Basic Arabic words in English 2023 expressions & examples
In each language you may learn, you need to get familiar with the basic words and expressions that help you to communicate with Arabic speakers. In this article, we are going to tell you about the basic and most common words and expressions that are used in Arabic.
Basic Arabic words and expressions
We gathered here the basic 20 words and expressions that are widely used in the formal Arabic “Fus-ha” فصحى.
| Arabic | English | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | مرحباً | Hello. | Marhaban. |
| مرحباً أيها الرفاق! | Hello guys! | Marhaban ayyuha arrifaq! |
This word is the basic greeting in Arabic. Its origin is Turkish, but became common among Arabs, especially in the Levant (the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia).
| 2 | مرحباً بك! | Welcome. | Marhaban bek. |
| مرحباً بك في بيتي! | Welcome to my home. | Marhaban bek fi bayti. |
If you want to welcome someone, you just add “bekk” بك to the previous word, and it means you. It is like “I am greeting\welcoming you at my place”.
| 3 | أهلاً وسهلاً | Welcome. | Ahlan wa sahlan. |
| أهلا وسهلا بك في هذه المدينة | Welcome to this city. | Ahlan wa sahlan bek fi hathihi almadina. |
This is another way to welcome someone, you add “bek بك” as well.
| 4 | – السلام عليكم. – وعليكم السلام. | – Hello. – Hello. | Assalamu alaikum.Wa alaikum assalam. |
This is the most common greeting in the Arab world, non-Arabs use it as well. The literal meaning of it is “Peace be upon you”. It is widely spread because it is a formal and Islamic greeting.
The reply to this greeting is “wa alaikum assalam”. It literally means “and may peace be upon you”.
This greeting is also used to say “goodbye”.
| 5 | – صباح الخير. – صباح النور. | – Good morning. – Good morning. | – Sabahu alkhair. – Sabahu annoor. |
Saying “good morning” requires knowing the greeting and its reply, we use the same word “sabah” which means “morning” and just change the second word. “Khair” means goodness, and “nour” means light.
| 6 | – مساء الخير. – مساء النور. | – Good evening. – Good evening. | – Masau’u alkhair. – Masau’u annoor. |
“Good evening” also consists of two sentences, and you use the same first word, while the second one is different.
| 7 | أنا أتكلم العربية. | I speak Arabic. | Ana atakallamu al’arabiya. |
Same as in English, this sentence consists of the subject “ana”, verb “atakallamu” and object “al’arabiya”.
| 8 | هذا عظيم! | That is great! | Hatha A’atheem! |
If you want to praise something, you use this expression. “Hatha” means this or that and “A’atheem” means “great”.
Please note that you can compose a sentence without using a verb in it, then we call it “nominal”.
| 9 | هذا فظيع! | This is terrible! | Hatha fathee’! |
This is also a nominal sentence that consists of two words. It could be used to express your reaction to something horrible or unusual.
| 10 | – ما اسمك؟ – اسمي جون | – What is your name? – My name is John. | – Ma esmuk? – Esmi John. |
The first question people usually ask is “What is your name?”. In Arabic, you use only two words: “ma – what” – and “esmuk – your name”.
The Word “esmi” means “my name”.
| 11 | سعيدٌ بلقائك اليوم | glad to meet\see you today. | Saeedon biliqae’k alyaoum. |
“Saeedon” means “happy or glad”, “biliqae’k” means “to meet you”, and “alyaoum” means “today”.
| 12 | مع السلامة. | Goodbye. | Maa’ assalama. |
This sentence will be said to you when you are leaving a meeting or place. The word “maa’” means “with” and “salama” means “safety”. So the literal meaning of it is “go with peace”.
| 13 | أراك قريباً. | See you soon. | Araka qariban. |
“Araka” means “see you” and “qariban” is “soon”. And it is usually said before or -sometimes- after the sentence “Maa’ assalama”.
| 14 | – تصبح على خير. – وأنت بخير. | Goodnight. | – Tusbeh a’ala khair. – Wa anta bi khair. |
It is used to say goodnight. However, its literal meaning is “(I hope) you will wake up (in the morning) well”.
| 15 | طابت ليلتك! | Goodnight. | Tabat lailatok! |
This is literally “goodnight”, as “tabat” is the verb “to be good” and “lailatok” means your night.
| 16 | انتبه! | Pay attention\be careful. | Intabeh! |
| انتبه! هناك خطر! | Attention! There is danger! | Intabeh! Hunaka khtar! |
This word is basically used to ask someone to pay attention to a danger ahead or something important.
