Learn useful words and phrases for beginners
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| Hi! |
| Welcome to Introduction to Arabic. |
| My name is Alisha and I'm joined by... |
| Hi everyone! I'm Yafa. |
| In this lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Arabic words and phrases for absolute beginners! |
| Make sure you're repeating the words out loud after I say the examples! |
| Are you ready? Let's get started! |
| The best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be it! |
| We taught you this phrase in the first lesson of this series. Do you remember what it was? |
| شكرًا |
| It means "Thank you." |
| شكرًا |
| Shukran |
| Keep repeating after Yafa until you get it! |
| شكرًا |
| Shukran |
| Your turn! |
| شكرًا |
| Shukran |
| شكرًا |
| Shukran |
| OK. One last time... |
| شكرًا |
| Shukran |
| The next phrase we'll teach you, is perhaps the second most useful phrase of all. It's to apologize or to excuse yourself. |
| معذرةً |
| And it means “Sorry” or “Excuse me”. |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| Use this phrase when you want to grab a waiter's attention, or when you're hustling through the busy streets of Cairo! |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| Repeating after Yafa. |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| Your turn! |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| Imagine you're on the street and you want to stop someone to ask them for directions, what do you say...? |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| OK. One last time... |
| معذرةً |
| M’a-dhera-tan |
| Now you can say "thank you", "excuse me", and "sorry" in Arabic. Let's move on. |
| Where is...? |
| Asking where something is, is an incredibly important and useful phrase to learn. You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the train station, or where the hotel is. |
| To ask where something is, put "where" first: |
| أين |
| Ayyna (Where is..) |
| and then add the name of the place or location... |
| For example, if you want to ask "Where is the bathroom?"... |
| أين الحمام؟ |
| Ayyna al-hamaam? (Where is the bathroom?) |
| Do you remember emphatic consonants in Arabic? We talked about it briefly in lesson 2 on pronunciation. |
| The letter ح is pronounced deep in the throat. |
| Haa' |
| ح |
| This sound is pronounced very deep in the throat. You want make an H sound but with the throat constricted a little. |
| ح |
| Haa' |
| One trick to produce this sound, is to push your tongue as far back in your mouth as you can, and then saying the word "hot". It should help you to pronounce this sound. |
| ح |
| Haa' |
| One last time... |
| ح |
| الحمام؟ |
| أين الحمام؟ |
| Haa' |
| al-hamaam (bathroom) |
| Ayyna al-hamaam? (Where is the bathroom?) |
| Try saying the complete sentence. |
| أين الحمام؟ |
| Ayyna al-hamaam? (Where is the bathroom?) |
| Once more... |
| أين الحمام؟ |
| Ayyna al-hamaam? (Where is the bathroom?) |
| Well done! Now if you wanted to ask where the train station is in Arabic, it'll be... |
| أين محطة القطار؟ |
| Ayyna mahaTet al-qetaar? (Where is the train station?) |
| أين محطة القطار؟ |
| Ayyna mahaTet al-qetaar? (Where is the train station?) |
| Repeat it again. |
| أين محطة القطار؟ |
| Ayyna mahaTet al-qetaar? (Where is the train station?) |
| So, you can ask where something is, simply by saying... |
| أين |
| Ayyna (Where is..) |
| and then adding the name of the place or location. |
| So if the word for "hotel" is... |
| فندق |
| funduq (hotel) |
| How would you ask "Where is the hotel?" in Arabic? |
| First, you would say... |
| أين |
| Ayyna (Where is..) |
| then add "hotel". |
| فندق |
| funduq (hotel) |
| فندق |
| فندق ماريوت القاهرة |
| فندق ماريوت القاهرة |
| funduq (hotel) |
| funduq Marriott al-qahera (Cairo Marriott Hotel) |
| funduq Marriott al-qahera (Cairo Marriott Hotel) |
| "Convenience store" in Arabic is... |
| بقالة |
| beqaala (Convenience store) |
| "Where is the convenience store?" would be... |
| أين البقالة؟ |
| أين البقالة؟ |
| Ayyna al-beqaala (Where is convenience store?) |
| Ayyna al-beqaala (Where is convenience store?) |
| Repeat it one last time... |
| أين البقالة؟ |
| Ayyna al-beqaala (Where is convenience store?) |
| You can ask where anything is in Arabic by saying... |
| أين؟ |
| Ayyna (Where is..) |
| and then adding the place or location. |
| In this final lesson, you learned how to say "thank you", "excuse me", "sorry", and to ask where something is in Arabic. |
| And in this series, we introduced you to the basics of Arabic pronunciation, grammar, writing, and more. |
| Let's conclude with some parting advice from Yafa, and listen to some of her tips on how to learn Arabic from a native Arabic perspective. |
| The best way to learn Arabic, particularly if you want to improve your communication skills, is to watch and study contemporary Arabic videos. That's because we often use expressions that aren't necessarily introduced in grammar text books in daily conversation. |
| I believe that listening to Arabic music is one of the easiest ways to immerse yourself and to learn Arabic. Additionally, music teaches you all sorts of things, including cultural expressions and the values of a community. You get to learn much more than just the language. |
| Finally, watching contemporary videos – such as our videos here – will ensure that you're learning real, applicable Arabic in the fastest and most effective way. |
| You've reached the end of this course 'Introduction to Arabic', but it's only the beginning of your journey to Arabic fluency! Where do you go from here? Try our Ultimate Guide to Arabic Pronunciation series where we teach you all the sounds of the Arabic language! Or check out any of our other video series. We have many different categories for you to choose from. |
| Good luck as you continue learning Arabic, and I'll see you in another video! |
| Bye! |
| Bye! |
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