marHaba!

Welcome!

This is the first lesson in the Learn Arabic course. In this lesson, you will learn how to greet people and introduce yourself using the Arabic language. All the modules of the course also include the Basics of Arabic pronunciations so that you will be guided of the proper way of pronouncing each word or phrases.

Before anything else, it is good to start the course by building some vocabulary. You have to read the words out loud first in English, then in Arabic. Then repeat the process. You must repeat reading each new word or phrase that you encounter. Are you ready?

 VOCABULARY BUILDING 1

Yes.                                                      na‘am.

                           No. [Not at all./By no means.]               kalla.

                           Hello.                                                     ahlan.

                           Good morning.                                      SabãH al- khayr.

                           Good evening.                                       masã’ al- khayr.

                           Please. (to a man)                                 min faDlak.

                           Of course.                                             Taba‘an.

                           Good- bye.                                             ma‘a s- salãma.

TAKE A BREAK

Wow! You are doing a great job! Now it’s time to pause for a while and breathe deeply so that once we proceed, you are all charged up again!

Now, do you know what mãismuk or mãismuki means?

Let us dissect the words now.  The term “mã –” means “what” in English and is used for asking questions. Normally, in Arabic, it is followed by a noun. As you see in the example, there is “–ism”, it is an Arabic word for “name”. Furthermore the “-uk” that you see at the end of mãismuk is like “your” in English, but is positioned at the end of a noun in Arabic, thus replacing possessive nouns.

VOCABULARY BUILDING 2

How are you?                                      kayf al- Hãl?

                           Fine.                                                     bi-khayr.

                           Thank you.                                           shukran.

                          What is your name? (to a man)           mãismuk?

                          What is your name? (to a woman)       mãismuki?

                          My name is . . .                                     ismo . . .

                          I am from . . .                                        ana min . . .

                          Nice to meet you.                                Tasharrafnã.

                         Excuse me.                                          ‘afwan.

                         I would like . . .                                      uridu

                        With pleasure.                                       bikull- i surur.

TAKE A BREAK 2

So, you have just learned how to say some vital words in Arabic such as “yes”, “good morning”, “good evening”, “no”, “please”, “good bye” and “of course”.

Here are some more tips for you:

You should know that in Arabic, there are many sounds that do not have an equivalent in English. Moreover, it is important for you to remember that most Arabic words are pronounced using the back of the throat. A few examples of this includes: SabãH al- khayr (good morning ), na‘am (yes ), Taba‘an (of course ), ahlan (hello ), masã’ al- khayr (good evening ), min faDlak (please ), and ma’as- salãma (good- bye ). Listen carefully and repeat the words every now and then while listening to yourself and assessing whether you pronounced it right or not. Eventually, you will improve your skill in speaking Arabic!

ONE MORE TIME

At this juncture, it is time for us to sum up what you’ve learned so far.

As before, read aloud the English first, then proceed to its Arabic counterpart. This way, you will always be reminded of the meaning of the words. You have the liberty to repeat the words and phrases as much as you want. Ideally, you want to repeat them to be familiar with all of the words so you can use them without any effort at all.

                       Hello. How are you?                                     ahlan. kayf al- Hãl?

                      Fine, thank you.                                            bi-khayr, shukran.

                     What is your name?                                      mãismuk?

                     My name is Jason. I am from New York.     ismojason. ana min new york.

                     Nice to meet you.                                          tasharrafnã.

These are just some of the basic words and phrases that you must first need to learn when speaking Arabic. You can also try to learn Arabic online for more.