You want to learn Egyptian Arabic and you're not sure where to begin. Good. That's the right moment to slow down for ten minutes, make a few choices, and then spend a week on the pieces you'll use every single day in Cairo.
This page does both. First the decisions, then a day-by-day plan built from the opening units of our A1 course. Every Arabic line below has audio, voiced in Cairene Egyptian and checked by a speaker.
Three decisions before lesson one
Egyptian or Modern Standard Arabic?
Modern Standard is the Arabic of newspapers and speeches. Egyptian, maSri, is what people actually say to each other. If your goal is talking with Egyptians, learn Egyptian first. You'll pick up MSA faster later because you'll already know a version of the language. The full comparison is in Egyptian Arabic vs Modern Standard Arabic.
Script now or later?
Later. A month on letter shapes is a month you can't say hello. Start with audio and a Latin spelling, keep the Arabic on screen next to it, and read properly once the words already sound familiar. Our spelling uses 3 for ع, 7 for ح, capitals for the heavy letters and an apostrophe for the glottal stop. The Arabic alphabet for Egyptian learners shows how it lines up with the script.
Which materials?
Two tests rule out most of what's out there. Is it Egyptian specifically, or "Arabic" that turns out to be MSA? And can you hear every word, said by someone from Egypt? If either answer is no, keep looking.
Your first week
Ten to fifteen minutes a day is plenty. Listen to each line, say it out loud, then listen again.
Day 1: greetings
Start with , hi. It works for anyone at any hour. Then the two time-of-day pairs, where the reply changes one word:
- , good morning. The answer is .
- , good evening. The answer is .
Hear a pair in use: and Put (goodbye) on the end and you can open and close a conversation. Egyptian Arabic greetings goes further.
Day 2: 'ezzayyak and the gender endings
How are you? depends on who you're asking. To a man it's . To a woman it's . The answer changes with the speaker:
- Fine, thank God. (said by a man)
- The same, said by a woman.
That -a for a woman turns up all week. You is to a man and to a woman. Get used to listening for it today and the rest of the course gets easier.
Day 3: thank you, and the table
is thanks. The reply is . When someone hands you something they'll say , or if they're talking to a woman, which covers "here you are", "go ahead" and "come in".
At someone's home, the first question is usually (What would you like to drink? Tea or coffee?). When you've had enough, is a woman saying "That's enough, thank you so much." How to say thank you in Egyptian Arabic has the full set.
Day 4: numbers 1 to 10
, , , , , , , , , .
Count along with and then try a phone number, read one digit at a time: More in Egyptian Arabic numbers 1 to 10.
Day 5: 'eeh, feen, bikaam
Three question words get you a long way: (what), (where) and (how much). In Egyptian they usually go at the end of the sentence.
- What's your name? (to a man)
- Where's the bus?
- How much is this book?
Day 6: the q and the g
Two sounds mark you as someone learning Cairo's Arabic. ج is a hard g, and ق is usually a catch in the throat, written with an apostrophe. Hear both in two lines from unit 2: ("No, it's not my notebook. Mine is new.") and ("This one's old. And this pen?"). gideeda has the g. 'adeema and 'alam both start with a ق you don't pronounce as q. The Egyptian q and g explains the exceptions.
Day 7: a whole conversation
Now put the week together. This is the dialogue that closes unit 1. Nour meets Peter, an American, in the morning. Play each line, then say it before you play the next one.
- Good morning!
- Good morning to you.
- I'm Nour. What's your name?
- My name is Peter.
- Nice to meet you, Peter. Where are you from?
- The pleasure is mine. I'm American. Are you Egyptian?
- Yes, I'm Egyptian. Welcome!
- Thanks, Nour.
Look at line 6. Peter says 'amreeki, the man's form, and asks Nour if she's maSreyya, the woman's form of maSri. Day 2 just paid off. Once you can do both parts, swap in your own name and country. For more ready-made lines, try Egyptian Arabic phrases.
After the first week
You've now covered most of our first unit, plus a taste of the ones after it. The A1 course runs ten units in all. After greetings come classroom things, numbers and the time, shopping, home and address, directions, daily routine, work and visiting, invitations and gifts, and last of all taxis and restaurants. If you're wondering how long the whole road is, how long it takes to learn Egyptian Arabic lays out timelines by goal.
Common questions
Where should a beginner start with Egyptian Arabic? With greetings, by ear. 'ahlan, Sabaa7 el-kheer and 'ezzayyak get used every day, and they teach you the sounds and the man/woman split you'll need everywhere else.
Can I learn Egyptian Arabic without learning MSA? Yes. Egyptian is what Egyptians speak in daily life, so you can learn it directly. Modern Standard Arabic is useful later for reading the news and formal writing.
Should beginners learn the Arabic script first? It isn't necessary. Start speaking from audio and a Latin spelling, with the Arabic shown beside each word, and turn to reading once a few hundred words feel familiar.
What can I say after one week of Egyptian Arabic? Enough for a first meeting: greet someone at the right time of day, ask how they are, give your name and where you're from, say thanks, count to ten, and ask what something is, where it is and how much it costs.