Arabic phrasebook
- The following phrasebook deals with Modern Standard Arabic. See the Egyptian Arabic phrasebook, Jordanian Arabic phrasebook, Moroccan Arabic phrasebook, Lebanese Arabic phrasebook, or Tunisian Arabic phrasebook for Arabic dialects relating to those countries and regions.
Arabic (العَرَبِيَّة al-ʿarabiyyah) is a group of Semitic dialects spoken by more than 420 million people, mainly in North Africa and the Middle East. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), known in Arabic as al-Fusha (الْفُصْحَى), is the official form of the language throughout the Arab world, and is very similar to Classical Arabic, the language of the Qur'an and the liturgical language for 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. Arabic has also strongly influenced many languages, including unrelated ones, throughout the Islamic world.
For communication purposes while traveling and using this guide, it is very important to note the differences between MSA and dialects since they are largely mutually unintelligible. Well-educated people will generally be able to understand MSA, but usually respond in their local dialects. Comprehension of dialects between different regions will drop significantly. It is therefore recommended that travelers focus on learning the relevant dialect for their destination for spoken communication, while using MSA as a written reference. That said, news broadcasts will almost always be in MSA.
Pronunciation guideArabic script is written in a cursive script, even in print. Most letters change their shapes depending on their position (initial, medial or final).
Phrase listEven though Arabic is written from Right to Left, numbers in Arabic are written from Left to Right. Dates are written in an Arabic sentence from Left to Right as in English
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Arabic phrasebook" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0