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Session 3 — Numbers, Age, Time & Money

Duration: 2 hours
Cumulative time: 6 / 20 hours
Level: Beginner → functional A1 foundations

The goal today is to make you comfortable with numbers in real situations, rather than memorizing a list.

By the end, you should be able to:

  • count from 0–20

  • ask and understand “how much?”

  • say your age

  • ask someone's age

  • understand basic prices

  • say “I have €20”

  • ask what time it is

  • understand basic clock expressions

  • recognize several additional Arabic letters

  • conduct a short shop/coffee transaction

0:00–0:15 — Active recall from Sessions 1–2

Don't look at the previous lessons.

Translate aloud:

  1. Hello.

  2. How are you? — male

  3. I'm fine.

  4. What's your name?

  5. Where are you from?

  6. I'm from France.

  7. Who is this?

  8. This is my brother.

  9. I have a daughter.

  10. I don't have time.

  11. I want coffee.

  12. I want water.

Now reverse it

Say these in Levantine:

What?

Who?

Where?

I have.

I don't have.

I want.

This.

My brother.

If you hesitate, that's useful: those are the items that need repetition.

0:15–0:30 — Numbers 0–10

Start with these.

Number Arabic Transliteration
0 صفر sefr
1 واحد wa7ad
2 تنين tnēn
3 تلاتة tlāte
4 أربعة arbaʿa
5 خمسة khamse
6 ستة sitte
7 سبعة sabʿa
8 تمانية tmāne
9 تسعة tisʿa
10 عشرة ʿashra

Pronunciation note

You'll see numbers written with numerals such as:

7 = ح
3 = ع

So:

wa7ad

means:

واحد

and

sab3a

means:

سبعة

This notation is called Arabizi. It is useful for learning pronunciation, but we will progressively move away from it as your Arabic reading improves.

The first important number distinction

2

tnēn

3

tlāte

4

arbaʿa

Don't worry about perfect vowel length yet.

Your first goal is:

1 → 10 automatically.

Drill: random numbers

Don't count sequentially.

I'll give you a sequence:

4 → 9 → 2 → 7 → 10 → 5 → 1 → 8 → 3 → 6

Say them in Arabic.

Then reverse:

6 → 3 → 8 → 1 → 5 → 10 → 7 → 2 → 9 → 4

This is much better training than repeatedly saying:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

because real conversation doesn't give you numbers in order.

0:30–0:45 — 11–20

Now extend the system.

Number Arabic Transliteration
11 حداش 7daash
12 تناعش tnaash
13 تلتعش tlattaash
14 اربعتعش arbaʿtaash
15 خمستعش khamstaash
16 ستعش sittaash
17 سبعتعش sbaʿtaash
18 تمنطعش tmantaash
19 تسعتعش tisʿtaash
20 عشرين ʿishriin

Regional pronunciation varies, so don't worry if you hear slightly different forms.

For the 20-hour course, the important thing is recognition + practical comprehension.

0:45–1:00 — “How much?”

This is one of the most important phrases you'll learn today.

قديش؟ — addēsh?

How much?

You'll hear this constantly in Levantine-speaking contexts.

Examples:

addēsh hayda?

How much is this?

addēsh?

How much?

How much does it cost?

addēsh se3ro?

How much does it cost?

Literally:

how-much its-price?

You don't need to analyze that now. Learn it as a chunk.

Prices

Suppose a coffee costs €3.

You can hear:

tlāte euro

Three euros.

€5:

khamse euro

€10:

ʿashra euro

€20:

ʿishriin euro

Practice

Imagine these prices:

  • €2

  • €4

  • €7

  • €10

  • €15

  • €20

Say each one in Arabic.

1:00–1:15 — Age

This is another very useful construction.

“I am X years old”

In Levantine:

ʿomri X

Literally:

my-age X

Example:

ʿomri 46.

I'm 46.

You don't need to add a word corresponding to “years old.”

Ask someone

adde ʿomrak?

How old are you? — male

To a woman:

adde ʿomrik?

How old are you? — female

Pattern

adde + ʿomr + possessive ending?

So:

adde ʿomrak?

How old are you?

Your age drill

Say:

ʿomri [your age].

Then ask:

adde ʿomrak?

Repeat until the sentence comes automatically.

1:15–1:30 — Money

Let's build practical vocabulary.

Arabic Transliteration English
مصاري masāri money
مصاري كتير masāri ktiir a lot of money
غالي ghāli expensive
رخيص rkhiis cheap
سعر se3er price
ليرة liira lira
يورو yورو / yورو euro
دولار dollār dollar

Useful expressions

ghāli!

Expensive!

ghāli ktiir!

Very expensive!

rkhiiṣ.

Cheap.

ma ʿandi masāri.

I don't have money.

ʿandi 20 euro.

I have 20 euros.

A useful distinction

You already know:

ʿandi

I have.

So:

ʿandi masāri

I have money.

And:

ma ʿandi masāri

I don't have money.

You are reusing a pattern instead of learning a new grammatical construction.

This is exactly what we want.

1:30–1:40 — Asking the time

What time is it?

adde s-se3a?

What time is it?

You may also hear:

adde l-wa2et?

What time is it?

For now, memorize:

adde s-se3a?

“It's one o'clock”

s-se3a wa7de.

It's one o'clock.

Two o'clock

s-se3a tnēn.

Three

s-se3a tlāte.

Four

s-se3a arbaʿa.

For now, don't attempt all the complicated forms for half past, quarter past, etc.

We'll add them later.

