Getting Started

Hi welcome to Egyptian Arabic online lessons. Due to the popularity of my other blog Arabic Song Lyrics and Translation at arabicmusictranslation.com, I have launched this site to help readers use music to learn Egyptian Arabic dialect. Music is a great way to access colloquial Arabic because unlike newspapers and books, it is predominantly composed in colloquial Arabic, Egyptian being the most popular dialect to use. This allows users to hear the words as well as read them, and music is optimized for memorization. Moreover, the songs use a limited vocabulary, which allows one to access all the aspects of grammar and speech with out being bogged down by lots of new vocabulary.

Egypt is the largest speaking Arabic country and the Egyptian dialect has become widely known in the Arab world thanks to Egypt's movies and music. Thus, it is a useful dialect not just in Egypt, but in all Arabic speaking countries.

First I will make clear: I am not Egyptian. I was born in the United States and have been learning Arabic as a second language for a few years now. I don't claim to know everything about Arabic, let alone a dialect like Egyptian. This being said I will only publish content here that I am confident is accurate. I spent a short time in Egypt, but most of my knowledge of the Egyptian dialect was learned entirely through music, so you will see that you can learn a lot just from memorizing some songs and their meanings!

To use this site properly, one should have some knowledge of Standard Arabic and mastery of the Arabic alphabet. If you don't know the alphabet, don't give up! I have made some accommodations to help the motivated learner transition into using exclusively Arabic alphabet. The first lesson is intended for even beginners to be able to follow. Although the site is self-contained, A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic by El-Said Badawi is an excellent reference for learning dialect, especially for understand the differences between colloquial and Standard Arabic.

In addition to the lessons, I will provide and continually update a "vocabulary" that contains important words and phrases.

This site is a blog, which means users can leave comments. If you have any comments or questions about the lesson or other related questions feel free to use the comment function to do so.

To begin learning Egyptian Arabic, click here to see the Egyptian ABCs!

Introduction: السلام عليكم

New Vocabulary

as-salaamu 3aleekum (السلام عليكم) - Peace be upon you (greeting)
wa-3aleekum as-salaam (وعليكم السلام) - And upon you peace (response)
yalla bina (يلله بنا) - Let's go!
ta3aala (تعالى) - Come on!
Habiibi (حبيبي) - my darling, my beloved
al-salaam (السلام) - peace, a greeting

sallam (سلّم) - to say hi
Habb (حب) - to love

Before moving into some of the songs and breaking down their sentences, it will be nice to enjoy this video and get a simple introduction to Egyptian Arabic as well as Egyptian music. This song by Hakim is entitled "as-salaamu 3aleekum (السلام عليكم)" which means "Peace be upon you." This is a common way of saying hi in Egypt as well as much of the Muslim world. The response to "as-salaamu 3aleekum (السلام عليكم)" is "wa-3aleekum as-salaam (وعليكم السلام)" which should be said whenever anyone greets you saying "as-salaamu 3aleekum (السلام عليكم)." The verb "to say hi" or "to say salaam" is thus, "sallam (سلّم)."

The musical style in this song is shaabi, which means "folk" or "people's" music but refers to a certain style of pop music driven by the distinct kind of rhythm you'll find in this song optimized for dancing with lyrical emphasis on repetition of catchy lines.

Depending on your level of Arabic you may or may not understand much of this song. Try to focus on reading along and making out the words, picking out the few phrases and vocabulary I've highlighted above. Also, enjoy the video, which depicts various potential Cairo scenarios.

اس اس السلام عليكم
طب اس اس السلام عليكم
اس اس السلام عليكم
طب اس اس السلام عليكم
السلام عليكم السلام عليكم
السلام عليكم السلام عليكم

بعد السلام يحلى الكلام
نسهر ندوب حب و غرام
الحياه حلوه يالله بينا يالله نحضن الأيام

السلام عليكم السلام عليكم

انا قلبي سلم يا حبيبي رد السلام
و افتحلي قلبك يا حبيبي و انسى الخصام

حب و ارقص غني و أوعى تبعد عني
حب و ارقص غني و أوعى تبعد عني
هات ايدك يالله دا السلام لله و لا كفايا عناد

السلام عليكم السلام عليكم

ما تضم شوقك على شوقي قرب يا واد
و احلوي يا دنيا و روقي بعد البعاد

من رموشك خذني او تعالى في حضني
ضحكة مع غمزة نظرة مع همسة
كلو يبقى تمام

السلام عليكم السلام عليكم

انا بس عايزك تديني شوية حنان
و بأحلى حب تنسيني مر الزمان

لو غلطت عاتبني مش تروح و تسبني
لو غلطت عاتبني مش تروح و تسبني
يالله يا واحشني عيش و عيشني ليه تبات زعلان

السلام عليكم السلام عليكم

بعد السلام يحلى الكلام
نسهر ندوب حب و غرام

Aside from the line "as-salaamu 3aleekum (السلام عليكم)" you may not have understood very much of the song. That's ok, because with a little explanation, you'll soon find that comprehension is not as difficult as it seems. Just take these coming lessons one at a time and learn all the target vocabulary and grammar explanations and you'll understand Egyptian shaabi songs like this in no time! Yalla, Lesson 1: ما خلاص