Learn Arabic greetings as we introduce a new form of greeting
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Munia: مرحبا بكم It’s me, Munia. Welcome back, Munia here. Newbie Lesson 2 - “How are you all?” Hello everyone and welcome back to the second lesson of the Arabic Newbie series at ArabicPod101.com. For this lesson I’m joined here by Shama and Yusef. [*] How are you both doing? |
| Shama: كيف حالكما؟ I’m fine, thank you. |
| Yusef: و أنا بخير And I’m doing well, thank you. |
| Munia: And how is everyone listening today? |
| Shama: We hope everyone is بخير , which is fine in Arabic. |
| Munia: Thank you again for joining us for this Arabic newbie lesson which focuses on the basics for anyone starting out in the learning process of the Arabic language. |
| Yusef: We invite you to study and learn with us the language and culture of the Arabic speaking world. |
| Shama: Last time we learned how to say, “Hello. How are you?” when addressing one person. |
| Munia: Today we have another great lesson for you. We’ll introduce a different form of greeting followed by “How are you all?” |
| Yusef: Well, this sound very interesting, Munia. Can you tell us about this lesson’s conversation? |
| Munia: Today’s conversation takes place at an elevator. Leila bumps into her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Kais. I will be Leila, Shama will be Mrs. Kais and you’ll be… |
| Yusef: Mr. Kais, I guess. |
| Munia: That’s right. The conversation will be in informal Arabic. |
| Shama: Ok, let’s jump right in. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Yusef: صباح الخير |
| Shama: صباح الخير |
| Munia: صباح الخير. كيف حالكما؟ |
| Shama: نحن بخير. و أنتِ؟ كيف حالكِ؟ |
| Munia: كلّ شيئ بخير، شكرا |
| Shama: Once again. This time, slowly. |
| Yusef: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Shama: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Munia: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ. كَيْفَ حَالُكُمَا؟ |
| Shama: نَحْنُ بِخَيْرْ. وَ أَنْتِ؟ كَيْفَ حَالُكِ؟ |
| Munia: كُلُّ شَيْئٍ بِخَيْرْ، شُكْرًا |
| Munia This time, with the translation. |
| Yusef: صباح الخير Good morning. |
| Shama: صباح الخير Good morning. |
| Munia: صباح الخير. كيف حالكما؟ Good morning. How are you two doing? |
| Shama: نحن بخير. و أنتِ؟ كيف حالكِ؟ We’re fine and how are you doing? |
| Munia:كلّ شيئ بخير، شكرا Everything is fine, thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Shama: I like today’s dialogue, it’s short and specific. Yusef, what do you think? |
| Yusef: Pretty informal, yet polite enough to greet neighbors. |
| Shama: Do you think Leila could get by just saying “Good morning”, [*], to greet neighbors in her elevator? |
| Munia: You could just say “Good morning”, but in an Arab country, where neighbors are usually considered part of your social network, you typically engage in a small talk like today’s dialogue. |
| Yusef: Oh, definitely. Especially if you see them all the time. I couldn’t meet my neighbors in the street and just say “Good morning” without actually stopping and taking the time and ask them a few questions. |
| Shama: Same here. And you’d also talk about the weather, ask about their children and other general matters. |
| Munia: Right. |
| Yusef: Right. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Munia: Now we will take a look at the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. |
| Shama: First we have a phrase. |
| Munia:صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Shama: Good morning. |
| Munia: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ. |
| Shama: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Munia: Next, we have a phrase. كَيْفَ حَالُكُمَا؟ |
| Yusef: How are you both? |
| Munia: كَيْفَ حَالُكُمَا؟ |
| Yusef: كَيْفَ حَالُكُمَا؟ |
| Shama: Next phrase. |
| Munia: نَحْنُ بِخَيْرْ |
| Shama: It means “We’re fine”. |
| Munia: نَحْنُ بِخَيْرْ |
| Shama: نَحْنُ بِخَيْرْ |
| Munia: Next we have a phrase. |
| Yusef: و أنتِ؟ |
| Munia: Literally “And you?” when addressing a single woman. |
| Yusef: و أنتِ؟ |
| Munia: و أنتِ؟ |
| Yusef: Next, we have a phrase. |
| Munia: كلّ شيئ بخير |
| Shama: Literally “Everything is fine”. |
| Munia: كُلُّ شَيْئٍ بِخَيْرْ |
| Shama: كُلُّ شَيْئٍ بِخَيْرْ |
| Munia: Last we have a word. شكرا |
| Yusef: And it means “Thank you.” |
| Munia: شُكْرًا |
