English puts please on the end of everything. Egyptian Arabic has a word for it, and people mostly say something else. If min faDlak is all you learn, you'll sound like a textbook.
To open a request
is excuse me, and it's the normal way to start asking for anything. To a woman it's . Our course uses it the first time someone picks up a phone:
- Excuse me, is Mr Karim there?
- Excuse me, is Dina there?
min faDlak is please, the word itself. min faDlik to a woman. It sits at the end of a request: el-7isaab, min faDlak. The bill, please. It's a touch formal, which is right for a waiter.
To soften it
before a request is sorry, excuse me. ma3lesh, feen el-7ammaam? Sorry, where's the bathroom? It has a second life as never mind, which we go through in ma3lesh, khalaaS, tamaam.
ba3d 'eznak is with your permission. You say it before you squeeze past someone in a doorway. ba3d 'eznik to a woman.
Between friends
3ashaan khaTri is for my sake. It's the family please, the one a kid uses on a parent when a plain request isn't working.
is the other side of please: here you go, or go ahead. You say it when you hand something over or hold a door. To a woman it's .
- Come in now.
Putting it together
law sama7t, el-7isaab min faDlak. shukran. Excuse me, the bill please. Thanks. The reply is , you're welcome.