Egyptian

يخرب بيت حلاوتك “ya5rab bayt 7elawtek” The game spit by this aspiring Romeo actually means something roughly like, “Screw your hotness!” Let’s go ahead and break that one down because it makes approximately zero fucking sense. يخرب بيتك (literally “May God destroy your house”—the full phase is actually الله يخرب بيتك) is basically the lowest vulgarity grade you can get for wishing someone harm. If someone bumps into you on the street and you don’t want to start a fight, that’s a good one to mutter quietly under your breath, if you feel the need. “Screw you” may be the most accurate translation. حلاوة means ‘sweetness,’ but is also used to refer to how attractive a woman is. ...

Many of you have been asking a very profound question regarding the name of this blog: “I don’t get it. Who’s Maha?” And this is something that I’ll admit I should have addressed from the get-go. To answer this question, I could list for you all the conventionally important biographical facts about Maha, like how she is a character in the book (it is literally called ‘the book:’ Al-Kitab) used for Arabic language education in America. I could tell you that Maha is a Palestinian-Egyptian woman living in the United States, that her father works as a translator with the UN, and that her grandfather was an army officer. I could also tell you that Maha admits on camera that she often feels lonely, that she is jealous of her friend Leila’s pool, and even hints that she is wistfully in love with her first cousin. ...

مالكش دعوة “malaksh da3wa“ Very often means, “This is none of your business.” Ex: If you try to step in on an argument between two best friends, one of them might tell you to bug off by saying what literally translates to, “YOU DO NOT HAVE AN INVITATION!!!” But it can also serve another meaning: for example, if someone tries to blame you for a copyediting mistake at work that wasn’t actually in your purview, you could say “malish da3wa bmodo3 el copyediting” = lit. “I don’t have an invitation for the subject of copyediting” = “Copyediting is not my responsibility.” ...

!حلو قوي زي العسل. يا سلام يا قشطة “7elo awi, zay el 3asl. ya salam, ya 2eshta!“ Actual thing that was literally said to me once by a real person (I think).

يضرب عشرة “yadrab ashara“ To masturbate. #Sorry #NotSorry

أنتي ساكنة في الدقي؟ “Enty sakina fil do2i?“ Smoother translation: Do you live in Dokki? In Egyptian colloquial Arabic, verbs are often replaced with a structure called the ‘Ism Fa3l,’ a concept that I like to call a ‘Verbal Noun.’ For example, when we want to ask the question ‘do you understand?’ instead of using a verb as you would in MSA (هل تفهم؟), it’s more common in Egyptian colloquial to employ the ism fa3l (فاهم؟ – Are you an understander?) and drop the هل because هل is for squares. ...

دي حاجة ودي حاجة “Dee haga w dee haga“ Actually means, “Those are two different things.” In the sense of: “I’m nervous about getting my visa renewed here in Egypt because when I was living in Europe they were very strict about paperwork!” And because official procedures are a whole different ball game in Egypt versus Europe, you’d say طب دي حاجة ودي حاجة – literally, ‘Well, this is a thing and this is a thing.” ...

We often instinctively reach for filler words when struggling to string sentences together in a foreign language. These are some of the filler words that I hear most often each day that Egyptian Arabic learners can start using right away to make their speech sound more natural. This post does come with two warnings attached: one, don’t depend on يعني too much because it will harm your capacity for quick-thinking in Arabic / you will start to sound like the Egyptian equivalent of a valley girl, and two, these words WILL make their way into your English speech patterns if you get really good. ...

As we all know, literally no one on the planet speaks Modern Standard Arabic as their native language, and as such, using MSA in normal, daily sounds unnatural and strange. Following is a list of words that FusHa learners often use in conversation while transitioning to colloquial Arabic that are quite abrasive on Egyptian ears. What I’m really trying to say is: you literally sound like you are reciting Canterbury Tales right now. Stop. Please. ...

أنا بموت فيك “Ana bamoot fiik” (‘fiiky’ when said to a girl) “I love you! / You are so great!” If you’ve been searching for a phrase at just the right crossroads of creepy and disturbing to let your loved ones know that you appreciate them, this one’s for you!