Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is a variant of the Arabic language that is used mainly in writing and in formal situations. It developed out of Classical Arabic, but differs in a number of respects from it; especially in the field of vocabulary. Nevertheless, the two variants of Arabic, (MSA) and Classical, are very close and are considered by many Arabs to be essentially the same. Arabs refer to both as اللغة العربية الفصحى (al-lugha al-3arabiyya al-fuS-Ha) or simply as الفصحى (al-fuS-Ha) or فصحى (fus-Ha).

Modern Standard Arabic And The Arabic Dialects

The Modern Arabic language is characterized by diglossia: MSA is used in writing and in official or formal communication and the Arabic colloquial dialects are used in everyday life. The dialects can differ drastically from Modern Standard Arabic and vary widely from one country to another. In all Arab countries, the national language is composed of various local dialects more or less distant from the Modern Standard Arabic.

However, with rising levels of education and modernization of lifestyles, the gap between the written standard and spoken vernaculars tends to decrease. Given the reality of linguistic exchange, there is no watertight separation between written Arabic and spoken Arabic, but a continuum dominated by mixed forms. Arabic speakers combine to varying degrees depending on the context elements unique to their colloquial dialect and others borrowed from the written language.

Generally speaking, the colloquial Arabic dialects are not written and Modern Standard Arabic is used instead. However, of late, more and more colloquial dialects are represented in e.g. newspaper interviews, comic strips and dialogues in novels.

Dialect Or Modern Standard Arabic – What Should You Learn?

Many Arabic learners are surprised by the fact that just learning e.g. Egyptian Arabic will not allow them to understand media from other Arab countries or read Arabic books. Likewise, only knowing Modern Standard Arabic without at least some knowledge of the Arabic dialects will make it difficult to communicate with every Arab.

As a rule of thumb, every Arab understands Modern Standard Arabic, due to its importance as the language used in the media and in religious and state education. The Arabic learner who acquires a sound foundation in MSA will have no problem making himself understood anywhere in the Arab world. However, many Arabs only have a passive knowledge of MSA and will not be able to answer you in MSA, replying instead in their own dialect.

Learning an Arabic dialect is much easier with a thorough knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, as many dialect words and expressions derive from Classical Arabic. Of course, the reverse also holds true. However, just learning a particular dialect will not allow you to appreciate much of the Arab media and Arabic literature. Nor will it allow you to communicate fully with Arabs from other countries.

My advice is to learn both Modern Standard Arabic and at least one dialect. After mastering both, you are almost at the level of native Arabic speakers who also know at least their own dialect and some degree of MSA.

A good place to start learning MSA would be with the Arabic script.

Related posts:

1. Egyptian Arabic – A Quick Introduction
2. Egyptian Arabic Quick Introduction Part 2: common phrases and words
3. BBC Correspondent Learns Arabic In Damascus – And Fails!

A substantial part of learning an Arabic dialect is to learn a number of key words that are specific to that dialect. In this article I’ll show you some of the most important Egyptian phrases and expressions that you’ll come across daily in Egypt.

The most frequent word you’ll hear is aywa, which is the Egyptian Arabic equivalent of the Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) نعم (na3am), or “yes”.

Another extremely common word is 3aysh (pronounce the “3″ like our “a”, but more hihg-pitched and from the back of the throat), or “bread”. The MSA word for “bread” is خبز (khubz).

Addressing Others

The word baasha is a common way to address a man. The female counterpart is Haanim. Both words are relics of Turkish rule in Egypt. If the name of the interlocutor is known then “baasha” or “Hanim” can be added to the end of the name. For example, “muHammad baasha”, or “faaTima Haanim”.

The word “raagil” is a twist of the standard Arabic رجل (radjul), or “man”. It’s a pretty versatile word and can be used in conjunction with “ya”- “ya raagil!” – which might translate best as “dude!”

In the first part of this introduction you learned that “how” is izzay in Egyptian Arabic. “How are you?”, then, is “izzayak?” when addressing a man, “izzayik?” when addressing a woman, and “izzaykum?” when addressing two or more persons.

Expression of Time

The MSA for “now” is اللآن (al-aan); in Egyptian Arabic (EA) it becomes dil wa’ti.

The word “today” is in-nahaar da rather than the MSA اليوم (al-yawm).

Likewise, “yesterday” is embaariH rather than the MSA البارحة (al-baariHa)

Miscellaneous

In MSA “very” is جداً (djiddan), but in EA it’s  ‘awwi. For example, “ana mashghool ‘awwi” means “I’m very busy”.

