Learn Arabic › A1 › كَم
كَم
how much; how many /ˈkam/
otherA1#180 most common
Also: how many, how much, how many! (exclamatory)
Example sentences
كَمْ عُمْرُكَ؟
How old are you?
كَمِ السّاعَةُ الآنَ؟
What time is it now?
كَمْ كِتاباً عِنْدَكَ؟
How many books do you have?
بِكَمْ هٰذا القَميصُ؟
How much is this shirt?
كَمْ مَرَّةً طَلَبْتُ مِنْكَ أَنْ تُساعِدَني؟
How many times have I asked you to help me?
كَمْ مِنْ عالِمٍ كَبيرٍ عاشَ فَقيراً!
How many a great scholar has lived in poverty!
Word family
Etymology
كَم is the standard Arabic interrogative for quantity, meaning 'how much' or 'how many.' Scholars trace it to a Semitic compound of the particle كَـ (ka, 'like, as') and ما (mā, 'what'), fused over time into a single frozen word. The same compound appears in Hebrew kammāh and Aramaic kmā, both also meaning 'how much.' It has no Indo-European source.
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