8. Numerals

Numbers are needed every day: prices, buses, floors, ages, phone numbers. The main difficulty in Hebrew is that the numbers from 1 to 19 have two forms, masculine and feminine, chosen according to the gender of the noun. And, confusingly, the feminine form is the shorter one, while the masculine form ends in ־ָה.

From 1 to 10

Rules of use:

• Counting, numbers of things, time and digits use the feminine forms: achat, shtayim, shalosh… Bus number 5 is קַו חָמֵשׁ, channel 3 is עָרוּץ שָׁלוֹשׁ.
• “One” comes after the noun, like an adjective: יֶלֶד אֶחָד – one boy, יַלְדָּה אַחַת – one girl.
• “Two” before a noun changes its form: שְׁנֵי (shnei) with masculine, שְׁתֵּי (shtei) with feminine: שְׁנֵי סְפָרִים – two books, שְׁתֵּי בָּנוֹת – two daughters.
• From 3 to 10 the number comes before a plural noun: שְׁלוֹשָׁה יָמִים (shlosha yamim) – three days (day is masculine), שָׁלוֹשׁ שָׁנִים (shalosh shanim) – three years (year is feminine despite the ־ִים ending).

How not to get confused: ask yourself what gender the word has in the singular. שֶׁקֶל is masculine, so חֲמִשָּׁה שְׁקָלִים; דַּקָּה (minute) is feminine, so חָמֵשׁ דַּקּוֹת.

From 11 to 19

Units + “ten”: in the feminine עֶשְׂרֵה (esre), in the masculine עָשָׂר (asar).

Tens, hundreds, thousands

From 20 on there is one form for both genders. The tens are the units with the ending ־ִים: עֶשְׂרִים (esrim) – 20, שְׁלוֹשִׁים (shloshim) – 30, אַרְבָּעִים (arba’im) – 40, חֲמִשִּׁים (chamishim) – 50, שִׁשִּׁים (shishim) – 60, שִׁבְעִים (shiv’im) – 70, שְׁמוֹנִים (shmonim) – 80, תִּשְׁעִים (tish’im) – 90.

Units follow the tens with וְ, and there they agree in gender again: עֶשְׂרִים וְאֶחָד (esrim ve-echad) – 21 (m), עֶשְׂרִים וְאַחַת (esrim ve-achat) – 21 (f), שְׁלוֹשִׁים וְחָמֵשׁ – 35 (f).

Hundreds are counted with feminine forms (שְׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת), thousands with special smichut forms (שְׁלוֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים). The year 2026 is אַלְפַּיִם עֶשְׂרִים וָשֵׁשׁ (alpayim esrim va-shesh). 1,350 shekels is אֶלֶף שְׁלוֹשׁ מֵאוֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁים שֶׁקֶל.

Ordinal numbers

“First, second, third” are adjectives: they follow the noun and agree with it. From 1 to 10 they have their own forms; from 11 on the cardinal number with the article is used.

• הַשִּׁעוּר הָרִאשׁוֹן (ha-shi’ur ha-rishon) – the first lesson;
• קוֹמָה שְׁנִיָּה (koma shniya) – second floor;
• פַּעַם שְׁלִישִׁית (pa’am shlishit) – the third time;
• הַקּוֹמָה הָאַחַת עֶשְׂרֵה – the eleventh floor.

Useful words nearby: אַחֲרוֹן / אַחֲרוֹנָה (acharon / acharona) – last, הַבָּא / הַבָּאָה (ha-ba / ha-ba’a) – next, קוֹדֵם / קוֹדֶמֶת – previous, חֵצִי (chetsi) – half, רֶבַע (reva) – quarter, אָחוּז (achuz) – percent, זוּג (zug) – pair.

How many? Many, few

כַּמָּה (kama) – how many, how much: כַּמָּה זֶה עוֹלֶה? – How much does it cost? כַּמָּה יְלָדִים יֵשׁ לְךָ? – How many children do you have? Quantity words do not change: הַרְבֵּה (harbe) – many, much, מְעַט (me’at) / קְצָת (ktsat) – few, a little, כַּמָּה – a few, כָּל (kol) – every, all: הַרְבֵּה אֲנָשִׁים – many people, קְצָת מַיִם – a little water, כָּל יוֹם – every day, כָּל הַיְּלָדִים – all the children.

Age and prices

Age is expressed as “son” or “daughter” of so many years, with a feminine number (we count שָׁנִים): בֶּן כַּמָּה אַתָּה? (ben kama ata) – How old are you? (to a man), בַּת כַּמָּה אַתְּ? (bat kama at) – to a woman. אֲנִי בֶּן שְׁלוֹשִׁים – I am thirty (a man), הִיא בַּת עֶשְׂרִים וְחָמֵשׁ – She is twenty-five, הוּא בֶּן שָׁלוֹשׁ – He is three.

The shekel is masculine: שֶׁקֶל אֶחָד, שְׁנֵי שְׁקָלִים, חֲמִשָּׁה שְׁקָלִים. From 11 up the singular is more common in speech: עֶשְׂרִים שֶׁקֶל (esrim shekel) – 20 shekels, מֵאָה שֶׁקֶל – 100 shekels. זֶה יָקָר / זוֹל – it is expensive / cheap, בִּמְזֻמָּן / בְּאַשְׁרַאי – in cash / by card.

How many times

The word פַּעַם (pa’am, time, occasion) is feminine: פַּעַם אַחַת – once, פַּעֲמַיִם (pa’amayim) – twice, שָׁלוֹשׁ פְּעָמִים – three times, הַרְבֵּה פְּעָמִים – many times, פַּעַם בְּשָׁבוּעַ – once a week, עוֹד פַּעַם – once more, אַף פַּעַם לֹא – never.

What to remember

• 1–19 have two forms; the masculine is longer (with ־ָה), the feminine shorter. Counting is feminine.
• “One” follows the noun, “two” precedes it in the form שְׁנֵי / שְׁתֵּי.
• Gender is decided by the singular: שָׁלוֹשׁ שָׁנִים but שְׁלוֹשָׁה יָמִים.
• Age is בֶּן / בַּת + a feminine number; shekels take masculine numbers.