Learn all you need to know about greetings in Arabic
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Intro |
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| Michael: Which greetings depend on the time of day in Arabic? |
| Nora: And can they be replaced with time-neutral greetings? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben runs into a friend. He greets her but fails to notice how late it's gotten. Ben says, |
| "Good morning." |
| .صَباحُ الخَيْر (ṣabāḥul-ḫayr.) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee:.صَباحُ الخَيْر (ṣabāḥul-ḫayr.) |
| Farida Fahmy:.الساعَة الثالِثَة الآن. مَساءُ الخَير يَا بِن (al-sāʿah al-ṯaliṯah al-ʾān. masāʾu al-ḫaīr ya bin.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee:.صَباحُ الخَيْر (ṣabāḥul-ḫayr.) |
| Michael: "Good morning." |
| Farida Fahmy:.الساعَة الثالِثَة الآن. مَساءُ الخَير يَا بِن (al-sāʿah al-ṯaliṯah al-ʾān. masāʾu al-ḫaīr ya bin.) |
| Michael: "It's 3:00 pm now. Good afternoon, Ben." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will talk about time-sensitive greetings in the Arabic language. Just like in English, Arabic greetings depend on the time or |
| Nora: الوَقت (al-waqt) |
| Michael: The primary time-sensitive greetings in Arabic correspond to two different times of the day, which are morning and evening. In the morning, you can greet people by saying |
| Nora: صَباحُ الخَير (ṣabāḥul-ḫaīr) |
| Michael: This is a general greeting used before midday and is suitable in any context regardless of who you are greeting. Arabic doesn’t have a separate greeting for "Good afternoon" but uses the greeting for "Good evening" instead. That said, when greeting someone anytime after 12:00 noon and throughout the evening, you say |
| Nora: مَساءُ الخَيْر (masāʾul-ḫayr) |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says, "Good morning?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Nora as Ben Lee:.صَباحُ الخَيْر (ṣabāḥul-ḫayr.) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Ben's friend says "It's 3:00 pm now. Good afternoon, Ben?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Farida Fahmy:.الساعَة الثالِثَة الآن. مَساءُ الخَير يَا بِن (al-sāʿah al-ṯaliṯah al-ʾān. masāʾu al-ḫaīr ya bin.) |
| Michael: As mentioned before, Arabic has time-sensitive greetings only for morning and evening. After 12:00 noon and throughout the evening, the greeting used is |
| Nora: مساء الخير (masāʾul-ḫaīr) |
| Michael: which is used for both "Good afternoon" and "Good evening." Another way to greet someone in the morning is to say, |
| Nora: صَباح النور (ṣabāḥ al-nūr) |
| Michael: which literally means "morning of the bright light." Saying this means you’re wishing someone a wonderful morning. It’s a beautiful greeting that can be used both as a salutation and a response to a morning greeting. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we learned that Arabic has only two primary time-related greetings, and these are |
| Nora: صباح الخير (ṣabāḥul-ḫayr) |
| Michael: which means "Good morning," and |
| Nora: مساء الخير (masāʾul-ḫaīr) |
| Michael: which can be used for both "Good afternoon" and "Good evening." We also learned the greeting, |
| Nora: صباح النور (ṣabāḥ al-nūr) |
| Michael: which means "morning of the bright light." |
| Expansion |
| Michael: What about alternative greetings? Are there other ways to greet someone in Arabic without using time-sensitive greetings? In fact, there are. Let’s start with the greeting |
| Nora: السَلامُ عَلَيْكُم (al-salāmu ʿalaykum) |
| Michael: This is a traditional Arabic greeting that can be used on all occasions. It literally means "Peace be upon you." Originally, it used to be a greeting used by Muslims, but right now it is also commonly used by non-Muslims just as often. Another greeting is |
| Nora: نَهارَك سَعيد (nahārak saʿīd) |
| Michael: which basically means, "Good day." But, what if you simply want to greet someone with "Hello" in Arabic? In that case, you can say |
| Nora: مَرحَباً (marḥaban) |
| Michael: This is an informal greeting that can be used on any occasion. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Arabic greetings usually require a response. A common response to "Good morning," for instance, is |
| Nora: صَباح النور (ṣabāḥ al-nūr) |
| Michael: which also means "Good morning." For "Good evening," the response is |
| Nora: مَساء النور (masāʾul-nūr) |
| Michael: which also means "Good evening." Finally, when someone greets you with |
| Nora: السَلامُ عَلَيْكُم (al-salāmu ʿalaykum) |
| Michael: your response should be |
| Nora: و عَلَيْكُم السَلام (wa ʿalaykum al-salām) |
| Michael: which means "and peace be upon you too." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Nora: !سلام (salām!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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