Phrases and Vocabulary
Phrases
أهلا بيك/أهلا بيكِ  'ahlan biik (to a male) 'ahlan biiki (to a female) reply to "'ahlan wasahlan" Literal Meaning 'ahlan biik أهلا بيك and 'ahlan biiki أهلا بيكِ mean "family with you." |
أهلا وسهلا 'ahlan wasahlan hello/welcome Literal Meaning 'ahlan wasahlan أهلا وسهلا comes from an old saying that shows Arab hospitality to strangers; 'ahlan أهلا means "family," as in "You've come to stay with family," and sahlan سهلا here means a flat land or plain where grass/food is abundant and to be shared with visitors. |
|
وعليكم السلام wacalaykum us-salaam reply to "as-salaamu calaykum" Literal Meaning wacalaykum us-salaam وعليكم السلام literally means "and upon you (be) peace." |
السلام عليكم as-salaamu calaykum greetings Literal Meaning as-salaamu calaykum السلام عليكم literally means "peace (be) upon you." |
|
الله يسلّمَك/الله يسلّمِك allaah yisallimak (to a male) allaah yisallimik (to a female) reply to "mac ssalaama" Literal Meaning allaah yisallimak الله يسلّمَك and allaah yisallimik الله يسلّمِك mean "(may) God keep you safe." |
مع السلامة maca ssalaama goodbye Literal Meaning maca ssalaama مع السلامة literally means "(may you go) in safety." |
|
صباح النور SabaaH in-nuur reply to "SabaaH il-kheer" Literal Meaning SabaaH in-nuur صباح النور means "(wishing you a) morning of light." |
صباح الخير SabaaH il-kheer good morning Literal Meaning SabaaH il-kheer صباح الخير literally means "(wishing you a) morning of goodness." |
|
مساء النور masaa' in-nuur reply to "masaa' il-kheer" Literal Meaning masaa' in-nuur مساء النور means "(wishing you an) evening of light." |
مساء الخير masaa' il-kheer good evening Literal Meaning masaa' il-kheer مساء الخير literally means "(wishing you an) evening of goodness." |
|
من فضلَك/من فضلِك min faDlak (to a male) min faDlik (to a female) please Literal Meaning min faDlak/min faDlik من فضلَك/من فضلِك literally mean "from your graciousness." Formal Pronunciation من فضلِك َ/من فضلِكِ min faDlika (to a male) min faDliki (to a female) |
مرّة ثانية marra thaaniyya again Literal Meaning marra thaaniyya مرّة ثانية literally means "a second time." marra مرّة means "a time" and thaaniyya ثانية means "second." |
Vocabulary
|
يا yaa O (Vocative Particle) |
To Vowel or Not to Vowel?
Register in AWW's Alif Baa Materitals
What is a register?Register refers to the level of formality in speech. High register speech is very formal; whereas low register is very informal.
Due to the nature of Arabic, many forms of a particular phrase exist--not only from one dialect to another, but from low register to high register. One of the major elements of register is grammatical voweling, which uses vowels to "mark" words according to their grammatical use in a sentence. Because fully voweled speech is less common in most speaking situations, we have chosen to present standard Arabic phrases in an unvoweled, or low register, form. Be aware that these are hybrid forms, such as are common in speech.
Print Phrase and Vocabulary List
Electronic Flashcards
Phrases and Vocabulary Quiz
Optional Supplement: Creative Greetings