how to say “two hundred” in Hebrew
מָאתַיִם, אַלְפַּיִם
Yesterday we saw the Hebrew terms for three hundred and three thousand – שְׁלֹשׁ מְאוֹת and שְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים , respectively.
and שְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים , respectively.Higher multiples of those numbers follow a pattern:
אַרְבַּע מְאוֹת, אַרְבַּעַת אֲלָפִים – 400, 4000
חֲמֵשׁ מְאוֹת, חֲמֵשֶׁת אֲלָפִים – 500, 5000
and so on.
Going down to the multiple of two, however, we find a different phenomenon – a doubling of the word itself with an ah-yeem ending.
Thus two hundred is מָאתַיִם , and two thousand is אַלְפַּיִם .
, and two thousand is אַלְפַּיִם .For example:
לֹא שָׁמַעְתִּי אֵיזֶה סְכוּם אָמַרְתָּ – מָאתַיִם אוֹ אַלְפַּיִם שְׁקָלִים?
I didn’t hear what amount you (a male) said – two hundred or two thousand shekels?
These words can describe both masculine and feminine nouns. For example:
בָּאוּלָם יוֹשְׁבִים מָאתַיִם גְּבָרִים וּמָאתַיִם נָשִׁים.
In the hall, two hundred men and two hundred women are seated.
The ah-yeem ending appears on many other words that come in pairs, such as עֵינַיִם – eyes, and מַגָּפַיִם – boots.
– eyes, and מַגָּפַיִם – boots.