Tafqit: writing amounts in Arabic words for invoices and cheques

What tafqit is and why amounts are written in words

Tafqit (تفقيط) is the Arabic term for spelling out a number or an amount in words. It is what goes on the “amount in words” line of a cheque, at the bottom of an invoice or receipt, and in contract clauses that state a price or a rent. Instead of 125.500 you write «مئة وخمسة وعشرون دينارًا كويتيًا وخمسمئة فلس».

Words are harder to alter than digits. A 1 becomes a 7 with one small stroke; a written phrase cannot be changed without leaving a trace. That is also why Arabic financial documents traditionally open the line with «فقط» (“only”) and close it with «لا غير» (“nothing more”), so nothing can be squeezed in before or after.

The difficulty is that Arabic number grammar is genuinely hard, even for native speakers. Numbers sometimes take the opposite gender of the thing counted, the counted noun switches between singular, dual and plural, and several words change spelling between grammatical cases. The Number words tool applies all of these rules and leaves you one decision: the grammatical case your sentence needs.

How to spell out an amount, step by step

1. Open Number words.
2. Type the amount in Number or amount using digits only, for example 125.500. Use a dot or the Arabic decimal separator «٫» for decimals, and no thousands separators.
3. Pick the currency under Unit: Kuwaiti dinar, Saudi riyal, UAE dirham or US dollar. Choose Integer without currency if you are writing a plain number.
4. Choose the Grammatical case: nominative, or accusative/genitive. The section on case below explains how to decide.
5. For plain integers only, set Subject gender to masculine or feminine.
6. Check the result and copy it. Under the result, the tool shows the amount as it parsed it, such as 125.500 KWD. Make sure that is the figure you meant.

125.500

مئة وخمسة وعشرون دينارًا كويتيًا وخمسمئة فلس

The result updates as you type and the amount stays in your browser. If you are working through a batch of invoices, Add to recent keeps up to 10 conversions for the current session; they are cleared when you reload the page.

Gender agreement: why 3 dinars and 3 halalas use different words

The rule that trips most people up covers 3 to 10: these numbers take the opposite gender of the singular noun. Dinar and riyal are masculine, so the number gets the feminine-looking ending: «ثلاثة دنانير». Halala is feminine, so the number drops it: «خمس هللات». This example has both in one line:

3.05

ثلاثة ريالات سعودية وخمس هللات

The other ranges work like this:

• 1 and 2 match the noun: «ريال سعودي واحد» but «هللة واحدة».
• 11 and 12 match the noun in both parts: «أحد عشر فلسًا» versus «إحدى عشرة هللةً».
• 13 to 19: the first part takes the opposite gender and «عشر» matches: «خمسة عشر دينارًا» versus «ثلاث عشرة هللةً».
• Tens from 20 to 90 never change with gender; the unit before them follows the rules above: «خمسة وسبعون درهمًا» versus «خمس وسبعون هللةً».
• Hundred, thousand and million do not change with the noun's gender.

For currencies the tool already knows each unit's gender: dinar, riyal, dirham, dollar, fils and cent are masculine; halala is feminine. So five UAE fils take «خمسة» while five halalas take «خمس»:

0.05

خمسة فلوس

In Integer without currency mode the tool cannot know what you are counting. If the noun is feminine, such as «صفحة» (page), «سنة» (year) or «ساعة» (hour), set Subject gender to feminine:

13

ثلاث عشرة

Then add the noun yourself in the right form: «ثلاث عشرة صفحةً». In this mode the tool writes the number only.

Singular, dual or plural: the form of the currency name

With a currency selected, the tool writes the currency name in the form the number requires. What decides it is the last two digits of the whole part:

That is why close amounts look different: 103 dinars becomes «مئة وثلاثة دنانير كويتية», 1,250 becomes «ألف، ومئتان وخمسون دينارًا كويتيًا», and 1,500 dollars becomes «ألف، وخمسمئة دولار أمريكي».

For 1 and 2 the tool puts the noun first and the number after it. This emphatic order spells the quantity out explicitly, which suits financial documents:

2.002

ديناران كويتيان اثنان، وفلسان اثنان

«ديناران كويتيان» on its own is also correct, so delete «اثنان» if your house style is shorter.

Nominative or accusative/genitive: اثنان or اثنين?