1:40–1:50 — New Arabic letters

You now know approximately:

ا ب ت م ن ي و ل ك س

Add these five.

ر — raa

Sound:

r

Example:

را

د — daal

Sound:

d

Example:

دار
daar

house/home

ف — faa

Sound:

f

Example:

فرنسا
Faransa

France

ق — qaaf

This one is important because pronunciation varies considerably between Arabic dialects.

In many Levantine varieties, ق may be pronounced as a glottal stop or another sound depending on the speaker and word.

For now, recognize:

ق

as q / glottal-type sound depending on dialect.

Don't obsess over pronunciation yet.

ع — ʿayn

This is the famous difficult Arabic sound.

ع

It does not have a direct equivalent in English or French.

In Arabizi it is usually:

3

Examples:

ʿashra = عشرة

ʿomr = عمر

sa3a = ساعة

Important

Do not try to produce a perfect ʿayn immediately.

At this stage:

recognition > perfect pronunciation

You will gradually develop the sound.

1:50–2:00 — Real-life transaction

Now combine today's material with Sessions 1–2.

At a café

You

مرحبا.

marhaba

Hello.

Server

أهلا.

ahlan

Hi.

You

بدي قهوة، لو سمحت.

baddi ahwe, law sama7t.

I'd like a coffee, please.

Server

أكيد.

akiid.

Of course.

You

وقديش؟

w-addēsh?

And how much?

Server

تلاتة يورو.

tlāte euro.

Three euros.

You

تمام.

Fine.

New expression: لو سمحت

لو سمحت — law sama7t

Please / excuse me

Literally, roughly:

if you allow

But learn it as one chunk.

To a male:

law sama7t

To a female:

law sama7ti

You will use this constantly.

Your 6-hour vocabulary core

At this point, don't try to memorize every word from the lesson.

Your active vocabulary should include:

Numbers

sefr
wa7ad
tnēn
tlāte
arbaʿa
khamse
sitte
sabʿa
tmāne
tisʿa
ʿashra
7daash
tnaash
ʿishriin

Questions

shu — what
miin — who
wein — where
addēsh — how much/how many
addē ʿomrak — how old are you?

Money

masāri — money
se3er — price
ghāli — expensive
rkhiis — cheap

Practical

law sama7t — please/excuse me
sa3a — hour/time
ʿomr — age

20-hour method: today's important principle

You have now accumulated enough vocabulary to start making combinations.

For example:

Known structure

ana baddi + X

New vocabulary

ahwe
mayy
masāri

Therefore:

ana baddi ahwe.
ana baddi mayy.
ana baddi masāri.

Then:

Another structure

ʿandi + X

ʿandi masāri.
ʿandi waʔet.
ʿandi bint.

Then negative:

ma ʿandi masāri.
ma ʿandi waʔet.

This combinatorial ability is what we're training.

Active test — don't look at the answers

Part 1 — Numbers

Say in Arabic:

3
7
10
12
15
20

Then:

4
8
11
16
19

Part 2 — Translate

  1. How much?

  2. How much is this?

  3. I am 46.

  4. How old are you?

  5. I have money.

  6. I don't have money.

  7. It's expensive.

  8. It's cheap.

  9. I want coffee, please.

  10. Three euros.

Part 3 — Build

Using:

baddi + coffee

Make:

I want coffee.

Then add:

law sama7t

Now:

I want coffee, please.

Then ask:

How much?

Then answer:

Three euros.

You have just constructed a complete real-life interaction from four reusable chunks.

Reading exercise

Try to read these directly.

1

عشرة

2

مين

3

وين

4

فرنسا

5

باب

6

بيت

7

ما

8

أنا

9

عمر

10

قهوة

Don't worry if قهوة is still difficult.

The objective is to progressively associate:

visual shape → sound → meaning

without going through English.

Homework — 25–30 minutes

1. Number fluency — 10 min

Use random numbers rather than counting.

Generate random numbers from 0–20 and say them aloud in Arabic.

Your target:

instant recognition

not perfect pronunciation.

2. Money drill — 5 min

Imagine that you're buying:

  • coffee: €3

  • sandwich: €7

  • meal: €12

  • ticket: €20

For each:

addēsh?

Then answer yourself.

3. Age drill — 5 min

Say:

ʿomri 46.

Then:

adde ʿomrak?

Do this until you don't have to translate it.

4. Reading — 10 min

Read:

أنا
مين
وين
بيت
باب
فرنسا
عشرة
عمر
قهوة
ما

Then try writing from memory:

أنا
مين
وين
بيت
باب

Session 3 checkpoint

Before moving to Session 4, you should be able to do this without notes:

Introduction

أهلا، أنا Benoît.
أنا من فرنسا.
عمري 46.

Basic questions

شو اسمك؟
إنت من وين؟
كيفك؟
قديش عمرك؟

Café

بدي قهوة، لو سمحت.
وقديش؟
تلاتة يورو؟
تمام.

Money

عندي 20 يورو.
ما عندي مصاري.

If you can produce those with reasonable hesitation, Session 3 has achieved its purpose.

Next: Session 4 — Food, Coffee & Restaurants

We'll use the same framework to learn:

  • food and drinks

  • I like / I don't like

  • ordering food

  • “without / with”

  • “I want this”

  • basic quantities

  • waiter/customer dialogues

  • masculine/feminine agreement through food vocabulary

  • another block of Arabic letters

  • a 5-minute restaurant role-play

At that point, you'll have enough material to start having genuinely useful micro-conversations in Levantine Arabic.