To request something, you can say in standard Arabic, أريد (ureedu) or in Egyptian Arabic say عاوز (a’wiz) which means “I want”.
For example, أريد شاي مع الحليب (ureedu shay ma’ al-haleeb) - “I want tea with milk”.
To make this a polite request, you should say please, which is من فضلك min fadlak to a male or “min fadlik” to a female. أريد شاي مع الحليب من فضلك (ureedu shay ma’ al-haleeb min fadlak) - “I want tea with milk, please”.
A more informal way of saying please is “law samaht”. Say لو سمحت (law samaht) to a male and لو سمحتي (law samahtee) to a female.
تفضل (tfaddal) - Here you go (to a male); تفضلي (tfaddali) - to female
To say thank you, say شكراً (shukran). “Thank you very much” is شكراً جزيلاً (shukran jezeelan) or in informal Egyptian dialect, say “al-fi shukr”.
To express possession, you can use the word عِندَ (a’inda), which means “to have”. This word requires a pronoun suffix, or “attached pronoun”. For example, the attached pronoun نا (-na) is used for “we”. Take عِندَ and add نا and it becomes عِندَنا (a’indana), which means “we have”. It is important to note that عِندَ is not a verb. Here are some objects: سَيّارة (sayyara) - a car بَيت (beyt) - a house, home مَكاتِب (maktab) - an office
Now, say عِندَنا followed by the object, which can be definite (e.g. the car) or indefinite (e.g. a car). عِندَنا سَيارة - We have a car عِندَنا السَيارة - We have the car
The attached pronouns can also be suffixed to the object nouns. For example, تَيتنا (beytna) which means “our house”.
Here is the list of all attached pronouns.
عيد الميلاد (i’id al-milaad) - Happy Christmas ترنيمة (tarnima) - hymn
The name of the song is ليلة عيد (laylet eid).
Lyrics
ليلة عيد ليلة عيد الليلة ليلة عيد
زينة و ناس صوت جراس عم بترن بعيد
ليلة عيد ليلة عيد الليلة ليلة عيد
صوت ولاد تياب جداد و بكرا الحب جديد
عم يتلاقوا الأصحاب
بهديي خلف الباب
في سجرة بالدار
و يدوروا ولاد صغار
و السجرة صارت عيد
و العيد اسوارة بأيد
و الأيد تعلق عالسجرة
غنيي و عناقيد
يا مغارة كلا بيوت
تلمع متل الياقوت
كيف جبتي عالدار
تلج شرايط و قمار
مين اللي جاي بعيد
عم بيرش مواعيد
يدق بواب الناس و يمشي
و الخير علينا يزي Lyrics source
The sukun is another diacritical mark in Arabic. Sukun is the Arabic word for silence. It is marked with a small circle above a letter, indicating the absence of a short vowel. Instead, adjoining consonants will be pronounced together. Like the short vowels (fatha, damma, kasra), the sukun is normally not written. The sukun can also come at the end of a word, making a word end in a consonant sound. In these situations, the sukun is less likely to be written, though will be marked at the end of words in fully vowelled texts, such as the Quran.
Shadda is a diacritical mark, indicated with a small “w” shaped mark above Arabic letters. A shadda indicates a double consonant or long consonant.
شَقّة (shaqa) apartment - with a shadda on the qaf (ق)
شُقَق (shuqaq) apartments (pl) - without a shadda
The presence of a shadda can cause a word to take on a very different meaning, than what it would be without the shadda. For example, “darasa” (دَرَسَ) means he studied. “darrasa” (دَرَّسَ) means he taught.
- darasa
- darrasa
If there is a damma or fatha, along with the shadda, those go above the shadda. If there is a kasra on the same letter, the kasra goes beneath the shadda, with both above the letter.
كَيفَ الحال؟ (kayf hal) - How are you?
Alternatively, one might say “Keyf heh lak” (to a male) or keyf heh lik (to a female).
When asked this question, one is expected to respond positively, no matter what one is feeling. You should answer by saying الحَمدُ لِلةِ بِخَير (al-hamdu lila bikheer) which translates as “Thank God, I am well”. بخَير الحَمدُ لِلةِ (bikheer al-hamdu lila) is also acceptable.
Alternative to “how are you?” in Egypt:
Izzayyak (to a male); response: Kwayyis, il-hamdu lillaah, which means “fine, thank you”;
Izzayyik (to a female); response: Kwayyisa, il-hamdu lilaah;
Izzayyukum (to a group); response: Kwayyisiin, il hamdu lilaah;
Other questions:
Izzaay il-awlaad - how are the children?
Izzaay il-madaam - how is madam? (your wife)
The Arabic version of the 2008 IKEA catalogue is full of material for learning vocabulary. The catalogue is broken down by sections, depending on type of room. الأطفال (al atfaal) - children إيكيا - IKEA طهى (taha) - to cook أكل (akal) - to eat نظم (nathama) - to order, to put in order, arrange, file, … المنزل (menzil) - home منسوجات - textiles إضاءة (ida’a) - lighting, illumination; ضاء (da’a) - to shine, light, illuminate, … زينة (zaina) - to decorate, adorn, embellish, …
I am studying Arabic at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and will be in Egypt in the summer. This site covers Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the Arabic language, and makes frequent use of YouTube videos, news, and other Arabic language resources on the Internet.
