Learn the phrases to use at a hotel
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| In this lesson, we’ll help you check into Egyptian hotels, guesthouses, and hostels. Let’s jump right into the lesson! |
| In Egypt, when you get to a hotel and you want to check in, there are two possible phrases you can use. If you’ve already booked the room and you want to say, “I have a reservation under the name of (someone)”, you can say ʿndi ḥagz besm( the name). |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ʿn-di ḥagz besm( name). |
| Once more: |
| ʿndi ḥagz besm(name). |
| عندي حجز باسم (فلان |
| The first word ʿndi means “I have”. |
| (slow) ʿn-di. |
| ʿndi. |
| عندي |
| Next we have ḥagz which means “a reservation.” |
| (slow) ḥagz. |
| ḥagz. |
| حجز |
| After that we have besm which is translated into English as “under the name”. Let’s hear the word again slowly. |
| (slow) besm. |
| besm. |
| باسم |
| At the end of the sentence say the name. |
| All together, we have: |
| ʿndi ḥagz besm( name). |
| This means, “I have a reservation under the name of (someone).” |
| Let’s say your name is David James. In this case you would say ʿndi ḥagz besm David James. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow)ʿndi ḥagz besm Da-vid James. |
| Once more: |
| ʿndi ḥagz besm David James. |
| عندي حجز باسم ديفيد جيمس |
| Or “I have a reservation under the name of David James." |
| In order to book a room say: ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt, which means “I would like a room, please”. In English that is literally translated as “I want a room”. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow)ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt. |
| Once more: |
| ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt |
| عايز أوضة لو سمحت |
| The first word, ʿaiz , means “I want”. |
| (slow) ʿa-iz |
| ʿa-iz |
| عايز |
| Then we have the word o-dah for “room”. |
| (slow) o-dah |
| o-dah |
| أوضة |
| Then we have the word law samaḥt for “please” or “if allowed”. |
| (slow) law samaḥt |
| law samaḥt |
| لو سمحت |
| All together: |
| ʿaiz o-dah law samaḥt. |
| “I would like a room, please.” |
| عايز أوضة لو سمحت |
| Usually the answer will literally be “Can I know your name, please?” In Egyptian Arabic, this is: |
| momken ʾsim ḥadritak. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) momken ʾsim ḥadritak. |
| Once more: |
| momken ʾsim ḥadritak. |
| ممكن اسم حضرتك |
| At the beginning of the phrase, we have momken which is translated as “to be able”. |
| (slow)momken. |
| momken. |
| ممكن |
| Then we have the word ʾsim which is translated as “name”. |
| (slow) ʾsim. |
| ʾsim. |
| اسم |
| And lastly the word ḥadritak is a polite way to say “you”. |
| (slow) ḥadritak. |
| ḥadritak. |
| حضرتك |
| Let’s hear the phrase one more time. |
| (slow) momken ʾsim ḥadritak. |
| momken ʾsim ḥadritak. |
| “Can I know your name?” |
| ممكن اسم حضرتك |
| This phrase is used only in official circumstances. For example, you may hear this phrase when you go to a bank. The word ḥadritak is especially a good way to say “you” to a person you have met for the first time. |
| Your name may be complicated to spell for an Egyptian person, in which case they might ask you to say it more than one time : momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt. which means “Can you say it again, please?” |
| Let’s break that down: |
| (slow) momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt. |
| Once more: |
| momken tʾuloh tani lao samaḥt. |
| ممكن تؤله تاني لو سمحت |
| The first word, momken, is translated into English as “to be able” as you may remember from studying it many times. |
| (slow) momken. |
| momken. |
| ممكن |
| Next we have ,tʾuloh which means “to say”. |
| (slow) tʾuloh. |
| tʾuloh. |
| تؤله |
| After tʾulo we have tani, translated as “one more time”. |
| (slow) tani. |
| tani. |
| تاني |
| Finally, at the end we have law samaḥt which are the words for “please”. |
| (slow)law samaḥt |
| law samaḥt |
| لو سمحت |
| All together: |
| (slow) momken tʾuloh tani law samaḥt. |
| momken tʾulo tani law samaḥt. |
| ممكن تؤله تاني لو سمحت |
| You can also use this phrase when you don’t understand something and want the other person to repeat what he or she said. |
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