If you want to study Egyptian Arabic or speak the Egyptian dialect, knowing about the seasons is particularly important. This comes in handy if you are planning to visit Egypt or even to start a casual conversation. The topic of seasons in Egypt, along with many other key topics, is a perfect Arabic conversation-starting topic that is greatly overlooked.
How to say ‘seasons of the year’ in Egyptian Arabic
The phrase ‘Seasons of the year’ means in Egyptian Arabic ‘fos’ool el-sana’ فصول السنة, where ‘fos’ool’ فصول is the plural of ‘fas’l’ فصل meaning ‘season.’ Like the weekdays, seasons are always preceded by the article ‘el-‘. In Arabic, ‘el-sana’ السنة means ‘the year’.
Winter
One of the marvelous seasons in Egypt is Winter. Winter in spoken Egyptian Arabic is pronounced: el-Shetaa الشتا. In Egypt, the winter ranges in temperature usually from about 8 to 25 degrees depending on your location and altitude.
In Winter, it rains in Egypt but not heavily – In the recent few years rains are getting more and more scarce and the temperature gets higher. Also in Winter it never snows and it is really unusual to find snow in Cairo streets. Interestingly, it snowed about a year ago in some districts in Cairo and it was a social media trending topic all over Egypt.
If you are planning to visit Egypt during the Winter and want to know the optimum destinations, make sure to read this useful article.
Spring
When it comes to the seasons in Egypt and particularly the Spring, the first thing I think of is a very popular light song called ‘el-donia rabee3’ الدنيا ربيع
From its name, the term ‘el-rabee3’ in Egyptian Arabic means ‘the spring’. This season is widely known for its wonderful colors. The trees start to blossom and the colors are wonderful everywhere.
In Egypt, we have a very popular phenomenon in the Spring, called ‘el-khamaseen’ wind. This wind comes at this specific time of the year and carries sand from the massive desert area in Egypt. Therefore, it usually causes eye irritation (el-rammad), which characterizes many Egyptians.
In the Spring, Egyptians celebrate ‘sham el-neseem’, very popular cultural celebrations that date back to Ancient Egyptians. You will find more about this celebration in this article.
Summer
Summer means in Egyptian: el-Seef. It is the season of joy, vacations and activities. Only note that the temperature in the Summer is quite high depending on the month and location). It can reach 50 degrees Celsius, especially in the southern cities like Luxor and Aswan.
Visiting Egypt during the Summer is a wonderful experience. Thanks to Egypt’s great location in Africa with two seas and long coasts (those of the Mediterranean and red sea), there are many coastal destinations you can enjoy during the Summer like Alexandria and the North Coast, where the temperature is relatively low and the weather is pleasant.
Autumn
Autumn or, ‘el-khareef’ in Egyptian, is the season famous of starting schools and kindergartens. Kids and the young generation anticipate this wonderful season to start in September and October. Parents are always busy of course with all related preparations.
This season can be a perfect time for you to visit Egypt, as the load on the touristic destination is much lower than the crowded Winter and Summer. Moreover, the temperature during this season is relatively mild and rarely goes beyond 40 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion
Now that you know something about seasons in Egypt, it is the best time to start a wonderful and fruitful journey with spoken Egyptian Arabic. Make sure to join my 100% free online course ‘Egyptian Arabic 101’. With this course, you are in very good shape to start Arabic learning online and master the amazing language of Egypt: Spoken Egyptian dialect.
Hope you found this article useful. Write to me in the comments if you are willing to visit Egypt and when?