Hebrew numbers, 1 to 1,000

Hebrew numbers agree in gender with the noun they count, and for 1 through 19 the two forms genuinely differ. Counter-intuitively, the form used with masculine nouns is the longer-looking one (ending in “-ה”), and the form used with feminine nouns is the shorter one (see “classic mistakes” below).

The same gender split continues through the teens; each is the units digit plus “עֶשְׂרֵה” (feminine) or “עָשָׂר” (masculine), “-teen.”

From 20 up, the tens word itself doesn’t change for gender; only a units digit added after it would.

Larger numbers chain these parts together. 5,787, for example, is built the same way a year like it would be spoken: thousands, then hundreds, then the tens-and-units joined with “and” (וְ / וָ).

Ordinals (first, second, third…) have their own words through tenth. Past ten, everyday Hebrew reaches for the cardinal number instead.

A Gregorian date uses the cardinal number as a numeral with a hyphenated “ה-” (“the”), not a spelled-out ordinal: “the 15th of May” is ה־15 במאיha-15 be-mai▶ Listen.

Hebrew-calendar dates are traditionally written with letters as numerals instead of digits. The 15th of the month Iyar is ט״ו בְּאִיָּרtu be-iyar▶ Listen, built from ט״ו(15, avoiding the letters that would spell part of a name of God; see “classic mistakes”).

Israeli Hebrew tells time with feminine numbers, because “שעה” (hour) is feminine. Half past is “וחצי” (and a half), quarter past or to is “ורבע” / “רבע ל-”, and other minutes are said as “and [number]” or “[number] to”.

Shekel (שקל) is a masculine noun, so amounts use the masculine number. Agora (אגורה), the sub-unit, is feminine.

Phone numbers are read digit by digit, using the feminine form of each digit regardless of what the number is attached to: the default Hebrew uses for a number said on its own.

Age uses “בן” (ben, son of) for a male and “בת” (bat, daughter of) for a female, plus the number of years. For the simple ages, the number stays feminine even after “בן”; it agrees with the unstated “שנים” (years, feminine), not with the person: בֶּן חָמֵשׁben chamesh▶ Listen (a five-year-old boy), בַּת חָמֵשׁbat chamesh▶ Listen (a five-year-old girl). Compound ages like 21 or 35 add their own wrinkles; check a specific example with a native speaker before publishing it elsewhere.

For exactly two, Hebrew has a separate “construct” form used directly before the noun, שני for masculine and שתי for feminine, rather than the standalone שניים/שתיים used above; treat this pair as a note for native review. For three and up, the cardinal number is simply followed by the plural noun, as in the tables above.

• Gender agreement for 3–10 runs opposite to the intuitive guess: the masculine form is the one that looks feminine (ends in “-ה”), and the feminine form is the shorter one without it.
• Time, dates and simple ages default to feminine numbers regardless of who or what is being counted, because they silently agree with a feminine noun (“hour”, “years”) rather than the subject.
• 15 and 16 are written טו (9+6) and טז (9+7), not the expected יה and יו, because יה would spell part of a name of God.
• Tens (20, 30, 40…) don’t change for gender at all; only a units digit added onto them does.