Marhaba – مرحبا
Meaning “Hello” or “Hi”, marhaba is the generic polite and neutral greeting used by all Arabic speaking countries making it the safest way to greet anyone and start a conversation in Arabic.
Assalaamualaikum – السلام عليكم
Assalaamualaikum is the traditional Islamic greeting used throughout the Arab world since the birth of Islam. It means “Peace be upon you” and the usual response is waalaykomsalam or “peace be upon you, too”.
Ya‘teekil‘aafyih – يعطيك العافية
This greeting means “May God give you strength” or “May God give you health” and although it invokes the name of God, it is not really a religious greeting but more of an everyday one much like marhaba.
Salaam – سلام
It is really amazing that this little word says so much to someone by simply offering someone “peace” and may just brighten their otherwise ordinary day.
Sabaahilkhair – صباح الخير
You’ll hear this phrase many times in the morning as family, friends and colleagues wish each other a “good morning”. This is usually met with the response of sabahelnoor or “light morning” – a great response, especially if you’re not a morning person and don’t want a heavy morning.
No matter how you say it Arabic School is always ready to give you a warm and friendly “Hello”! If there is any particular greeting that you liked best (or one that we may not have mentioned here), please drop us a line a tell us! We love hearing from our followers about their own unique Arabic language journey.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Arabic dialects of a particular region, visit our Arabic language learning website that not only teaches you Arabic, but also the dialects of the many regions throughout the Arab world.