Counting in Moroccan Darija: Numbers 11 to 1,000 and the Singular Rule

If you've seen "I want 30 apple" in an example and wondered whether it was a mistake: it isn't. In Arabic, the form of the noun depends on the number in front of it, and from 11 upwards the noun is singular.

The rule

So 3 to 10 is the range that uses the plural. From 11 on, including 20, 100 and 1,000, the noun stays singular.

• بغيت تلاتين تفاحةbghit tlatin teffa7aI want thirty apples.
• عندو مية درهم3ndu mya derhemHe has a hundred dirhams.
• عشرين عام3eshrin 3amtwenty years

11 to 19

Tens, hundreds, thousands

Numbers like 25: units first

• خمسة وعشرينkhamsa w 3eshrintwenty-five