Formal Modern Standard Arabic has several natural ways to say “about”: نحو، حوالي، قرابة. English about is invariant; the Arabic forms can do more than add a vague adverb. They introduce a number phrase and affect its case: نحوُ خمسةِ طلابٍ can be a nominative subject, نحوَ خمسةِ طلابٍ an object, and the numeral itself is genitive as the complement of نحو. With a decade this hidden relation becomes visible: نحو عشرين باحثًا, not نحو عشرون.
A range uses a different architecture: من ... إلى ... “from ... to ...,” بين ... و... “between ... and ...,” or compact notation such as ٥–٧. Each endpoint retains its own internal numeral rules. Approximation and range therefore sit outside the numeral phrase, while gender, case, and counted-noun number continue to operate inside it.
نحو: a case-bearing approximation noun
نحو is noun-like. In the approximation meaning “approximately/about” (formal and general), it bears the case required by the larger sentence and forms an iḍāfa with the quantity after it. The following numeral is therefore genitive where case can be heard.
حضر نحو خمسة طلاب إلى الندوة.
ḥaḍara naḥwu khamsati ṭullābin ʾilā n-nadwa(h).
About five students attended the seminar.
The head نحوُ is the postverbal subject and is nominative. Its complement خمسةِ طلابٍ is genitive: masculine طالب selects polarity-marked خمسة, and 3–10 require the counted noun in the plural genitive.
قابلت نحو خمس مهندسات بعد العرض.
qābaltu naḥwa khamsi muhandisātin baʿda l-ʿarḍ.
I met about five female engineers after the presentation.
Here نحوَ is accusative as the object. Feminine مهندسة selects خمس, and مهندسات is plural genitive. The approximation has not suspended the 3–10 polarity system.
تحدثنا مع نحو اثني عشر مديرا في المؤتمر.
taḥaddathnā maʿa naḥwi thnay ʿashara mudīran fī l-muʾtamar.
We spoke with about twelve directors at the conference.
After مع, نحوِ is genitive. Its complement twelve is also in a genitive slot, so masculine اثني عشر has the oblique first element; مديرًا remains the singular accusative specification required after 11–99.
Outside a number context, نحو can mean “toward” or “direction,” as in نحو المدينة “toward the city.” Context distinguishes that spatial use from approximate نحو خمسين كيلومترًا “about fifty kilometers.”
حوالي: the common fixed-shaped approximator
Approximate حوالي is extremely common in contemporary reports and neutral formal prose. Its shape normally stays حوالي, while its numerical complement is genitive: حوالي عشرين rather than nominative عشرون.
استغرق تنفيذ الجسر حوالي ثلاثين شهرا.
ʾistaghraqa tanfīdhu l-jisri ḥawālay thalāthīna shahrā.
Construction of the bridge took about thirty months.
The decade is oblique ثلاثين after حوالي, and its counted noun is singular accusative شهرًا. Do not use the 3–10 plural here.
يخدم المركز حوالي مئتي قرية في المنطقة.
yakhidmu l-markazu ḥawālay miʾatay qaryatin fī l-minṭaqa(h).
The center serves about two hundred villages in the region.
The dual hundred appears in the oblique construct form مئتي, and قريةٍ is singular genitive as the specification after a hundred expression. Approximation does not turn it into a plural.
قرابة: near an estimated figure
قرابة is a noun-like approximator meaning “approximately, nearly” (formal, especially journalistic and statistical). Like نحو, it bears the case required by the sentence: it can be nominative as a subject, accusative as an object, or genitive after a preposition. Its following number phrase is genitive.
شاركت قرابة اثنتي عشرة مهندسة في الدراسة الميدانية.
shārakat qurābatu thnatay ʿashrata muhandisatan fī d-dirāsati l-maydāniyya(h).
Approximately twelve female engineers took part in the field study.
As the postverbal subject, قرابةُ is nominative. Feminine twelve is oblique اثنتي عشرة because it complements قرابة. Its specification مهندسةً is singular accusative.