| Yusef: شُكْرًا |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Munia: Today’s greeting, صباح الخير, literally means “morning of wealth or grace”. |
| Shama: And is used to say good morning. It’s actually composed of two words. صباح |
| Yusef: Morning. |
| Shama: And الخير |
| Yusef: Wealth or grace. |
| Munia: In the afternoon, you can use the equivalent of “Good afternoon” which is مساء الخير. Again, this is composed of two words. مساء |
| Yusef: Afternoon, evening. |
| Munia: الخير, which is as we said before means “wealth”. |
| Shama: Let’s recap. We learned two useful expressions for greeting. صباح الخير, “good morning”, and مساء الخير, “good afternoon”, “good evening”. |
| Munia: Word and phrase list. صباح الخير |
| Shama: Good morning. |
| Munia: مساء الخير |
| Shama: Good afternoon or good evening. |
| Munia: كيف حالكما؟ |
| Shama: How are you both? |
| Munia: كيف حالكِ؟ |
| Shama: How are you? – when addressing a woman. |
| Munia: نحن بخير |
| Shama: We’re fine. |
| Munia: كلّ شيئ بخير |
| Shama: Everything’s fine. |
| Munia: شكرا |
| Shama: Thank you. |
| Munia: Let’s have a look at the usage for some of the words. The first word we’ll look at is صباح الخير. |
| Shama: There’s a difficult sound in the phrase. Can we listen to it one more time, please? |
| Munia: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Yusef: صَبَاحُ الخَيْرْ |
| Munia: The good thing about this greeting is that you can use it both in formal and in informal situations. You can use it at home when you wake up in the morning, when you greet your best friend on the phone… |
| Shama: When you enter a store… |
| Yusef: Or bump into someone you know. |
| Munia: In various contexts, just remember to only use it in the morning. |
| Shama: Next, let’s talk about the phrase كيف حالكما؟. |
| Munia: كيف means “how” and حالكما literally means “your state”. All together كيف حالكما؟ means “How are you both?” |
| Shama: This expression is used when addressing two people. In the previous lesson, we talked about addressing the single form of the phrase. Later on, in the grammar section, we will give you a brief summary of the different forms to say “How are you?” You’ll have no excuse not to use them. |
| Yusef: For example, Munia or Shama, كيف حالكما؟ |
| Munia: نحن بخير، شكرا Another important word that I would like to talk about is شكرا |
| Yusef: It simply means “thanks”. |
| Munia: Very useful. Can you give us an example, please? |
| Yusef: When you get your change back at the supermarket, you say شكرا |
| Shama: Aha. Or when you go to an information desk and get some help, you say شكرا |
| Munia: That’s right. In a restaurant, at a hotel, and just about any situation, when you feel grateful to someone, you say شكرا . In the lessons, I sometimes say شكرا لكم to thank everyone listening to ArabicPod101.com and it’s actually a more polite and formal way of saying thank you when addressing a lot of people. |
| Shama: Yeah, I remember you saying that before. |
| Munia: It literally means “thanks to you all” or “thank you all”. |
| Shama: Right. So next time you hear Munia say that, you’ll know what it means. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Munia: Now, let’s go over the grammar use in this lesson. We will cover all the different forms of “How are you?” |
| SHAMA: The expression “How are you?” in Arabic is made up of two words. كيف , “how”, followed by the conjugated form of “your state”. |
| Munia: That’s right. So the expression changes depending on whether you’re addressing a man, a woman, two people or a group of people. |
| Yusef: Let’s go over the different forms, shall we? |
| Munia: كيف حالكَ؟ |
| SHAMA: When addressing a man. |
| Munia: كيف حالكِ؟ |
| SHAMA: When addressing a woman. |
| Munia: كيف حالكما؟ |
| Shama: When addressing two people. |
| Munia: كيف حالكم؟ |
| Shama: When addressing a group of people. |
| Munia: كيف حالكَ؟ , Yusef. |
| Yusef: بخير، شكرا. كيف حالكِ شاما؟ |
| SHAMA: بخير، شكرا |
| Yusef: كيف حالكما منية و شاما؟ |
| Munia: بخير، شكرا |
| Munia: And to all [unclear]our listeners, كيف حالكم؟ |
| Shama: How are you all? |
Outro |
| Shama: This will conclude today’s lesson. Be sure to pick up the PDF at ArabicPod101.com. Also, if you have any questions feel free to use our [unclear] or comments on today’s lesson. See you tomorrow. إلى اللّقاء. |
Comments
HideLet us know if you have any questions.
