Lesson 8
1. The numbers
When counting use female forms.
In Hebrew numbers can also be expressed in letters. School classes are denoted with letters, not with numbers, often also the chapters of a book.
Note, that numbers of male gender have female endings – eg shloshah (three), shishah-asar (16) and vice versa. This even irritates Israelis; genders of numbers are often used wrongly in Hebrew.
*The numbers 15 and 16 are not shown as yud-he und yud-vav (10 + 5 and 10 + 6), but as tav-vav טו and tav-zayin טז (9 + 6 and 9 + 7), in order to avoid similarities with the name of G-d (tetragrammaton).
Also dates can be expressed in letters. According to Judaism, the world was created 3760 years BCE.
Thus the year 2001 CE is the jewish year 5761 (3760 + 2001).
The jewish date 5761 is rendered as 761, the initial 5 is omitted. 761 is depicted as 400 (ת) + 300 (ש)+60 (ס)+1(א) – ‘אתשס – pronounced as tashsah.
2008 (+3760) is 5768 – תשס”ח – tashsach.
Number | Female | Male | Letter | 1st, 2nd... (m/f) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | אפס (efes) | אפס (efes) | - | - |
1 | אחת (achat) | אחד (echad) | 'א | ראשון, -ה (rishon / -a) |
2 | שתים / שתי (shtayim) | שנים / שני (shnayim) | 'ב | שני, -ה (sheni / shniah) |
3 | שלוש (shalosh) | שלושה (shloshah) | 'ג | שלישי, -ת (shlishi / -t) |
4 | ארבע (arbah) | ארבעה (arba’ah) | 'ד | רבעי, -ת (revi’i / -t) |
5 | חמש (chamesh) | חמישה (chamishah) | 'ה | חמישי, -ת (chamishi / -t) |
6 | שש (shesh) | שישה (shishah) | 'ו | שישי, -ת (shishi / -t) |
7 | שבע (sheva) | שבעה (shiv’ah) | 'ז | שביעי, -ת (shvi’i / -t) |
8 | שמונה (shmone) | שמונה (shmonah) | 'ח | שמיני, -ת (shmini / -t ) |
9 | תשע (tesha) | תשעה (tish’ah) | 'ט | תשעי, -ת (tish'i / -t) |
10 | עשר (eser) | עשרה (ararah) | 'י | עשירי, -ת (asiri/-t) |
11 | אחת-עשרה (achat-esreh) | אחד-עשר (echad-asar) | י"א | - |
12 | שתים-עשרה (shtem-esreh) | שנים-עשר (shnem-asar) | י"ב | - |
13 | שלוש-עשרה (shlosh-esreh) | שלושה-עשר (shlosha-asar) | י"ג | - |
14 | ארבע-עשרה (arbah-esreh) | ארבע-עשר (arba’ah-asar) | י"ד | - |
15 | חמש-עשרה (chamesh-esreh) | חמישה-עשר (chamishah-asar) | *ט"ו | - |
16 | שש-עשרה (shesh-esreh) | שישה-עשר (shishah-asar) | *ט"ז | - |
17 | שבע-עשרה (shvah-esreh) | שבעה-עשר (shiv’ah-asar) | י"ז | - |
18 | שמונה-עשרה (shmoneh-esreh) | שמונה-עשר (shmonah-asar) | י"ח | - |
19 | תשע-עשרה (tsha-esreh) | תשע-עשר (tish’ah-asar) | י"ט | - |
20 | עשרים (esrim) | = | 'כ | - |
21 | עשרים ואחת (esrim ve’achat) | עשרים ואחד (esrim ve’echad) | כ"א | - |
22 | עשרים ושתים (esrim u-shtayim) | עשרים ושנים (esrim u-shnayim) | כ"ב | - |
30 | שלושים (shloshim) | = | 'ל | - |
40 | ארבעים (arba’im) | = | 'מ | - |
50 | חמישים (chamishim) | = | 'נ | - |
60 | שישים (shishim) | = | 'ס | - |
70 | שבעים (shiv’im) | = | 'ע | - |
80 | שמונים (shmonim) | = | 'פ | - |
90 | תשעים (tish’im) | = | 'צ | - |
100 | מאה (me’a) | = | 'ק | - |
200 | מאתיים (ma’atayim) | = | 'ר | - |
300 | שלוש-מאות (shlosh+me’ot) | = | 'ש | - |
400 | ארבע-מאות (arba+me’ot) | = | 'ת | - |
1000 | אלף (elef) | = | - | - |