العربية · 63 phrases · 7 categories

Basic Arabic Phrases for Travelers

Hello in Arabic is مرحباً (Marhaban), thank you is شكراً (Shukran), and the one to memorise before anything else is النجدة! (An-najda!) — help. Below: all 63 phrases across 7 travel situations, each one tappable to copy.

Strong in Dubai, Doha and Amman's tourist economy. Weaker in Egypt and Morocco outside hotels — in the Maghreb, French often gets you further than English.

As-salamu alaykum is the universal greeting and wa alaykum as-salam is the reply. Inshallah, alhamdulillah and mashallah turn up constantly in ordinary conversation.

The Arabic phrases to learn first

A greeting, a thank-you, an apology, a question, a price and an emergency — enough to get through a first day in العربية.

Hello

مرحباً (Marhaban)

Thank you

شكراً (Shukran)

Please

من فضلك (Min fadlak)

Excuse me / sorry

عذراً (Uzran)

Do you speak English?

هل تتكلم الإنجليزية؟

How much is this?

بكم هذا؟ (Bikam haza?)

Where is...?

أين يوجد...؟

Help!

النجدة! (An-najda!)

How Arabic is written

Arabic script, written right to left. Letters change shape depending on where they sit in the word, and short vowels are usually not written at all.

Where it gets you further

Understood from Morocco to Oman, though each country has its own spoken dialect.

🇸🇦 Arabic — 22 countries

Saying العربية out loud

  • Modern Standard Arabic is what you will be taught and understood in, but nobody speaks it at home; Moroccan and Gulf dialects differ enormously.
  • ع (ayn) and ق (qaf) are formed deep in the throat and have no English equivalent.
  • خ is the ch in Scottish loch; غ is a gargled French r.
  • Because short vowels are unwritten, the same printed word can often be read several ways.
  • The emphatic consonants ص ض ط ظ are said with the tongue flattened, and they colour the vowels around them.

The mistake travelers make in Arabic: Use your right hand for eating, greeting and passing things over — the left hand is considered unclean across the region.

All 63 Arabic phrases, by situation

Yes

نعم (Na'am)

No

لا (Laa)

Please

من فضلك (Min fadlak)

Thank you

شكراً (Shukran)

You're welcome

عفواً (Afwan)

Excuse me / Sorry

عذراً (Uzran)

I don't understand

لا أفهم (Laa afham)

Do you speak English?

هل تتكلم الإنجليزية؟

I don't speak [lang]

لا أتكلم العربية

A little

قليلاً (Qaleelan)

Phrase guides in other languages

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Ready to Go?

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