The opposite of ‘awwi is shweya, or “a little”. E.g. “itkallam 3arabi shwaya” – I speak a little bit of Arabic.

bas means “but” or “enough” whereas buSS! means look!

istanna! is used for “wait!” instead of the MSA انتظر (intaZir!)

The word ba’a is often used in Egyptian Arabic, but it’s hard to explain its function. Generally speaking it only occurs at the end of a question and is used to make the question more attenuated and less blunt. For example, in English you could ask “What are you doing?” or “What are you doing anyways?”. In Egyptian Arabic the second question is a case where you’d use “ba’a”: “3aamil eeh ba’a?”

Another area where you can observe a slight difference in usage between Egyptian and other Arabic dialects is that Egyptians tend to use “mafrooD” to express necessity instead of “laazim”. Other countries have their own favoured alternative (e.g. in Yemen it’s Daroori).

Together with the characteristics I explained in Part I of this introduction, these expressions should help you to speak and understand Egyptian Arabic.

Related posts:

1. Egyptian Arabic – A Quick Introduction
2. Free Report Shows You How To Learn Over 200 Arabic Words Effortlessly
3. Modern Standard Arabic

If you know how to speak the Arabic dialect of another region (e.g. Levantine or Gulf Arabic) or speak Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), then it will be easy for you to pick up the Nile way of speaking. In this article I’ll give you some general pointers to head you in the right direction.

Pronunciation

The most audible idiosyncrasy of Egyptian Arabic is that the letter ج is pronounced as a <g> sound as opposed to the <dj> or <j> sound in MSA and in other dialects. So, the name “Jamal” becomes “Gamal” and the word for “crazy” – مجنون – is not “madjnoon”, but “magnoon”. This peculiarity is easy to get used to and shouldn’t pose any problems.

The second noticeable aspect concerning pronunciation is that the sounds of two emphatic consonants (the “dark” sounds) are replaced with their “lighter” counterparts: the letters ض <Daad> and ظ  <Zaa’> are usually rendered as <z>.

The third sound pattern is that the letter ق is (usually) not pronounced as <q> but instead omitted or replaced with a glottal stop <’> (hamza  ء). So for instance, “qasr” (castle) becomes “’asr”.

Finally, the letter ث <th> is pronounced mostly as <s> and sometimes as <t>. For instance, مثلاً“mathalan” (for example) becomes “masalan” and اثينا “atheena” (Athens) becomes “ateena”.

Basic question words

Like the other dialects too, Egyptian Arabic uses a number of special question words that deviate from Modern Standard Arabic. In the table below I’ve listed the most frequent ones:

Grammar

- the regular masculine plural <oon> is always rendered as <een>. E.g.  مدرسون“mudarrisoon” (teachers) becomes “mudarriseen”.

- a regular action or state of affairs requires a <b> sound to be put in front of the verb. E.g.  انا احب السنيما“ana u7ibbu as-sineema” (I like the cinema) becomes “ana be7ibb is-sineema”.

- in a question, the question word is often put last, whereas in MSA it is usually put first. E.g. MSA  اين تسكن؟“Ayna taskunu?” (where do you life?) becomes “saakin fayn?”.

- negation: in Egyptian Arabic verbs are negated by adding a “ma” and appending a “sh”. E.g.  لا اشرب“la ashrabu” (I don’t drink) becomes “ma ashrabsh”. Adjectives or nouns are negated by adding a “mish” or “mush” in front of the word. E.g. غير عادي “gheir ‘adi” (not normal) becomes “mish ‘adi”.

Whether you decide to learn Egyptian Arabic or not, bear in mind that the Arabic dialects approach MSA the more the conversation is not about “basic” topics (such as food, directions, family) but about more “advanced” topics (such as politics, religion, society, economy etc.). The more you progress in your study of the dialect, the more you need to acquire vocabulary and grammatical constructions from MSA.

Finally, and connected to my last point, it might be prudent to not rely wholly on audio materials or transliteration. At some stage or other you need to learn to read and write Arabic to progress further.

Hopefully, this post has given you some idea of the particularities of Egyptian Arabic and helped you decide whether you should learn it or not.

Click here for Part II of this introduction to Egyptian Arabic.

Related posts:

1. Egyptian Arabic Quick Introduction Part 2: common phrases and words
2. Quick And Easy Way To Learn The Arabic Alphabet
3. Modern Standard Arabic