Arabic expressions for hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions are layered noun phrases. Words such as مئة “hundred,” ألف “thousand,” مليون “million,” and مليار “billion” behave more like countable heads than like unchanging English number labels. They can be singular, dual, or plural, take case, and govern a following noun in an iḍāfa-like relationship.
That structure explains why “three thousand visitors” contains two genitive relationships: ثلاثة آلاف زائر. ثلاثة counts the plural آلاف, and آلاف in turn governs singular زائر. The gender of visitor does not choose the form of three; the immediately counted word ألف does.
For the unit-first construction inside totals such as 1,350, see 21–99: Coordinating Units and Decades.
One hundred and two hundred
After exactly مئة “one hundred,” the counted noun is singular genitive. This differs sharply from 11–99, where the specification is singular accusative.
وصل مئة موظف إلى المبنى الجديد.
waṣala miʾatu muwaẓẓafin ʾilā l-mabnā l-jadīd.
One hundred employees arrived at the new building.
عينت الشركة مئة مهندسة هذا العام.
ʿayyanati sh-sharikatu miʾata muhandisatin hādhā l-ʿām.
The company hired one hundred female engineers this year.
The first مئة is nominative as the postverbal subject; the second is accusative as the direct object. The following موظفٍ and مهندسةٍ are singular genitive in both cases. The noun's gender does not alter مئة.
Exactly two hundred uses the dual of مئة. In direct construct with a counted noun, the dual ن drops: nominative مئتا and accusative/genitive مئتي.
شارك مئتا طالب في المسابقة.
shāraka miʾatā ṭālibin fī l-musābaqa(h).
Two hundred students participated in the competition.
استقبلت الجامعة مئتي طالبة جديدة.
ʾistaqbalati l-jāmiʿatu miʾatay ṭālibatin jadīda(h).
The university welcomed two hundred new female students.
The adjective جديدة describes the grammatically singular طالبة, so it too is feminine singular. English meaning is plural, but Arabic agreement follows the expressed noun form.
Three hundred through nine hundred
For 300–900, Arabic historically combines a numeral from three to nine with مئة, a feminine noun. The unit therefore uses the polarity form without ـة: ثلاثمئة، أربعمئة، خمسمئة، ستمئة، سبعمئة، ثمانمئة، تسعمئة. Modern spelling commonly writes these as single graphic words; ثلاثمائة and similar traditional spellings also remain widespread (formal).
Inside the structure, the first element carries the case of the whole hundred expression and مئة is genitive. The final counted noun is again singular genitive.
نشرت المكتبة ثلاثمئة نسخة من التقرير.
nasharati l-maktabatu thalāthamiʾati nuskhatin mina t-taqrīr.
The library published three hundred copies of the report.
بلغت الميزانية سبعمئة مليون دولار.
balaghati l-mīzāniyyatu sabʿamiʾati milyūni dūlār.
The budget reached seven hundred million dollars.
The second example is nested. سبعمئة counts مليون, while مليون governs دولار. This is not the 3–10 phrase سبعة ملايين “seven million”: سبعمئة مليون means “seven hundred million,” and مليون is singular because it follows an exact hundred.
Thousands: the head changes number
The same architecture repeats with ألف. Exactly one thousand uses singular ألف; exactly two thousand uses its dual; three through ten thousand use plural آلاف; and 11–99 thousand take singular ألف as their accusative specification.
| Quantity | Structure | Model phrase |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | singular head + singular genitive noun | ألف نسخة |
| 2,000 | dual head + singular genitive noun | ألفا نسخة / ألفي نسخة |
| 3,000–10,000 | 3–10 + plural آلاف + singular genitive noun | ثلاثة آلاف نسخة |
| 11,000–99,000 | 11–99 + singular ألف + singular genitive noun | خمسة عشر ألف نسخة |
زار المعرض ألف زائر في يومه الأول.
zāra l-maʿriḍa ʾalfu zāʾirin fī yawmihi l-ʾawwal.
One thousand visitors came to the exhibition on its first day.
تلقى الصندوق ألفي طلب خلال أسبوع.
talaqqā ṣ-ṣundūqu ʾalfay ṭalabin khilāla ʾusbūʿ.
The fund received two thousand applications in one week.
استقبلت المدينة ثلاثة آلاف زائر.
ʾistaqbalati l-madīnatu thalāthata ʾālāfi zāʾir.
The city received three thousand visitors.
سجل الموقع خمسة عشر ألف مستخدم جديد.
sajjala l-mawqiʿu khamsata ʿashara ʾalfa mustakhdimin jadīd.
The site registered fifteen thousand new users.
In ثلاثة آلاف, three takes the form with ـة because ألف is masculine. It does not matter whether the ultimate noun is masculine زائر or feminine سيارة: one says ثلاثة آلاف سيارة as well. With fifteen thousand, ألف is the singular accusative specification of خمسة عشر, then it governs مستخدم as a singular genitive complement.
