Question 1

Why do "fifty" and "sixty" end in "-ūn" (خمسون and ستون) in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The "tens" numbers (20, 30, 40... 90) change their endings depending on their role in the sentence, just like regular masculine plurals. Because "fifty pages" and "sixty pictures" are the subjects here (literally "Fifty pages... are in this book"), they take the subject ending -ون (-ūn). If they were the object of a verb or came after a preposition, they would end in -ين (-īn) like خمسين and ستين.

Question 2

Why are the words for "page" (صفحة) and "picture" (صورة) in the singular form?

Accepted Answer

This is a special rule for numbers! For any number from 11 to 99, the item being counted must be singular. So, Arabic literally says "fifty page" and "sixty picture". Additionally, these counted nouns take the "accusative" case, meaning they would have an "-an" sound at the end if you pronounced the full vowel endings (صفحةً and صورةً).

Question 3

Both "page" (صفحة) and "picture" (صورة) are feminine words. Does this affect the numbers "fifty" and "sixty"?

Accepted Answer

No! Unlike numbers 3 through 10, which change their gender to be the opposite of the counted noun, the "tens" numbers (20, 30... 90) have only one form for both masculine and feminine nouns. The word خمسون works exactly the same for both masculine and feminine items.

Question 4

How does this sentence say "There are"? I don't see a word for it.

Accepted Answer

Arabic doesn't have a direct translation for the phrase "there is" or "there are". Instead, you just state the location first. By starting with في هذا الكتاب (In this book) and following it directly with the subjects (fifty pages and sixty pictures), it naturally translates to "There are fifty pages and sixty pictures in this book."

في هذا الكتاب خمسون صفحة وستون صورة.

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