Explainer
What is Masri?
Masri is Egyptian Arabic. It’s the Arabic your Egyptian relatives speak at the table, the one in every old film, and the one no textbook bothers to teach. Here’s what the word means, how Masri differs from the Arabic in schoolbooks, and how to start speaking it.
The word itself
Masri (مصري) just means “Egyptian.” Masr (مصر) is Egypt, and Masri is anything from there: a person, a dish, a way of talking. When someone says they speak Masri, they mean the Egyptian dialect of Arabic. Egyptians call it اللغة المصرية, el-lugha el-masreyya, “the Egyptian language,” and nobody at the table calls it a dialect.
Cairo also uses Masr to mean the city, so “I’m going to Masr” from someone in Alexandria means they’re headed to the capital. The dialect taught as standard Masri is the Cairo one. Upper Egypt, Alexandria and the Delta each have their own flavour, but Cairene is what the films, the songs and the TV use, and it’s what everyone else understands.
And bel masri(بالمصري), the name of this site, means “in Egyptian.” As in: say it bel masri, not in the Arabic of the news.
Masri vs. the Arabic in textbooks
Most Arabic courses teach Modern Standard Arabic, or fusha (فصحى). It’s the language of newspapers, speeches, the Qur’an and news bulletins. Nobody speaks it at home. An Egyptian child learns Masri from their mother and fusha at school, roughly the way an Italian child learns dialect at home and standard Italian in class.
The two overlap a lot in vocabulary, but the everyday words diverge. “What” is maadha in fusha and eih in Masri. “I want” is ureed in fusha and 3ayez (or 3ayzafor a woman) in Masri. “Now” is al-aan in one and delwa’ti in the other. Learn only fusha and you’ll read a newspaper before you can tell your aunt you’re not hungry.
That’s why people who grew up around Egyptian Arabic often quit the big language apps. The course they get is fusha. The language they wanted is Masri.
What Masri sounds like
A few sounds give Masri away within a sentence, and they’re the ones a learner needs to get right first.
- The g. Where the rest of the Arab world says a j, Egypt says a hard g. Jamal becomes gamal, jameel becomes gameel. It’s the quickest way to spot an Egyptian speaker.
- The q that vanishes. The letter qaf (ق) is usually said as a glottal stop, the little catch in the middle of “uh-oh.” Qalb (heart) comes out as ’alb. A handful of words keep the real q, like Qur’an and al-Qahira, Cairo’s own name.
- The 3 and the 7. When Egyptians type Masri in Latin letters, they borrow numerals for sounds English doesn’t have. 3 is the ع in 3ayn, a sound from the back of the throat. 7 is the ح in 7abibi, a breathy h. You’ll see this spelling in every WhatsApp group with an Egyptian in it.
- The rhythm. Masri stresses syllables differently from fusha and runs words together. Mish 3arif (I don’t know) is said as one breath.
Six words you’ve already heard
If an Egyptian has ever been in your kitchen, you know these. The spelling is the one Bel Masri uses in its lessons.
- yalla يلا come on, let's go
- 'ezzayyak? إزيك؟ how are you? (to a man)
- ma3lesh معلش no worries
- Sabaa7 el-kheer صباح الخير good morning
- khalas خلاص done, that's it
- tamam تمام all good
Why so many Arabs understand Masri
Egypt made the Arab world’s films, soap operas and songs for most of the twentieth century. Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim, Adel Imam: an Arab in Baghdad or Casablanca grew up with Egyptian voices in the living room. So Masri is the one dialect nearly everyone can follow, even if they can’t speak it back. Go to Beirut or Amman speaking Masri and people will answer you, often with a grin and a line from a film.
The reverse isn’t true. An Egyptian who has never left Cairo may struggle with Moroccan darija. If you’re going to learn one dialect, Masri gives you the most mileage.
How to speak Masri
Masri is a spoken language before it’s a written one, so learn it the way Egyptians do: by ear. Listen to a phrase, say it back, use it on someone. The script can come later. Plenty of Egyptians text each other in Latin letters and numerals all day and never miss the alphabet.
Bel Masri was built for exactly this. Every word and sentence is voiced by a Cairene speaker, you hear it before you read it, and the lessons are set in the places the language lives: a koshari counter, a balcony in Shubra, a phone call with your grandmother. Ten minutes a day, and in six to eight weeks you can hold a basic conversation. It’s free to try on Android. iPhone is next.
Start speaking Masri
The Egyptian Arabic course from the people behind Tfaddalu. Audio on every word, written in the Cairo dialect from lesson one.
Waiting for iPhone? Join the waitlist and you’ll get one email when it lands.
Common questions
Is Masri a language or a dialect?
Linguists file it as a dialect of Arabic. In daily life it works like a language of its own: it has its own words, grammar and sound system, and an Egyptian who has never studied Modern Standard Arabic still speaks Masri perfectly. Egyptians themselves say 'el-lugha el-masreyya' (the Egyptian language) and 'el-lahga el-masreyya' (the Egyptian dialect) interchangeably.
Is Masri the same as Egyptian Arabic?
Yes. Masri, Egyptian Arabic, Egyptian colloquial and Cairene Arabic all point at the same thing. 'Masri' is just what Egyptians call it.
Where is Masri spoken?
In Egypt, by over 100 million people, with the Cairo variety treated as the standard. Beyond Egypt it's the most widely understood Arabic dialect, thanks to decades of Egyptian films, television and music.
Can I learn to speak Masri without the Arabic alphabet?
Yes. Masri is a spoken language first, and Egyptians text it in Latin letters all the time. You can learn by ear and pick up the script later, which is how Bel Masri teaches it.
More on how the app works, and which Arabic it teaches, in the FAQ on the homepage.