Hebrew Numbers

Do you want to count the 10 commandments? Ahem, okay they are probably ten, but how about counting them in Hebrew? Here we will learn the Hebrew numbers together.
Let’s get right into the point…
Hebrew numbers are kind of tricky. Though they are easy to memorize, they vary in gender. When counting masculine objects, you use different form of numbers than the ones you would use when counting feminine objects.
Since we live in a male-centrist world (unfortunately) let’s go with the flow and start with the masculine-object counting  numbers:

1. אחד: echad
2. שנים: shenayim
3. שלושה: shlosha
4. ארבעה: arba’a
5. חמישה: chamisha
6. ששה: shisha
7. שבעה: shiv’a
8. שמונה: shmona
9. תשעה: tish’a
10. עשרה: asara
11. אחד-עשר: achad asar
12. שנים-עשר:shnayim asar
13. שלשה-עשר: shlosha asar
14. ארבעה-עשר: arba’a asar
15. חמשה-עשר: chamisha asar
16. ששב-עשר: shisha asar
17. שבעה-עשר: shiv’a asar
18. שמונה-עשר: shmona asar
19. תשעה-עשר: tish’a asar

I have pronounced these Hebrew numbers for you here. Right-click and download file as.
 
These Hebrew numbers are also gathered in this beautiful song called “echad mi yode’a?” (who knows number one?), I am not sure how old the song is, but it is brilliant. However, do not expect to understand all of it. Just get the idea, they ask

Echad mi yode’a? (who knows number 1)
Shnayim mi yode’a (who knows number 2)
etc…

Funny is that numbers in Hebrew break the masculine/feminine grammar rulers. Usually when a word ends in a “heh” letter (ה), it indicates that the word is feminine. Ironically we notice that masculine objects take the number with a “heh”. To make this easy, think of the relationship between the counting number and the items that is being counted as a traditional marriage, that goes (usually) between a male and a female.
Now, here are the Hebrew numbers used for counting female objects.

1. אחת: echat or achat
2. שתים: shtayim
3. שלש: shalosh
4. ארבע: arba
5. חמש: chameish
6. שש: sheish
7. שבע: shva
8. שמונה: shmone
9. תשע: teisha
10. עשר: eser
11. אחת-עשרה: achat esrei
12. שתים-עשרה: shtayim esrei
13. שלש-עשרה: shlosh esrei
14. ארבע-עשרה: arba esrei
15. חמש-עשרה: chameish esrei
16. שש-עשרה: sheish esrei
17. שבע-עשרה: shva esrei
18. שמונה-עשרה: shmonei esrei
19. תשע-עשרה: tesha esrei

Now let’s talk about 10, 20, 30 etc. Since we leave 19, the rest of our Hebrew numbers are the same no matter what the gender of the counted objects is. Let’s see:
20: עשרים: esrim
30: שלשים: shloshim
40: ארבעים: arba’im
50: חמשים: chamishim
60: ששים: shishim
70: שבעים: shiv’im
80: שמונים: shmonim
90: תשעים: tish’im
I pronounced them here for you. Right-click and download the Hebrew numbers file.
Now you can count in Hebrew. Do not miss the chance of learning the Hebrew Alphabet through the Hebrew worksheets I created just for you.