| 17 | استمتع! | Enjoy! | Estamte’ |
| استمتع بعطلتك الصيفية. | Enjoy your summer vacation. | Estamte’ bi’utlateka assaifiya. |
If someone is having fun or a good time and you want to say “enjoy it!” just use this word. If you want to ask them to enjoy something you add the preposition “بـ” with the following word, like “bi’utlatek”, which literally means “with your vacation”.
| 18 | أنا لا أفهم | I do not understand. | Ana la afham. |
If you do not understand, just say it. “Ana” means “I”, “la” is “not”, and “afham” means “I understand”.
| 19 | إنه مهم! | It is important. | Innahu muhem! |
| انتبه لهذا الدرس، إنه مهم! | Pay attention to this lesson, it is important! | Entabeh lihatha addars, innahu muhem! |
If you want to talk about the importance of something you can use this expression. “Innahu” means “it is” and “muhem” means “important”.
| 20 | هادئ | Peaceful. | Hadee’. |
| كان يوماً هادئاً. | I was a peaceful day. | Kana yaouman hadi’an. |
The word “Hadee’” could be used as “calm” or “peaceful”, so you can use it to refer to these meanings.
You can watch the following video to learn how to pronounce these words and expressions.
Common Arabic words and expressions
Here we listed the most used 11 Arabic words in daily life:
| Arabic | English | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | نعم | yes. | Na’am. |
| نعم، أحب القهوة | Yes, I love coffee. | Na’am, uhibbu alqahwa. |
The most essential word in any language is “yes” so for that you can just use “na’am”.
| 2 | لا. | no. | La. |
| لا، لا أريد الذهاب إلى الحديقة | No, I do not want to go to the garden. | La, la uridu athahaba ila alhadiqa. |
“La” is used to say “no” or for negation, so if you want to say “not” you can put “la” before the verb you are negating.
| 3 | حسناً. | Okay. | Hasanan. |
| حسناً، لنذهب معاً إلى السينما. | Okay, let’s go to the cinema together. | Hasanan, linathhada ma’an eila assinema. |
People nowadays widely use the word “okay” but “hasanan” is a formal Arabic word for “okay”.
| 4 | شكراً. | Thank you. | Shukran. |
| شكراً على مساعدتك. | Thank you for your help. | Shukran a’ala musaa’adatek. |
You may hear many words or expressions for “thank you”, but “shukran” is the most common one.
| 5 | عفواً | You are welcome\excuse me. | A’fwan. |
| عفواً، هل تستطيع مساعدتي؟ | Excuse me, can you help me? | ِِA’fwaan, hal tastati’u musa’adati? |
“A’fwan” is used for two purposes: the first is the reply to “shukran” and the second is to say “excuse me”, its literal meaning is “Pardon me!”.
| 6 | لا أعرف | I do not know. | La a’aref. |
| لا أعرف هذا المكان | I do not know this place. | La a’aref hatha almakan. |
This negated sentence consists of two words: “La” – not and “a’aref” – I know.
| 7 | كيف حالك؟ | How are you? | Kaifa haluk? |
We meet people daily and usually ask them “how are you?”. “Kaifa?” means “how” and “haluk” literally means “your condition or situation”.
| 8 | بخير والحمدلله | Fine. | Bikhair wa alhamdulillah. |
This is the most common reply to “Kaifa haluk?”. “Bikhair” means good and “alhamdulillah” means “praise be to god!”.
| 9 | لا بأس | I am okay, it is okay, not bad! | La baa’s. |
This expression is not only used to reply to the question “how are you?” but also to tell about anything which is not bad.
| 10 | أنا آسف | I am sorry. | Ana Aasef. |
“Ana” means “I”, but you can just use the word “aasef” to say “sorry”.
| 11 | مجنون | Crazy. | Majoun |
| هو لا يحب القهوة، إنه مجنون! | He does not like coffee, he is crazy! | Huwa la yuhibbu alqahwa, innahu majnoun! |
The word “Majoun” could be used to describe both humans and non-humans.
You can watch the following video to learn how to pronounce these words and expressions.
