Useful Arabic phrases
A collection of useful phrases in Modern Standard Arabic. Click on the English phrases to see them in many
other languages.
Key to abbreviations: m = said by men, f = said by women, >m = said to men, >f = said to women.
English (Arabic)
Welcome (ahlan wa sahlan)
(as-salm 'alaykum)
rsp - (wa 'alaykum as-salm)
Hello
inf - (marhaban)
on phone - ('ll)
How are you? (f. kayfa hlik / m. kayfa hlak)
Long time no see (lam naraka mundhu muddah)
(m ismak/ik?)
What's your name?
My name is ...
(... ismee) ...
(f. min ayn anti / m. min ayn anta?)
Where are you from?
I'm from ...
(An min ...) ...
m (motasharefon bema'refatek)
Pleased to meet you
f (motasharefatun bema'refatek)
Good morning (abul khayr)
Good afternoon/evening (mas' al-khayr)
(tubi 'al khayr)
Good night
(laylah sa'dah)
Goodbye (il al-liq') ( ma'a as-salmah)
Good luck (bit-tawfq) !
Have a nice day
(bil-han' wa ash-shif') /
Bon appetit
may you have your meal with gladness and health
happy journey (rilah sadah)
Bon voyage
successful journey (rilah muwaffaqah)
I understand (ana afham)
I don't understand (l afham)
Please speak more slowly (takallam bibut' min fadlak/ik)
Please say that again (f - a'd min fadlik / m - a'id min fadlak!)
Please write it down (uktubh min fadlak/ik)
(hal tatakallam al-lughah al-'arabyah?)
Do you speak Arabic?
Yes, a little
(na'am, qallan) ,
...
How do you say ... in Arabic?
(kayfa taqlu kalimah ... bil-'arabyah?)
to attract attention - (min fadlak/ik) !
Excuse me
to ask someone to move (al-ma'dirah) !
How much is this? f - (bikam hdihi?) \ m - (bikam hdh?)
Sorry (sif!)
(shukran jazlan) ( shukran)
Thank you
Reply (You're welcome)
(al'afw)
Where's the toilet? (ayn al-ammm?)
Would you like to >m (hal tuibb an tarqus?)
dance with me? >f (tuhibbn an tarqus?)
I love you (uhibbuk)
Leave me alone! f - (idrukkini) m - (idrukni)
Call the police! (nd ash-shariah) !
Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year (ajmil at-tihn bimunsabah al-mld wa ill as-sanah al-jaddah)
(fish sa'd)
Happy Easter Christ has risen (el maseeh qam)
rsp - Truly he has risen (haqan qam)
(kul 'am wa antum bekheir)
Happy Birthday
(eid mlad sa'ad)
My hovercraft
is full of eels (awwmt mumtil'ah bi'anqalaysn)
What!? Why this phrase?
One language
is never enough
[Link]
[Link]
The table below shows examples of Arabic numbers. The first and the fifth columns have numbers used in some Arab
countries; theyre not of Arabic origins but still used in many places especially copies of the Holy Quran . Nowadays what
we call the Arabic numbers are the numbers shown on the columns 2 and 6, which are used by the Arab world as well as
the rest of the world.
Arabic Numbers
0 sifr 1 wahid
2 ithnan 3 thalatha (th as in bath)
4 arbaa 5 khamsa
6 sitta 7 saba
8 thamaniya (th in thin) 9 tisa
10 ashra 11 ahada ashar
12 ithna ashar 13 thalatha ashar
14 arbaa ashar 15 khamsa ashar
16 sitta ashar 17 saba ashar
18 thamaniya ashar 19 tisa ashar
20 ishrun 21 wahed wa-ishrun
22 ithnane wa-ishrun 23 thalatha wa-ishrun
24 arbaa wa-ishrun 25 khamsa wa-ishrun
26 sitta wa-ishrun 27 saba wa-ishrun
28 thamaniya wa-ishrun 29 tisa wa-ishrun
30 thalathun 31 wahid wa-thalathun
40 arbaun 42 ithnan wa-arbaun
50 khamsun 53 thalatha wa-khamsun
60 sittun 64 arba'a wa-sittun
70 sabun 75 khamsa wa-sabun
80 thamanun 86 sitta wa-thamanun
90 tisun 97 sab'a wa-tisun
100 mi'a 1000 alf
100000 mi'at alf 2000 alfain
10000000 Million
Forming numbers in Arabic is quite easy, from 13 to 19 you just place a number before ten for example 13 = three ten,
instead of thirteen in English, 17 is seven ten in Arabic. From 21 to 99 you just need to reverse the numbers and add (wa-
between the two numbers) 36 would be six wa- thirty instead of thirty six (sitta wa-thalathun), (wa means and).
0 is sifr in Arabic, from which the word cipher came. For 11 and 12 theyre irregular, so just remember how to write them
by now (11 = ehda ashar, 12 = ithna ashar).
So in general, numbers standing alone are easy to use, or say. The hard part is that numbers 3 to 10 have a unique rule of
agreement with nouns known as polarity: A numeral in masculine gender should agree with a feminine referrer and vice
versa (thalathatu awlaad = three boys), boys are masculine plural, so the feminine form of number 3 should be used (which
is thalathatu, and not thalathu which is the masculine form, the u at the end of numbers is used when a number is
followed by another word to make an easy jump to the next word) (thalathu banaat = three girls) banaat = girls, which is
feminine plural, therefore a masculine form of number 3 should be used (thalathu). That may sound complicated but once
you get used to it, it will not be as hard as it seems now, besides most Arab natives make mistakes or simply dont care
about matching the gender and the number.
If you are looking for a more extensive Arabic course, we recommend Breaking The Arabic Code
Arabic Ordinal Numbers:
Ordinal numbers in Arabic are almost like the cardinal numbers, with some exceptions in the numbers from 1 to 10, and a
slight difference in numbers from 11 and up.
Note that ordinal numbers in Arabic are somehow like adjectives, so they have to take the masculine, or feminine form.
Please check the adjectives page for more information.
Arabic Cardinal Numbers
First Awwal Oula
Second Thani Thania
Third Thaleth Thaletha
Fourth Rabe Rabea
Fifth Khaames Khaamesa
Sixth Sadis Sadisa
Seventh Sabe Sabea
Eighth Thamen Thamena
Ninth Tase Tasea
Tenth acher achera
Eleventh Hady achar Hadiata achar
Twelfth Thani achar Thania achar
After 10 only the first number takes the feminine, for example 13th is thaleth achar for masculine, and thalethata achar for
feminine, achar stays the same, the first half thaleth which means 3rd takes a in the feminine, and so does the rest of
the ordinal number, except ten numbers like 20, 30, 40, 50, they look like cardinal numbers but they add a as a prefix for
numbers starting with a consonant, for example: 70 = sabun, 70th = asabun (for both masculine and feminine), and they
add al for ten numbers starting with a vowel, like: 40= arbaun, 40th = alarbaun.