Hi Austin,
We totally understand your concern! Learning the Arabic script can feel overwhelming at first, but it is a valuable skill that will greatly help in the learning process. That being said, we do provide romanization in the Dialogue, Vocabulary, and Lesson Notes sections to assist with pronunciation.
You might find this series helpful at this stage:
https://www.arabicpod101.com/lesson-library/arabic-alphabet-made-easy?disable_ssr=1
Hopefully, this makes it easier to follow along while gradually becoming more comfortable with the script.
Let us know if you have any other suggestions—we appreciate the feedback! 😊
شكرًا لك (Shukran lak / Thank you)
Team ArabicPod101.com
03.08.2025
Marhaban,
I can not locate the following sections/Lessons: in 'Absolute Beginner Season 1' (?):
Where is L 2, "Happy Birthday in Arabic"? and where is L 3, "Making Arabic-speaking Friends"?
مرحباً Jay! (Marhaban Jay! / Hi Jay!)
نحن بخير، شكراً لسؤالك! (Naḥnu bikhayr, shukran li-su'ālik! / We are well, thank you for asking! 😊)
Great job introducing yourself in Arabic! If you have any questions, please let us know.
شكرًا لك (Shukran lak / Thank you)
Team ArabicPod101.com
Hi Kate May!
Thank you so much for your kind words! نحن سعداء جداً أنكِ استمتعتِ بالدروس (naḥnu saʿīdūn jiddan 'annaki istamtaʿti bi-al-durūs). We are very happy that you enjoyed the lessons. ❤️ Your feedback motivates us to keep providing high-quality content.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
شكراً (Shukran! "Thank you!")
Team ArabicPod101.com
Thank you, these lessons are brilliant, I’m very impressed with the quality and content ❤️
It is very difficult that in all the transcripts there is just Arabic script with absolutely nothing about how to pronounce the word. Makes is very difficult when we're trying to learn to read and speak Arabic, but the assumption seems to be that we just know this entirely foreign alphabet. I apologize if this seems rude. I am just trying to learn from this podcast as part of a requirement for an Arabic class I am taking, and this would be a huge help.
Marhaban, ismi Jay. Kayfa haal-ukum?
أهلاً موسى،
أنا بخير الحمد للهَ.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
!طباح البخير و ساء البخير! انا موسى من الطيم. كاف حالكم؟ انا بخير
Hello Kauthar,
A big thank you for your post and kind feedback!❤️
If there's any way we can help you throughout your studies, please don't hesitate to ask us any questions you have here.
Cheers,
Ali
Team ArabicPod101.com
I love and benefited from this website
thank you
Hi Gracie,
Are you referring to this lesson's quiz? We just checked it and the questions in the quiz are from the Modern Standard Arabic dialogue of this lesson. If you think we have made a mistake, could you tell us which word you think wasn't in the lesson? Thank you!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Why do the quizzes contain words that we’ve not yet learned? I don’t get it. How can I complete a lesson without taking the quiz? Am I missing something in the lesson order?
Hello Robert A Currie,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us!
I am happy you have already found the solution.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if any questions arise throughout your studies. We would be happy to help you! 😊
Cheers,
Ali
Team ArabicPod101.com
I figures out how to access the romanized words so it's going better now.
I am just starting. I find lesson 2 confusing; there are parts of a dialogue with audio but only the Arabic letters showing with no Romanized equivalent. The vocabulary listed is not in the order of the dialogue; the English explanation/transcript also doesn't offer Romanized words. If this program proceeds this way, I will not choose to pay or continue.
Hi Sabreena,
That's wonderful to hear! Please reach out to us if you need any help with the website or the lessons!
Nora
TeamArabicPod101.com
This slow going podcast really hit my heart, i just downloaded all the audio and the pdf sheets and master the pronunciation within a minutes.shukhran!!!❤️
Hi Aisha,
عفواً!!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
مرحبا بکم شکرا کتييييرررر 👍❤️