Arabic words and expressions about beauty
In many cases, we wish to tell how beautiful something or someone is, so you can use these words and expressions:
| Arabic | English | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | جميل | beautiful. | Jameel. |
| هذا فندق جميل! | This is a beautiful hotel. | Hatha fundoq jameel. |
“Jameel” is an adjective used widely to describe beautiful people, things and good circumstances.
| 2 | جمال | Beauty. | Jamal. |
| بعض الناس يفضلون الجمال الخارجي على الداخلي | Some people prefer outer beauty to inner beauty. | ba’adu annaas yufadiluna aljamal alkhariji a’ala addakhili. |
You can use the word “jamal” to refer to the beauty itself.
| 3 | رائع! | amazing! | Raae’ |
| أتمنى لك مستقبلاً رائعاً! | I wish you an amazing future! | Atamanna laka mustaqbalan ra’ian. |
The word “raae’” describes people, nonhumans and situations.
| 4 | ساحر | enchanting. | saher. |
| جمال الطبيعة في هذه القرية ساحر | The beauty of nature in this village is enchanting. | Jamalu attabie’a fi hathihi alqarya sahir. | |
| 5 | خلّاب | bewitching. | Khallab. |
| أحب الجلوس في هذا المكان الخلاب. | I love sitting in this bewitching place. | Uhibbu aljulusa fi hatha almakan alkhalab. | |
| 6 | جذاب. | attractive. | Jathab |
| لديها وجهٌ جميلٌ وجذاب. | She has a beautiful and attractive face. | Ladaiha wajhun jameelon wa jathab. | |
| 7 | فاتن. | Charming. | Faten. |
| جمال عينيها فاتن. | The beauty of her eyes is charming. | Jamalu a’anaiha faten. |
All three words mentioned above are basically used for the same purpose: to describe extremely beautiful things.
You can watch the following video to learn how to pronounce these words and expressions.
Arabic for love
If you are interested to know how to express your love feelings in Arabic you can use the following words:
| Arabic | English | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | أحبك كثيراً. | I love you so much. | Uhibbuka kathiran. |
| 2 | أعشقك. | I adore you. | A’ashaqok. |
| 3 | حبيبي | my lover | habibi |
| 4 | عشقي | my endless love | Eshqi |
The basic word for saying that you love someone is “Uhibbuka” and “kathiran” means “so much”. “A’ashaqok” is used to express extra love to someone.
The word “Habibi” is used for male while حبيبتي “habibti” for calling a female
To say “I love” or “I adore” you can say: “Uhibbu أحبّ” or “A’ashaqu أعشق”.
| 5 | وأنا أحبك أيضاً. | I love you too. | Wa ana aydan. |
“Aydan” means “too” or “as well” and “wa ana aydan” is used to say “me too”.
| 6 | لأجلك. | For you. | Li’ajlek. |
| لأجلك، سأعمل على تخطي جميع الصعاب. | For you, I will work to overcome all odds. | Li’ajlek, sa’amalu a’la takhati jamee’ asseab. |
In the word “Li’ajlek”, “li” is a preposition means “for” and “ajlek” in this context means “you”. You can simply use “lak لك” to say “for you”.
| 7 | ياعمري. | my life. | ya oumri. |
| 8 | ياحياتي. | my life. | ya hayati. |
- “Oumr” literally means “lifetime” and “anta oumri” means “you are my lifetime” and used to say that someone is as dear as your life.
- “Hayat” means “life” and “hayati” is “my life”.
- “ya” “يا” is used to call somebody something it’s called a definition tool “اداة تعريف”
| 9 | ياروحي | my soul | ya rohi |
| 10 | يانبض قلبي | my heartbeats | ya nabdu qalbi |
“Nabd” means “heartbeats” and “qalb” – “heart”, but the sentence in Arabic is usually said using both of these words.
| 11 | أنت أغلى شخص على قلبي. | You are the most precious (dearest) person in my heart. | Anta aghlaa shakhs a’la qalbi. |
| 12 | أنت شخص عزيز في حياتي. | You are a dear person in my life. | Anta shakhs a’ziz fi hayati. |
These two sentences are also used to tell that someone is so dear to you. The word “aghlaa” means “the dearest” and “a’ziz” just means “dear”.
In other contexts “aghlaa” means “expensive”, for example, when we describe materials.
You can watch the following video to learn how to pronounce these words and expressions.
Arabic swear words
Basically, we have two ways to say “I swear”, they are:
| Arabic | English | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | أقسم بالله. | I swear to God. | Ouqsimu billah. |
| أقسم بالله أنني لا أعرف هذا الشخص. | I swear to God I do not know this person. | Uqsimu biallah annani la a’erifu hatha ashakhs. |
“Ouqsimu” means “I swear”. The word “billah” has the preposition “bi بـ” and “allah” means “god”.
| 2 | والله العظيم | I swear of sublime God | Wallah al’azeem |
| والله العظيم سأساعد هذا الشخص. | I swear to God, I will help this person. | Wallah al’azim sa’usaeidu hatha ashakhs. |
The word “azeem” means “great” or “sublime”. In this case, we use the letter “و” to say “I swear”.
Related Lessons
You can watch the following video to learn how to pronounce these words and expressions.
