A Lesson in Arabic: Useful Words and Phrases

After people ask me about the language, they usually want to know some words and phrases.

My roommate's personal favorites are habibi (my darling) and telling people when I am fii al-hamam (in the bathroom).

I made you a chart of a few useful words and phrases. I included the English, Transliteration, and Arabic of each word or phrase.

English	Transliteration	Arabic
Hello.	Ahlan or Marhaba	اهلا  or  مرحبا
How are you?	Kayfa Halouk/Halouki.	كيف حلك؟
My name is…	Ismi…	اسمي
What is your name?	Ma ismouk/ismouki?	ما اسمَك
Nice to meet you.	Tasharuffna	تشرّفنا
Thank you.	Shokran	شكرا
Congratulations!	Mabrook	مبارك
I’m sorry.	Aasif.	آسف
I don’t understand.	La afham.	لا أفهم
Yes	Na’am.	نعم
No	La.	لا
Goodbye.	Ma-Salaama	مع السلامة
Happy Birthday!	‘Aed Meelad S’aed	عيد ميلاد سعيد
My darling	Habibi/Habibiti	حبيبي
Life	Hayat	حياة

Some pronouns that would be good to know are:

English	Transliteration	Arabic
I	Ana	أنا
You (singular masculine)	Anta	أنتَ
You (singular feminine)	Anti	أنتِ
He	Huwa	هو
She	Heya	هي
You (dual male or female)	Antuma	أنتُما
They (dual male or female)	Huma	هُما
We	Nahnu	نحن
You (plural masculine)	Antum	أنتُم
You (plural feminine)	Antun	أنتُن
They (plural masculine)	Hum	هُم
They (plural feminine)	Hun	هُن

Here are some question words you can check out as well. For this I put the English then the transliteration.

When?	Meta?
Where?	Ayna?
How?	Kayfa?
Why?	Leematha?
What?	Ma? or Matha?
Who?	Men?

Some more things you should know about Arabic words:

1. You address males and females differently. For example, in 'How are you?' you ask a man using 'halouk' and a female using 'halouki.'  Words that end in -i are used for women and no vowel or -a is for men.
2. In the present tense, the verb 'to be' is not used, it is understood.  So if I want to say 'I am American', I would say 'Ana Amrikaya' (literally translated to 'I American').
3. There are two words for 'what'. 'Ma' is used for questions without verbs and 'Matha' is used for questions with verbs.
4. Plural pronouns are used in the masculine form if there is one or more man in the situation. Dual pronouns are used for 2 people and plural pronouns are used for 3 or more people.
5. Transliterations with a 'u' like 'hum' is pronounced like a long 'o' in English. Ex. 'hum' is pronounced like the English 'whom.'

Some additional resources for you are:
Arabic Phrases and Expressions
Learn Arabic with Maha

I leave you with a video from Maha about Arabic Pronouns.

If there is anything you would like to know that I forgot or did not include, let me know.