Vocabulary Cards — Session 11: Numbers 1 to 5

Print this page. Cut along the dotted lines. Each card is index-card sized. Carry them in your pocket. Count stairs, count grapes, count fingers — out loud, in Arabic.

Card 1

Say it: WAA-had Means: One

🎨 Picture: One single orange on a kitchen counter.

Use it when: You hold up one finger. You take one cookie. Someone asks how many siblings you have and the answer is one.

Card 2

Say it: ith-NAYN Means: Two

🎨 Picture: Two shoes lined up by the door.

Use it when: You count your eyes. You ask for two pieces of bread. You and your sister — that's two.

Card 3

Say it: ta-LAA-te Means: Three

🎨 Picture: Three balloons floating above a balcony in Beirut.

Use it when: You count three steps up to the door. You see three birds on a wire. You're three years old, or your little cousin is.

Card 4

Say it: AR-ba-'a Means: Four

🎨 Picture: Four chairs around a small kitchen table.

Use it when: You count the legs of a table. You count the wheels on a car. There are four people in your family.

Card 5

Say it: KHAM-se Means: Five

🎨 Picture: A child's open hand, five fingers spread wide.

Use it when: You give a high five. You count the fingers on one hand. You ask for five minutes more before bed.

Card 6

Say it: KAM? Means: How many?

🎨 Picture: A child looking into a bowl of grapes with a curious face.

Use it when: You want to know how many. Kam sneen? (How old?) Kam wahad? (How many?) Asking at the table, at the store, at a friend's house.

A bonus card — for the family

Card 7 (bonus)

Say it: 'ASH-ra Means: Ten

🎨 Picture: Two hands held up, all ten fingers showing.

Use it when: You jump to the big number. You count to ten before hide-and-seek. You want to skip ahead and show off a little.

We're only learning 1–5 this session. But 'ashra is too good to leave out — and every kid wants to count all the way up.

How to use these cards

1. Count everything. Stairs, raisins, cars on the street, fingers, toes. Out loud, in Arabic.
2. Use the numerals too. ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ — these look different from 1 2 3 4 5. Point them out on the card. Trace them with a finger.
3. 30 seconds a day. Pick one number. Find that many of something in the room.
4. Play kam? Ask "kam?" while pointing at things. Let your kid answer in Arabic — even if they only get one or two right.

On the numerals you'll see

Here's the funny thing: the numbers we write in English — 1, 2, 3 — are actually called "Arabic numerals." They came from Arabic.

But Arabic-speakers today use a different set: ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥. These are called Eastern Arabic numerals (الأَرقام العَرَبيّة المَشرِقيّة).

Look closely:

• ١ (one) — just a straight line, like our 1
• ٢ (two) — looks a little like a backwards 7
• ٣ (three) — like a curly backwards 3
• ٤ (four) — looks like a backwards 3 with a tail
• ٥ (five) — looks like a zero! (And confusingly, Arabic 0 is just a dot: •)

You'll see these on Arabic clocks, phone keypads in Lebanon, prices at the bakery in Beirut, and the pages of every Arabic book.

For now: just say the numbers. The shapes will start to feel familiar.

Yalla Arabic · Vocabulary Cards · Session 11