Arabic is one of the world’s major languages, spoken throughout North Africa, much of the Middle East, and beyond. And across that huge geographic area there is a lot of variation.
People who want to learn Arabic always face the dilemma of which form of Arabic to learn. Standard Arabic is very formal, and not used for daily conversations, but it’s the same everywhere. Colloquial Arabic is casual and natural to use in daily conversations, but differs widely from place to place.
When Arabic speakers talk to speakers of dialects that are quite different, they sometimes use Modern Standard Arabic, but usually without using its strictest grammar.
In particular, they usually skip the grammatical case endings. But they use standard vocabulary and pronunciation. I guess you could call it MSA Lite. Let’s focus on that form of Arabic, which is universally understood throughout the Arab World.
There are several different ways to say Hello in Arabic.
as-salaam(u) 3aleikum السلام عليكم – This is the most ubiquitous polite greeting in Arabic, which literally means “Peace be upon you”. The “u” part is one of the case endings I mentioned. They are normally dropped in conversation, but they are often kept in certain important phrases like this. The digit 3 (ع in the Arabic script) represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative which is almost like a gagging sound you make in the back of you throat.
wa-3aleikumu-ssalaam وعليكم السلام – This is the reply to as-salam(u) 3aleikum, and literally means “And upon you peace”. Why is there no “u” on “salaam”? Because those case endings are dropped at the end of a sentence.
ahlan اهلا – This is common way of greeting someone. It is short for ahlan wa sahlan اهلا وسهلا. Originally this greeting meant “welcome” but now it is also used as a simple greeting like “Hello”.
ahlan bik اهلا بك (to a man), ahlan biki اهلا بكِ (to a woman), ahlan bikum اهلا بكم (to a group). – This is the common reply to ahlan or ahlan wa sahlan.
marHaba مرحبا – This is another greeting whose original meaning is “welcome”, but is now widely used as a generally greeting. Notice the capital H in the middle of “marHaba”. That represents an Arabic consonant that doesn’t exist in English, a “strong h” sound, like the sound you make when you breathe on your glasses to fog them up before wiping them.
Ya ~ يَا – After a greeting, it’s common to use ya + the person’s name. “marHaba, ya Michael!” or“as-alaamu 3leikum, ya Michael!”
Specific Arabic greetings for different times of day.
How to say “Good morning” in Arabic:
SabāH al-khair صباح الخير – This literally means “Morning of good”.
SabāH an-nuur صباح النور – This is the way to reply, which literally means “Morning of light”.
The capital “S” at the beginning of “SabāH” represents an emphatic consonant. It’s like an “s” but is pharyngealized, meaning there is some constriction in the pharynx at the back of your throat.
How to say “Good evening” in Arabic:
masā’ al-khair مَساء الخير – “Evening of good”.
masā’ an-nuur مساء النور – “Evening of light”.
What about “good afternoon”? Why did I skip that?
Well, there’s no separate phrase for “good afternoon” in Arabic. Sometimes masaa’ al-khair is used to mean “Good afternoon”. Or ahlan, marHaba, or as-salamu 3aleikum are used instead.
“How are you?” in Arabic
kayfa Haalak كيف حالَك؟ (to a man), kayfa Haalik كيف حالِك؟ (to a woman) – This literally means “How is your condition?” Haal حال (notice that capital H again!) means “condition” while “ak” and “ik” are suffixes meaning “your” (for a man and a woman, respectively).
There are many variants of this question in different Arabic dialects, like keyf Haalak, kiif Haalak, etc.
Bikhair بخير – This is a common response to kayfa haalak/ik, which means “well”. You may also hear a longer reply, Al-Hamdu li-laah, bikhair. “Praise God, (I’m) well”. الحمد لله,بخير
You may also simply hear Al-Hamdu li-laah الحمد لله. “Praise God”. This is a phrase you will hear in many other situations, as well.
Wa-anta? / wa-anti? و أنتَ؟ / و أنتِ؟ – “And you?” After replying to kayfa haalak/ik you can ask this back to the other person to hear his/her answer. Notice the two forms of the word meaning “you”: anta (m.sg) and anti (f.sg).
Saying Goodbye in Arabic
ma3assalāma مع السلامة – This is the Arabic word for “goodbye”. It literally means “with peace”.
Goodnight in Arabic
tuSbiH(u) 3ala khair تصبح على خير – This is the Arabic phrase for “good night”, which literally means something like “Awake in a good condition”.
If you include the “u” it makes it the most “proper” and formal way of saying it in Modern Standard Arabic. But a more common pronunciation seems to be tiSbaH 3ala khair.
Wa anta min ahli-lkhair وأنتَ مِن أهلِ الخير – This is the reply to tuSbiH(u) 3ala khair . It literally means something along the lines of “And may you be among the people of good condition”.
Meeting people for the first time in Arabic
mā ismak? (for a man) / mā ismik (for a woman) ما إسمك؟ – “What is your name?”
mā ما means “what”, ism إسم means “name”, while “ak” and “ik” are the masculine and feminine possessive suffixes, respectively.
Recall that I mentioned MSA lite. The most “proper” way to say this in MSA is mā ismuka? for a man, and mā ismuki? for a woman. But you are unlikely to hear this in a conversational context.
ismi ________ اسمي – ” My name is _______”.
i ي is the suffix meaning “my”.
This is only a bite size sample of the Arabic language, but meeting people and greeting people are two essential aspects of communicating and socializing in another language. I hope this sparked your attention and inspired you to learn more!
If you’re excited to learn more Arabic, one extensive resource for everyday spoken Arabic is ArabicPod101, which teaches Egyptian, Moroccan, and Modern Standard Arabic.
