shlosh-esre
], [ shva-esre
], [ tesha-esre...
].) You can use them to build up the hundreds too:
300 - שְׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת
[ shlosh me'ot ] - three hundred
700 - שְׁבַע
מֵאוֹת
[ shva me'ot ] - seven hundred
900 - תְּשַׁע מֵאוֹת
[ tsha me'ot ] - nine hundred
That's how it works when you count abstract numbers. But it wouldn't be
incorrect to say also:
300 - שָׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת
[ shlosh me'ot ]
700 - שֶׁבַע
מֵאוֹת
[ shva me'ot ]
900 - תֶּשַׁע מֵאוֹת
[ tsha me'ot ]
It's rather intuitive than a rule, but I would say, you typically use the
smikhut (combinational form) when you're either counting or talking about
some objects: "three hundred dollars" -
שְׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת דּוֹלָר,
but if you say an abstract number (and you're not counting), it would be rather:
מִסְפָרָם נֱאֶמָד בְּשָׁלוֹשׁ
מֵאוֹת - something like this: "their number was estimated
by three hundred", rather "by three hundreds" - like the words
three and hundreds are separated rather than one "combinaitonal"
word.
Wait a second! How you say 200 now? Ah, that's interesting. As we've seen, we
barely can escape mentioning the grammar while discussing numbers. This time we
have to mention the Dual form of Nouns (existing along with Single and
Plural.) Dual form means we have two objects:
יוֹם [ yom ] (day) --
יָמִים
[ yamim ] (days) --
יוֹמַיִם [ yomayim ] (two days). Typically this form is used
with numbers, time measures, or clearly dual objects (e.g. parts of human body
or some types of cloth):
מִכְנָסַים
[ mikhnasayim
] - pants
יָדַיִם [ yadayim
] - hands
עֵינַיִם
[ `einayim
] - eyes
שְׁנָתַיִם
[ shnatayim
] - two years
Although this [ -ayim
] ending is not exclusive for the Dual form, all Dual forms do have this ending.
(Also, not the stress on the syllable before the last.)
So, for 200 we'll have dual form of 100:
מָאתַיִם
[ matayim
] (some Jerusalem old-timers also say [ma'atayim].)
So, for example, 276 is [ matayim
shiv`im
ve-shesh ], and so on.
The picture with thousands is similarף
אֶלֶף
[ elef
] stands for thousand
אֲלָפִים
[ alafim
] - thousands
אַלְפַּיִם
[ alpayim
] - two thousands
E.g.:
1234 -
אֶלֶף מָאתַיִם שְׁלוֹשִׁים וְאַרְבַּע
- [ elef
matayim shloshim
ve-arba ]
2009 -
אַלְפַיִם וְתֵשַׁע -
[ alpayim
ve-tesha ]
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם
- the hope of two thousand years (line from Hatikva - Israeli national
anthem.)
The idea is the same as with tens and hundreds, with a little exception: אלף
is a masculine Noun, and the notion for thousands should be in masculinе
combinational form:
3,000 -
שְׁלוֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים -
[ shloshet
alafim
]
4,000 -
אַרְבַּעַת אֲלָפִים -
[ arba`at
alafim
]
5,000 -
חֲמֶשֶׁת אֲלָפִים -
[ chameshet
alafim
]
6,000 -
שֵׁשֶׁת אֲלָפִים -
[ sheshet
alafim
]
7,000 -
שִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים -
[ shiv`at
alafim
]
8,000 -
שְׁמוֹנַת אֲלָפִים -
[ shmonat
alafim
]
9,000 -
תִּשְׁעַת אֲלָפִים -
[ tish`at
alafim
]
10,000 -
עֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים -
[ `aseret
alafim
]
E.g.
3145 -
שְׁלוֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים מֵאָה אַרְבָּעִים
וְחָמֵשׁ - [ shloshet
alafim
me'a arba`im
ve-chamesh ]
What about the gender? The thousands don't change, neither do hundreds or
tens, so the life is easy. Only the units should be of the same gender as the
following noun, hence we say:
3145 tomatoes (f):
שלושת אלפים מאה ארבעים וחמש עַגְבָנִיּוֹת
3145 apples (m): שלושת
אלפים ארבעים וְחֲמִישָׁה תַּפּוּחִים
It's also acceptable to keep the the thousand in Single form, if we
place the following Noun in Single form too:
שלוש אלף שקל - as
acceptable as שלושת אלפים
שקלים
חמש אלף דוֹלָר - as
acceptable as חמשת אלפים
דוֹלָרִים
שש אלף אִישׁ - this is even preferrable
(although I can't really tell why exactly) over
ששת אלפים אֲנָשִׁים
That's quite a lot of new material to learn. Have fun!