بلغت كلفة التجهيز قرابة خمسة آلاف دولار.
balaghat kulfatu t-tajhīzi qurābata khamsati ʾālāfi dūlār.
The equipment cost amounted to approximately five thousand dollars.
This nested phrase has three layers: accusative قرابةَ; genitive خمسةِ آلافِ after it; and singular genitive دولارٍ after آلاف. The singular ألف is masculine, so five takes خمسة.
زادت السعة بقرابة عشرين مقعدا.
zādati s-siʿatu bi-qurābati ʿishrīna maqʿadā.
Capacity increased by approximately twenty seats.
Here بـ makes قرابةِ genitive. The following decade is likewise oblique عشرين, while مقعدًا is singular accusative.
These three approximators overlap substantially. حوالي is the most neutral high-frequency choice in modern administrative prose; نحو is compact and also common in journalism; قرابة often suggests nearness to an estimated figure. They do not encode a mathematically fixed error margin. A scientific report must state an interval or tolerance if that precision matters.
Ranges with من ... إلى
The clearest prose frame is من X إلى Y “from X to Y.” Each preposition governs its endpoint. Repeating the counted noun makes both endpoint structures explicit and avoids uncertainty over a shared noun.
تستغرق المراجعة من ثلاث ساعات إلى خمس ساعات.
tastaghriqu l-murājaʿatu min thalāthi sāʿātin ʾilā khamsi sāʿāt.
The review takes from three to five hours.
Both ثلاثِ and خمسِ are genitive after their prepositions. Feminine ساعة selects the numeral forms without ـة, and each plural ساعات is genitive after a 3–10 numeral.
تستغرق معالجة الطلب من اثني عشر يوما إلى عشرين يوما.
tastaghriqu muʿālajatu ṭ-ṭalabi mini thnay ʿashara yawman ʾilā ʿishrīna yawmā.
Processing an application takes from twelve to twenty days.
After من, twelve takes oblique اثني عشر; after إلى, the decade is likewise oblique عشرين. Each endpoint takes singular accusative يومًا, as required after 11–99.
Ranges with بين and ما بين
بين X وY and reinforced ما بين X وY are common in reports. بين is an adverbial noun governing genitive endpoints. With decades, both endpoints therefore use ـين.
تراوح عدد الحضور ما بين عشرين وثلاثين شخصا يوميا.
tarāwaḥa ʿadadu l-ḥuḍūri mā bayna ʿishrīna wa-thalāthīna shakhsan yawmiyyā.
Daily attendance ranged between twenty and thirty people.
The two coordinated decades share singular accusative شخصًا as their specification. Writing عشرون وثلاثون here would miss the genitive government of بين.
تراوحت نسبة الاستجابة بين ٦٥ و٧٢ بالمئة.
tarāwaḥat nisbatu l-istijābati bayna khamsatin wa-sittīna wa-thnayni wa-sabʿīna bi-l-miʾa(h).
The response rate ranged between 65 and 72 percent.
The digit groups keep their printed values. A careful word reading after بين uses genitive/oblique خمسةٍ وستين and اثنين وسبعين. The percentage marker applies to the range as a whole.
Dashes, hyphens, and RTL display
Compact tables use an en dash – or, where software is limited, a hyphen-minus -: ٣–٥ سنوات or ٣-٥ سنوات. House styles differ, so follow the publication’s convention. In polished prose, من ثلاث سنوات إلى خمس سنوات is more robust and makes direction explicit.
تعني العبارة ٣–٥ سنوات: من ثلاث سنوات إلى خمس سنوات.
taʿnī l-ʿibāratu thalāth ʾilā khams sanawāt: min thalāthi sanawātin ʾilā khamsi sanawāt.
The expression 3–5 years means from three years to five years.
A neutral dash can move visually in some bidirectional interfaces. That is a rendering issue, not a reason to read the endpoints backward. For contracts, accessibility, or text likely to be copied between systems, spelling out من ... إلى ... is safer.
