Have you ever visited Egypt and wanted to know the essential Egyptian greetings, those which repeat 1000 times a day – sound intriguing hah? In this article, I give you the key to actively involve in simple conversations.
All that you need is a few minutes. The five greetings I present in this article are super easy and very common. If you know them by now, you will easily recall them in your next visit – they will be repeated – A LOT believe me.
Now let’s dive in..
Salamo3aleekom
If you ever visited any Arab country, I am sure you heard this word once at least. ‘salamo3aleekom’, meaning ‘Hello’, is probably one the most essential Egyptian greetings.
Literally, ‘salamo3alekom’ means ‘peace upon you all’, where ‘salam’ means ‘peace’ in English and ‘3alekom’ means ‘on you all’.
This greeting is basically Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) one, but the pronunciation is different, as we say ‘alsalaamo3alaykom’ instead of ‘salamo3aleekom’ – I have a dedicated post about this greeting, where I also talk about how my online activity started, fuelled by the passion of Arabic.
ma3assalaamah
The literal meaning of ma3assalaamah is ‘with safety’. We say this greeting as we leave, we also say ‘bye’ like English. It is also very common to hear just the word ‘salaam’ because it is easy and fast.
You will hear Egyptians saying ‘salaam’ if they are in a harry or late and don’t want to consume more time with longer words!
The typical reply of ‘ma3assalaamah’ is Allah yesallemak (to male) and Allah yesallemik (to female)
ahlan wa sahlan
ahlan wa sahlan means welcome in Egyptian Arabic. This is also a very common word and one of the most essential greetings that you should know as a beginner, check my 100-daily-phrases pack with native pronunciation.
This greeting is frequently said during invitations as guests enter the home. The typical response to ahlan wa sahlan is ahlan beek (m), ahlan beeki (f).
sabaa7 el-kheer
sabaa7 el-kheer is a pleasant greeting each morning. We say this greeting, meaning good morning, just as frequently as any other language. Sabaa7 means morning and el-kheer a general word for every good thing that may happen to you.
Just be prepared to hear other variations, like sabaa7 el ward (morning of roses) and sabaa7 el 3asal (morning of honey). We usually reply by saying sabaa7 el noor (morning of light)
masaa2 el-kheer
What we talked about in Sabaa7 el-kheer applies here as well. The difference is that masaa2 means both afternoon and evening. So we say masaa2 el kheer at the afternoon and the evening.
We also say the same variations, such as masaaa2 el ward/el-3asal. The usual reply for this greeting is masaa2 el noor (evening of light)
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So now you have 5 magical greetings in your hand, that you can use on a daily bases in Egypt. As I said, these are very common and will keep repeating – so don’t worry at all if you didn’t fully memorize them now. Did you find any of these phrases difficult? tell me in the comments below. Also what else you would like to tell in Egyptian Arabic?
Check my blog for more articles about Arabic and Egypt.
Keep great
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