Another site that I have found very useful is http://www.arabicmusictranslation.com/, which has lyrics to songs in Arabic, with translations to English.

Songs include different types of phrases, some that are used in day-to-day speech. Many of the songs are also sung in a dialect (often Egyptian colloquial). For example, the phrase ايه يعني (aaya ya’ni) which translates as “so what?” in English.

The person behind the Arabic lyrics site recently started a second web site, http://egyptianarabiccourse.blogspot.com/ where he focuses on the Egyptian colloquial dialect with examples from song and more detailed explanations of the lyrics. This looks very useful, since colloquial is the day-to-day spoken language and is essential to learn these types of phrases.

Most verbs in Arabic are built around a trilateral root, consisting of three consonants. For example, the word دَخَلَ (dakhala) which means “to enter”. The root of the word is د + خ + ل . The consonants will remain the same, no matter what tense the verb is in. As in Spanish, verbs in Arabic are conjugated (change form, depending on pronoun). In the “present” tense, it works like this, with use of a prefix (ت - “ta” , ي - ya, or ن - na) along with modifying the vowel pattern. The root consonants remain the same. The following example is in the “past” or perfect tense, with a suffix attached to the root.
He entered - دَخَلَ (dakhala)
She entered - دَخَلَتْ (dakhalat)
You (m. sing.) entered - دَخَلَتَ (dakhalata)
You (f. sing.) entered - دَخَلَتِ (dakhalati)
I entered - دَخَلَتُ (dakhalatu)
They (dual m. - 3rd person) - دَخَلا (dakhala)
They (dual f. - 3rd person) - دَخَلَتَا (dakhalata)
You (dual 2nd person) entered - دَخَلْتُمَا (dakhaltuma)
They (m. pl) entered - دَخَلُوا (dakhalua)
They (f. pl) entered - دَخَلْنَ (dakhalna)
You (m. pl) entered - دَخَلْتُمْ (dakhaltum)
You (f. pl) entered - دَخَلْتُنَّ (dakhaltunna)
We entered - دَخَلْنَا (dakhalna)

Arabic does not have an exact equivalent of the “present” and “past” tense, as used in English. Instead, it has the “perfect” and “imperfect” tenses. Perfect tense is used to describe actions that have been completed, such as “he ate” but not “he was eating” which is imperfect (incomplete action in the past or present). The above example is the perfect tense, describing completed actions in the past. The above is also in the “active” voice (”he entered”), rather than “passive” which would be “he had entered”.

When looking up words in the dictionary, verbs are given in the male singular third person (”He”), in the perfect tense. For example, you would find “to enter” listed as دَخَلَ (dakhala).

Along with learning Arabic grammar, it is very important to build one’s vocabulary. It helps to focus on learning words associated with particular topic areas and be able to converse or comprehend about that topic. It is not practical to learn so many topic areas at once, but focusing this way works. One tool to help me learn is a workbook called Build Your Arabic Vocabulary which is by Haroon Shirwani. The vocabulary words are broken down by topic area, starting from greetings. There is also a CD that might come with the book, depending on which edition you get. I now know most of the greetings and basic phrases. The next section is “House and home”, which I mostly know. I have also put time into learning the “food” vocabulary, which I think is crucial for being able to travel and order from menus.