Millions and billions
مليون and مليار are masculine countable nouns. They follow the same main ranges as other counted nouns: dual for exactly two, plural after 3–10, and singular after 11–99 or an exact hundred. Their following complement is normally singular genitive.
تجاوز عدد السكان ثلاثة ملايين نسمة.
tajāwaza ʿadadu s-sukkāni thalāthata malāyīni nasama(h).
The population exceeded three million people.
خصصت الحكومة ملياري دولار للمشروع.
khaṣṣaṣati l-ḥukūmatu milyāray dūlārin li-l-mashrūʿ.
The government allocated two billion dollars to the project.
The dual ملياري is accusative and loses its ن because it is directly followed by its genitive complement دولارٍ. A form such as مليارين من الدولارات keeps the ن because من الدولارات is a prepositional phrase rather than a direct construct complement.
Nested numbers and the final component
Complex totals coordinate large units from largest to smallest. The specification at the end is governed by the last expressed numerical component, not automatically by the largest one. If the final component is 11–99, use a singular accusative noun; if the final component is an exact hundred or thousand, use a singular genitive noun; if it is 3–10, use a plural genitive noun.
شارك ألفان وثلاثمئة وخمسون متطوعا في الحملة.
shāraka ʾalfāni wa-thalāthumiʾatin wa-khamsūna mutaṭawwiʿan fī l-ḥamla(h).
Two thousand three hundred and fifty volunteers took part in the campaign.
وصلت ثلاثة آلاف وخمس سيارات إلى الميناء.
waṣalat thalāthatu ʾālāfin wa-khamsu sayyārātin ʾilā l-mīnāʾ.
Three thousand and five cars arrived at the port.
In the first total, final خمسون requires singular accusative متطوعًا. In the second, final خمس requires plural genitive سياراتٍ. Speakers sometimes repeat the counted noun after separate components for maximum clarity, especially in legal or financial prose (formal), but ordinary totals usually state it once at the end.
Common Mistakes
Using a plural after an exact hundred
❌ عينت الشركة مئة موظفين.
Incorrect — an exact hundred takes a singular genitive counted noun.
✅ عينت الشركة مئة موظف.
ʿayyanati sh-sharikatu miʾata muwaẓẓaf.
The company hired one hundred employees.
Choosing three from the ultimate noun
❌ استقبلت المدينة ثلاث آلاف سيارة.
Incorrect — three directly counts masculine ألف, so use ثلاثة even though سيارة is feminine.
✅ استقبلت المدينة ثلاثة آلاف سيارة.
ʾistaqbalati l-madīnatu thalāthata ʾālāfi sayyāra(h).
The city received three thousand cars.
Keeping the dual nūn inside a construct
❌ خصصت الحكومة مليارين دولار.
Incorrect — a dual directly governing its complement drops ن.
✅ خصصت الحكومة ملياري دولار.
khaṣṣaṣati l-ḥukūmatu milyāray dūlār.
The government allocated two billion dollars.
Using a plural after 15,000
❌ سجل الموقع خمسة عشر آلاف مستخدم.
Incorrect — 15 takes singular accusative ألف, which then governs singular مستخدم.
✅ سجل الموقع خمسة عشر ألف مستخدم.
sajjala l-mawqiʿu khamsata ʿashara ʾalfa mustakhdim.
The site registered fifteen thousand users.
Reversing a multi-digit total
❌ الرقم ٣٢٠٠ يعني ألفين وثلاثة.
Incorrect — ٣٢٠٠ is 3,200, not 2,003; direction does not reverse place value.
✅ الرقم ٣٢٠٠ يعني ثلاثة آلاف ومئتين.
ʾar-raqmu thalāthatu ʾālāfin wa-miʾatāni yaʿnī thalāthata ʾālāfin wa-miʾatayn.
The number 3,200 means three thousand two hundred.
Key Takeaways
- Exact hundreds and thousands govern a singular genitive counted noun.
- Two hundred and two thousand use construct duals مئتا/مئتي and ألفا/ألفي; the ن drops before a direct complement.
- Three through ten large units use a plural head: ثلاثة آلاف، ثلاثة ملايين.
- Eleven through ninety-nine large units use a singular head: خمسة عشر ألف، واحد وعشرون مليون.
- In a nested total, the final numerical component determines the form of the final counted noun.
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- 21–99: Coordinating Units and DecadesA2 — Build Arabic numbers from 21 to 99 in unit-first order, choosing the unit for gender and inflecting both parts for case.
- Case across Complex NumeralsA2 — Track exactly which component changes for nominative, accusative, and genitive case in twelve, decades, coordinated numbers, and large-number phrases.
- 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.