How to say hello in Egyptian Arabic, and what to answer

The short answer

If you have searched “hello in Egyptian” you have probably met marhaban and kayfa haluka. Those are Modern Standard Arabic, the written language of the news and the Quran. Nobody greets a neighbour with them. Egyptian Arabic is the spoken language of a hundred million people and, thanks to Egyptian films and music, the dialect the rest of the Arab world understands best. This page teaches that one.

Before the words, hear what it sounds like from a native speaker:

Each card below is a sentence from this exchange. Type the missing word, reveal the answer, and read the breakdown of each part of the sentence.

Hello, and the reply it expects

السلام عليكم, as-salamu alaykum means “peace be upon you”. It works with anyone, at any hour, and it comes with a fixed reply: وعليكم السلام, wa alaykum as-salam, “and upon you be peace”. Saying the greeting is half the exchange; the other half is knowing that the reply is not “hello” again but the same words turned around. The card below asks you for that reply.

يا فندم, ya fandim at the end is the polite “sir” or “madam” a waiter, a taxi driver or a receptionist adds. You will hear it constantly; you do not need to say it.

In the morning, Egyptians say صباح الخير, sabah el-kheir, “morning of goodness”, and the reply is usually صباح النور, sabah en-nur, “morning of light”. The card pairs it with the question that always comes next:

How are you, and what you actually answer

إزيك, izzayak is the question. It is one word: إزي, izzay, “how”, with the pronoun “you” attached to the end. In front of Ahmed it is إِزَّيَّك, izzayak; in front of Mona it is إِزَّيِّك, izzayik. The spelling usually omits the vowel marks, but Egyptians hear the difference instantly.

The answer is where most guides stop short. Egyptians do not say “I am fine, thank you” first. They say الحمد لله, el-hamdu lillah, “praise be to God”, and only then, if at all, كويس, kwayyis, “fine”, which becomes كويسة, kwayyisa when the speaker is a woman. Mona answers the full way on this card:

الحمد لله, el-hamdu lillah is not a religious statement in this position, any more than “bless you” is in English. Christians, Muslims and people who never think about either say it. If you learn one reply from this page, learn this one.

Man or woman: the ending that changes

The reason izzayak and izzayik differ is the same reason “you”, “your” and “I see you” all come in two forms in Egyptian Arabic. The word for “you” itself is إنتَ, enta to a man and إنتِ, enti to a woman. Written without vowel marks they look identical; spoken, they never do. Here they are side by side, to Ahmed and then to Mona:

The same ending sits on “your name”. اسمك إيه؟, esmak eih is “what is your name?”, esmak eih to a man, esmik eih to a woman. The card below is addressed to a woman:

The three lines that follow a greeting are “where are you from?”, “what is your name?” and “my name is”. منين, menein, “from where”, is an Egyptian word you will not find in a Standard Arabic phrasebook.

Someone older, someone official: حضرتك, hadritak

To your host’s mother, a professor, a police officer or anyone you would call “sir” or “madam” in English, Egyptians replace “you” with حضرتك, hadritak: حَضْرِتَك, hadritak to a man and حَضْرِتِك, hadritik to a woman. Literally it means “your presence”. So “how are you?” becomes إزي حضرتك؟, izzay hadritak, and the rest of the sentence stays the same. The card also carries أهلاً, ahlan, the everyday hello, and a شكراً, shukran to fill in:

Using حضرتك, hadritak with a stranger your own age is slightly stiff but never wrong. Using إنت, enta with an older official is not rude, just noticeably foreign. When in doubt, حضرتك, hadritak.

Sorry, never mind, and goodbye

معلش, ma'lesh is the most Egyptian word on this page. It means “sorry”, “never mind”, “it does not matter” and “excuse me” depending on who says it and when. You use it when you are late, when you bump into someone, and when someone apologises to you.

To leave, Egyptians simply say سلام, salam, “peace”, often after أشوفك بعدين, ashufak ba'dein, “see you later”. And yes, that “you” changes too: ashufak to a man, ashufik to a woman.

What this page did not teach you

• The Arabic script. Every card shows the Egyptian words in Arabic letters, because that is how Egyptians write them, in messages as much as on signs. The transliterations in the text are there so you can say the words today; the letters come in the first step of the path below.
• Standard Arabic. إزيك, izzayak, معلش, ma'lesh, منين, menein and كويس, kwayyis are Egyptian and only Egyptian. In Morocco, Lebanon or the Gulf, the greeting السلام عليكم, as-salamu alaykum is the same and almost everything after it is different.
• The plural. To a group, “you” is إنتو, entu, and “how are you” is إزيكم, izzayyukum. That is the second node of the path.

The Panglotive starting path for Egyptian Arabic opens on the script, so that you can read what you say. The greeting deck on this page is one step further along, and it opens straight away.

Start speaking Egyptian Arabic with the greeting

Panglotive teaches Egyptian Arabic, not textbook Arabic. Open the starting path with the greeting node already selected and practise the exchange on cards at your own level.