The tool does not see the sentence your amount will sit in, so it asks for the grammatical case. Only a handful of words actually change spelling:

• اثنان → اثنين and اثنتان → اثنتين (two).
• اثنا عشر → اثني عشر and اثنتا عشرة → اثنتي عشرة (twelve).
• The tens: عشرون → عشرين, خمسون → خمسين, تسعون → تسعين.
• مئتان → مئتين, ألفان → ألفين, مليونان → مليونين (two hundred, two thousand, two million).
• The dual currency name: ديناران كويتيان → دينارين كويتيين.

Words such as «ثلاثة», «مئة» and «ألف» look the same in every case because only their unwritten vowels change. The noun after 11–99 is always accusative: «دينارًا كويتيًا» in both modes.

To decide, look at the words just before the amount:

• Nominative when the amount is the predicate, as after «المبلغ:» (the amount:) or «وقدره» (amounting to): «وقدره مئتان وخمسون دينارًا».
• Accusative when the amount is a direct object: «دفعت مئتين وخمسين دينارًا» (I paid 250 dinars).
• Genitive after a preposition or a word in construct: «بمبلغ مئتين وخمسين دينارًا» (for the sum of), «استلمت مبلغ مئتين وخمسين دينارًا» (I received the sum of).

1250.750

ألف، ومئتان وخمسون دينارًا كويتيًا وسبعمئة وخمسون فلسًا

1250.750

ألف، ومئتين وخمسين دينارًا كويتيًا وسبعمئة وخمسين فلسًا

Not sure about the grammar? Phrase the line so the amount follows «المبلغ:» or «وقدره», and choose nominative.

Hundreds, thousands and millions

• مئة, not مائة: both spellings of “hundred” are correct and pronounced the same. The tool uses «مئة» throughout and joins the hundreds: «ثلاثمئة», «تسعمئة».
• A dual before a noun drops its final nun: «مئتا دينار كويتي», «ألفا ريال سعودي». When another number follows two hundred, the nun stays: «مئتان ودينار كويتي واحد».
• Thousands and millions follow the counting rules: «ثلاثة آلاف» and «عشرة آلاف», then «أحد عشر ألفًا», then «مئة ألف». With a currency: «أحد عشر ألف ريال سعودي».
• A comma between groups: the tool puts a comma before the «و» that follows thousands or millions, as in «ألف، ومئتان». It makes long amounts easier to read; remove it if your style does not use it.

2000

ألفا ريال سعودي

1250000

مليون، ومئتان وخمسون ألف درهم إماراتي

The largest accepted value is 999,999,999: «تسعمئة وتسعة وتسعون مليونًا، وتسعمئة وتسعة وتسعون ألفًا، وتسعمئة وتسعة وتسعون». Billions are not supported.

Decimals: fils, halalas and cents

The tool writes the decimal part in the currency's minor unit and enforces the number of decimal places that ISO 4217 assigns to it:

1999.99

ألف، وتسعمئة وتسعة وتسعون دولارًا أمريكيًا وتسعة وتسعون سنتًا

Take extra care with dinars. Because KWD has three decimals, the tool pads missing places with zeros: 0.21 is read as 0.210, which is 210 fils:

0.21

مئتان وعشرة فلوس

If you mean 21 fils, type 0.021. In the same way 125.5 dinars is read as 125.500, five hundred fils.

Type more decimals than the currency allows, such as 12.345 riyals, and the tool refuses the amount and asks you to fix it. It never rounds, because silent rounding on a financial document is exactly the kind of error nobody notices. Integer mode accepts no decimals at all.

What the tool accepts, and what it does not do

• Digits: Western 0–9, Arabic-Indic and Persian digits, a leading minus sign, and a dot or «٫» as the decimal separator.
• No thousands separators: 1,500 and 1 500 are rejected; type 1500. The tool will not guess whether a comma means thousands or decimals.
• Negative amounts and zero: a negative amount starts with «سالب»; zero is written «صفر دينار كويتي»; negative zero becomes zero.
• Four currencies: for others, such as the Bahraini dinar or Qatari riyal, convert the whole part and the decimal part separately in integer mode, then add the currency and minor-unit names yourself using the noun table above.
• No «فقط» or «لا غير», and no wording specific to a bank's or company's form. Add those yourself.
• Not a legal check: the tool does not validate cheques or contracts and knows nothing about your bank's rules. Read the result and compare it with the figure before you sign.

١٢٥٫٥٠٠

مئة وخمسة وعشرون دينارًا كويتيًا وخمسمئة فلس

-50

سالب خمسون دولارًا أمريكيًا

If your document mixes Western and Arabic-Indic digits and you want to make them consistent first, see the Arabic numerals guide.