Lesson 3: Counting from 1 to 10 in Hebrew

Numbers come up constantly — prices, phone numbers, ages. Let’s count to ten.

Heads up: Hebrew numbers have masculine and feminine forms. The forms below are the feminine ones, which are what you’ll hear when counting abstractly (1, 2, 3…). Don’t worry about memorizing both yet — just get comfortable counting.

Number	Hebrew	Transliteration
1	אַחַת	achat
2	שְׁתַּיִם	shtayim
3	שָׁלוֹשׁ	shalosh
4	אַרְבַּע	arba
5	חָמֵשׁ	chamesh
6	שֵׁשׁ	shesh
7	שֶׁבַע	sheva
8	שְׁמוֹנֶה	shmone
9	תֵּשַׁע	tesha
10	עֶשֶׂר	eser

The “ch” sound

You’ll notice chamesh (5). That “ch” is not like English chair — it’s a throaty sound, like the “ch” in the Scottish loch or German Bach. It appears in many Hebrew words, so it’s worth practicing now.

Practice

Count out loud from אַחַת to עֶשֶׂר three times. Then try counting the objects on your desk in Hebrew.