Phrases and Vocabulary
Phrases
كيف حالَك؟ / كيف حالِك؟  kayf Haalak? (to a male) kayf Haalik? (to a female) How are you? literal meaning kayf كيف means "how" and Haal حال means condition. You may recognize the -ak and -ik endings on Haal حال from the questions maa ismak? ما اسمَك؟ and maa ismik? ما اسمِك؟. -ak َك and -ik ِك mean "your(male)" and "your(female)" respectively. Hence, this question literally asks, "How is your condition?" Egyptian colloquial counterpart The Egyptian counterpart of kayf Haalak? كيف حالَك؟ is izzayyak? ازّيَّك؟, and of kayf Haalik? كيف حالِك؟ is izzayyik? ازّيِّك؟. formal pronunciation كيف حالُكَ؟ / كيف حالُكِ؟ kayf Haaluka? (to a male) kayf Haaluki? (to a female) |
ما اخبارَك؟ / ما اخبارِك؟ maa akhbaarak? (to a male) maa akhbaarik? (to a female) How are you? (informal) literal meaning maa ما, as you know, means "what." akhbaar اخبار is a vocabulary word from Unit 3 of Alif Baa. You may recognize the -ak and -ik endings on akhbaar اخبار from the questions maa ismak? ما اسمَك؟ and maa ismik? ما اسمِك؟. -ak َك and -ik ِك mean "your(male)" and "your(female)" respectively. Hence, this question literally asks, "What is your news?" Egyptian colloquial counterpart The Egyptian counterpart of maa akhbaarak? ما اخبارَك؟ is akhbaarak 'eeh? اخبارَك إيه؟ and of maa akhbaarik? ما اخبارِك؟ is akhbaarik 'eeh? اخبارِك إيه؟. formal pronunciation ما اخبارُكَ؟ / ما اخبارُكِ؟ maa akhbaaruka? (formal-to a male) maa akhbaaruki? (formal-to a female) |
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الحمد الله al-Hamdu lillaah Praise be to God. |
بخير bikhayr fine/good Egyptian colloquial counterpart The Egyptian counterparts of bikhayr بخير are kuwayyis كويس (to a male) and kuwayyisa كويسة (to a female). |
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شكرا shukran thank you |
عفوا cafwan you're welcome |
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تفضّل / تفضّلي tafaDDal (to a male) tafaDDali (to a female) please, go ahead literal meaning You may have noticed that tafaDDal تفضّل and tafaDDali تفضّلي contain many of the same letters as min faDlak من فضلّك and min faDlik من فضلِك (please). This is because the two phrases are related, both coming from the root verb "to please." Egyptian colloquial counterpart The Egyptian counterparts of tafaDDal تفضّل and tafaDDali تفضّلي are itfaDDal اتفضّل and itfaDDali اتفضّلي respectively. using this phrase in context tafaDDal تفضّل and tafaDDali تفضّلي are variations of the phrase "please, go ahead." This phrase is used in many contexts, each of which may call for its own translation of the phrase. For instance, you can use this phrase to invite someone at the door into your home "please, come in" or to offer someone a seat "please, sit down" or to offer someone the right of way "please, go ahead". tafaDDal تفضّل and tafaDDali تفضّلي are also used when handing a person something, such as when a salesperson hands you your change "please, take". |
Vocabulary
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حضرتَك HaDritak you (male-formal) formal pronunciation حضرتُكَ HaDratuka (male-formal) |
حضرتِك HaDritik you (female-formal) formal pronunciation حضرتُكِ HaDratuki (female-formal) |
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كيف kayf how Egyptian colloquial counterpart The Egyptian counterpart of kayf كيف is izzayy ازّيّ. |
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.
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