Whether endpoints are inclusive is not determined by Arabic grammar. If it matters, add شاملًا الحدين “including both endpoints” or state the exclusion explicitly.
يقبل الطلب إذا كان العمر بين ١٨ و٢٥ عاما، ويشمل الشرط الحدين.
yuqbalu ṭ-ṭalabu ʾidhā kāna l-ʿumru bayna thamāniyata ʿashara wa-khamsatin wa-ʿishrīna ʿāman, wa-yashmalu sh-sharṭu l-ḥaddayn.
The application is accepted if the age is between 18 and 25 years, and the condition includes both endpoints.
This page concerns estimated quantities and endpoints. The interpretation of كل relative to negation, subjects, and other operators is a separate question of quantifier scope, covered on Quantifier Scope and Floating كل.
Common Mistakes
Leaving a decade nominative after an approximator
❌ حضر حوالي ثلاثون باحثا.
Incorrect — the decade is genitive/oblique after حوالي, so use ثلاثين.
✅ حضر حوالي ثلاثين باحثا من أربع جامعات.
ḥaḍara ḥawālay thalāthīna bāḥithan min ʾarbaʿi jāmiʿāt.
About thirty researchers from four universities attended.
Applying the feminine-noun polarity form to a masculine noun
❌ وصل نحو خمس موظفين.
Incorrect — موظف is masculine, so five is خمسة; the counted noun is plural genitive.
✅ وصل نحو خمسة موظفين قبل الافتتاح.
waṣala naḥwu khamsati muwaẓẓafīna qabla l-iftitāḥ.
About five employees arrived before the opening.
Keeping a plural noun after a compound number
❌ شارك قرابة خمسة عشر موظفين.
Incorrect — 11–99 take a singular accusative counted noun.
✅ شارك قرابة خمسة عشر موظفا في التدريب.
shāraka qurābatu khamsata ʿashara muwaẓẓafan fī t-tadrīb.
Approximately fifteen employees participated in the training.
Missing oblique case on twelve
❌ مررنا بقرابة اثنا عشر جناحا.
Incorrect — after بـ and قرابة, masculine twelve must begin with oblique اثني.
✅ مررنا بقرابة اثني عشر جناحا في المعرض.
mararnā bi-qurābati thnay ʿashara janāḥan fī l-maʿriḍ.
We passed approximately twelve stands at the exhibition.
Reversing a dashed range in RTL text
❌ المدى ٥–٧ يعني من سبعة إلى خمسة.
Incorrect — RTL context does not exchange the lower and upper endpoints.
✅ المدى ٥–٧ يعني من خمسة إلى سبعة.
al-madā khamsa ʾilā sabʿa(h) yaʿnī min khamsatin ʾilā sabʿa(h).
The range 5–7 means from five to seven.
Key Takeaways
- نحو bears the outer case and governs a genitive numeral phrase; حوالي is commonly fixed-shaped but likewise takes a genitive complement.
- قرابة behaves like a case-bearing noun: subject قرابةُ, object قرابةَ, and genitive قرابةِ after a preposition; its numeral complement is genitive.
- Approximation does not erase inner rules: 3–10 still take plural genitive nouns, while 11–99 still take singular accusative specifications.
- Use من ... إلى ... or ما بين ... و... for explicit ranges; each endpoint keeps the case imposed by its preposition or بين.
- Dashes are compact but can be visually fragile in RTL interfaces. Words are safer when direction and endpoint inclusion must be unmistakable.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Quantifier Scope and Floating كلّC1 — Control the scope of كلّ with noun phrases, floating emphasis, negation, and collective or distributive readings.
- Numbers 0–10 in IsolationA1 — Read, pronounce, and distinguish the citation and gender-paired forms of Arabic zero through ten before building counted-noun phrases.
- Case across Complex NumeralsA2 — Track exactly which component changes for nominative, accusative, and genitive case in twelve, decades, coordinated numbers, and large-number phrases.