Top Arabic words you must learn

Arabic is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. It is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. It is named after the Arabs, a term initially used to describe peoples living in the area bounded by Mesopotamia in the east and the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west, in northwestern Arabia and in the Sinai Peninsula. The ISO assigns language codes to thirty varieties of Arabic, including its standard form, Modern Standard Arabic, also referred to as Literary Arabic, which is modernized Classical Arabic. This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā (“the eloquent Arabic”) or simply al-fuṣḥā. 

Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government and the media. Arabic, in its standard form, is the official language of 26 states, as well as the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic.

Arabic enjoyed prominence and importance in European culture, during the Middle Ages. especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages ended up borrowing many words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages—mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese and Catalan—owing to both the proximity of Christian European and Muslim Arab civilizations. The long-lasting influence of Arabic culture and language was seen mainly in Southern Iberia during the Al-Andalus era. Sicilian has about 500 Arabic words, many of which relate to agriculture and related activities, as a legacy of the Emirate of Sicily from the early-9th to late-11th centuries, while the Maltese language is a Semitic language developed from a dialect of Arabic but written in the Latin alphabet. The Balkan languages, including Greek and Bulgarian, have also acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish.

Arabic has influenced many other languages around the globe throughout its history. Some of the most influenced languages are Persian, Turkish, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Kashmiri, Kurdish, Bosnian, Kazakh, Bengali, Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Maldivian, Pashto, Punjabi, Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog, Sindhi, Odia and Hausa and some languages in parts of Africa. Conversely, Arabic has borrowed words from other languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Persian in medieval times and languages such as English and French in modern times.

Hello! مرحبا marḥabal or يوم سعيد—yawmun sa ʾīd 

(Depending on usage)

Good morning! صباح الخير—ṣabāha l-ḫair

Good evening! مساء الخير—basāʾa l-ḫair

Good night! ليلة سعيدة—lailah saʿīdah

Bye! (informal) مع السلامة—maʿa s-salamah

Good bye! (formal) إلى اللقاء—ʾilā l-lāʾ

yes نعم—naʿam

no لا—lā

maybe ربما—rubbamā

OK حسنا—ḥasanan

Thank you! شكرا—šukran

You’re welcome! (m/f) عفوا—ʿafwan

Excuse me, … (sg/pl) المعذرة—almaʿṯrah

I’m sorry. (m/f) أنا آسف—ʾana āsif

I have … / I don’t have … عندي ليس عندي—ʿindī laisa ʿindī

We (don’t) have … … ليس ليس عندنا…—ʿindanā laisa ʿindanā …

There is (no) … يوجد… لا يوجد…—yūğad lā yūğad

information إستعلامات—ʾistiʿlāmāt

Arab عرب—ʿarab

foreigner أجانب—ʿağanib

visa فيزا—fīzā

fee رسوم—rusūm

and و—wa

or أو—ʾaw

My name is … إسمي—ʾismī

I’m from … أنا من—ʾanā min…

I’m … years old. أنا عمري…..سنة—ʾanā ʿumrī…..sanah

I am married. / I am not married. أنا متزوج أنا لست متزوجا—ʾanā mutazawwiğ ʾ anā lastu mutazawwiğan

I am traveling alone. / I am not traveling alone. (m/f) أنا أسافر وحدي أنا لا أسافر وحدي—ʾanā ʾusāfiru waḥdī ʾanā lā ʾusāfiru waḥdī

I’m traveling with … أنا أسافر مع…—ʾanā ʾusāfiru maʿa …

I don’t speak any Arabic. أنا لا أتكلم العربية—ʾanā lā ʾtakallamu l-ʿarabiyyah

I don’t understand that. (m/f) أنا لا أفهم هذا—ʾanā lā ʾafhamu hāḏā

Do you speak …? (m/f) هل تتكلم….؟—hal tatakallamu… ?

Does anyone here speak …? هل يتكلم أحد ما هنا….؟—hal yatakallam ʾaḥadun mā hunā… ?

English الإنجليزية—al-ʾinğlīziyyah

French الفرنسية—al-faransiyyah

Could you write that down please. (m/f) من فضلك, أكتب هذا!—min faḍlik, 

Could you please repeat that. (m/f) من فضلك, كرر هذا!—min faḍlik, karrir hāḏā

Just a moment please. لحظة من فضلك!—laḥÛah min

one واحد—waḥid

two اثنان—ʾiṯnān

three ثلاثة—ṯalāeah

four أربعة—ʾarbaʿah

five خمسة—ḫamsah

six ستة—sittah

seven سبعة—sabʿah

eight ثمانية—ṯamaniyah

nine تسعة—tisʿah

ten عشرة—ʿašarah

eleven أحد عشر—ʾaḥad ʿaašar

twelve اثنا عشر—ʾiṯbā ʿaašar

thirteen ثلاثة عشر—ṯalaṯata ʿaašar

fourteen أربعة عشر—ʾarbaʿata ʿaašar 

fifteen خمسة عشر—ḫamsata ʿaašar

sixteen ستة عشر—sittata ʿaašar

seventeen سبعة عشر—sabʿata ʿaašar

eighteen ثمانية عشر—ṯamaniyata ʿaašar

nineteen تسعة عشر—tisʿata ʿaašar

twenty عشرون—ʿišrūn

twenty-one واحد و عشرون—waḥidun wa ʿišrūn

thirty ثلاثون—ṯlāṯūn ثلاثون

forty أربعون—ʾarbaūn

fifty خمسون—ḫamsūn

sixty ستون—sittūn ستون

seventy سبعون—sabʿūn

eighty ثمانون—ṯamānūn

ninety تسعون—tisʿūn

one hundred مئة—miʾah

one thousand ألف—ʾalf

one million مليون—milyūn

some / a couple زوج—zawğ