"I want to contribute a song for 2-3 year old children. It is a Palestinian (origin) song about counting from 1-10. The song is about the shapes of the numbers in Arabic, when they learn to write them down." -NiviN Jayusi

You can find the pronunciation for this song in the Song Notes.

الواحد عصاية - Palestinian Children's Songs - Palestine - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World - Intro Image

Notes

*As in shooting a Pistol
**When you write Ten in Arabic it looks like ( I . ) The dot is a zero in Arabic.

Below are the Arabic Numbers written from 1 to 10 so you can better understand this rhyme since it's about the shapes of the numbers. The numbers below are written from left to right (normally the numbers are written from right to left since that's the direction in which you read in Arabic):

١,٢,٣,٤,٥,٦,٧,٨,٩, and ١٠

Pronunciation:

Elwahad aasaye
Withnen bettokh
Wethalathi msannani
Welarbaa bithez
Welkhamsi duwwera
Wissiti zaalani
Wissabaa btushkor allah
Withamani bitsaleh
Wittisaa aukkazi
Wilaashara elha noqta

aa = a kind of "ah" sound pronounce very deep in the throat
th = as in "thin"
kh = like "j" in Spain Spanish or "ch" in German "Bach"
q = "dark k", pronounced raising the soft palate

Listen

Download

Thanks to NiviN Jayusi for recording this song for us!

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to NiviN Jayusi for sharing this song with the translation and pronunciation.

Thanks to Emmanuel Aghazarm for help with the Arabic!

Illustration by Monique Palomares.

Shukran!