Arabic Greetings And farewells: Beginner’s Guide (2024)

Wherever you go in the world, you’ll hear Arabic being spoken. It’s a fascinating language and many people are deciding to take it up. Today, it’s considered one of the fastest-growing languages in the world. 25 countries in the world also have Arabic as an official or spoken language, so it can be useful for work, travel, and social opportunities too.

Whatever your reasons for learning, learning some basic Arabic greetings and farewells is a good way to begin. Keep reading to learn more or take your first Arabic lessons online.

Arabic greetings

If you need to know how to say hello in Arabic, the first distinction you need to make is between religious and non-religious greetings.

Not all Arabic speakers are Muslims, however, the most common way to say hello in Arabic is the Islamic greeting “As-salamu alaikum”, which means “Peace be upon you”.The non-religious way to greet someone in Arabic would be to say “ahlan”. Both of these Arabic greetings have set responses:

Greetings in Arabic change depending on the time of day. Saying “good morning” in Arabic is “sabah al kheir” and “kheir” means “goodness”. The literal translation is “morning of goodness” and the response to this would be to change “goodness” to an equally positive word, such as “flowers” or “light”.

As with English, the equivalent of “good night” is not often used as a greeting but rather when saying goodbye.

Formal greetings and responses in Arabic

There are both religious and non-religious ways to greet and respond to others in Arabic. Saying hello is often followed by the question “how are you?” There are several ways to say this depending on who you are speaking to.

Informal greetings and responses in Arabic

There is an exhaustive list because each dialect of Arabic has a different way of saying this but here are some examples:

Arabic basic phrases

Beyond the first encounter, you will definitely want to learn more ways of interacting with your Arabic speaking counterparts. You’ll need to be polite, saying thanks and even apologizing at times. Later, you’ll also need to be able to ask some basic questions in Arabic. So let’s dig in.

Saying thanks and responding

With family and friends, it is common to say “min eyooni” instead of “afwan”. It literally means “from my eyes”.

Apologizing in Arabic

These Arabic words and phrases for apologies increase in intensity. You may use the first when trying to get past someone in the street or if you didn’t hear what someone said. However, the latter two are for apologizing for something you did wrong. “Samahni” in particular is quite formal, and used if you have really offended someone.

Basic questions

Now that you’ve mastered a few first words, you’re going to be eager to dive deeper. Here are some basic questions to get to know someone better, and a couple that might make your life easier when traveling in an Arabic-speaking country.

Arabic farewells

There is also a religious and non-religious way of saying goodbye in Arabic. It is worth mentioning that ”ila al liqaa” is not often used since it is very formal. It literally means “until we meet again” and is really only heard on news programs or in Modern Standard Arabic cartoons.

Unlike saying hello, responses to saying goodbye are often the same as the greeting and can be used interchangeably.

Etiquette in Arabic countries

Arabic is a language that places a lot of importance on etiquette and politeness. In Arab culture, between friends and family, this is less important than with strangers and superiors, but even then there are still certain rules.

This is not always reflected in language and there are a number of common gestures. For example, it’s common to stand up when someone enters the room, or wait until the host is sitting at the table and invites everyone to start eating.

Referring to elders in Arabic is important. Usually, first names are not used unless you are told to or you are a similar age and familiar with someone. Formally, you can refer to someone as “Parent of” their eldest child, and informally you can call them aunt or uncle.

To an elder or a stranger you might use the formal pronoun “hadartik”. For example, “meen hadartik” is a polite way of asking “who are you?” This is particularly common to use while speaking on the phone to ask who is calling.

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The first step on the path to learning Arabic

So there you have it, some basic Arabic greetings and simple phrases so you can hold a polite conversation.These are the essential ingredients you’ll need to start speaking and interacting with real Arabic-speaking people. They will open the door to new knowledge, a fascinating culture and untold opportunities in the future.

If you are interested in learning more about Arab culture and language with the help of a teacher, take your first online Arabic classon Preply.