Syrian Arabic phrases for travellers

The Arabic that helps you in Damascus is not the Arabic in the textbook. It is the Damascus dialect people speak on the street: short words, one-word questions, fixed replies. What follows is that dialect — the Arabic script, a plain transcription you can read aloud, and the moment each phrase belongs to.

Fusha or the Damascus dialect

Learn the dialect. Fusha — the formal Arabic taught in schools — is the language of newspapers and news bulletins, and nobody buys tomatoes in it. Say a fusha sentence and you will be understood, but the person in front of you pauses, then usually switches to English. A three-word sentence in dialect does not have that effect.

Syrian Arabic is also close to Lebanese and Palestinian speech, so anything you learn here travels across the Levant. The hard part is four sounds.

Four sounds English speakers stumble on

You do not need to get these right. Knowing what they are is enough; even mispronounced, the rest of the word carries the meaning.

• ع (ayn) — no English equivalent. The throat tightens and the vowel comes out of that squeeze. Drop it and you will still be understood.
• ح (haa) — a breathy h made further back than the English one, as if you were fogging a window from the throat.
• خ (kha) — the sound in Scottish “loch” or German “Bach”.
• ق (qaf) — in Damascus it usually disappears into a catch in the throat, the way a Londoner says “bo’le” for bottle: قديش is “addesh”, not “qaddesh”. Aleppo does the same. In the countryside and the east it becomes a hard g.

Greetings and courtesy

Syrian greetings come in pairs. Knowing the reply, not just the opening, is what makes the exchange land.

• مرحبا — marhaba — Hello. The usual reply is مرحبتين “marhabtein”, literally “two hellos”.
• السلام عليكم — as-salamu alaykum — Works everywhere, with anyone. Reply: وعليكم السلام “wa alaykum as-salam”.
• كيفك؟ — kifak to a man, kifik to a woman — How are you. The expected answer: منيح، الحمد لله “mnih, al-hamdulillah”.
• أهلا وسهلا — ahlan wa sahlan — Welcome. The one-word reply is “ahlein”.
• صباح الخير — sabah al-kheir — Good morning. Reply: صباح النور “sabah an-nur”, “a morning of light”.
• يعطيك العافية — yaatik al-afye — Said to anyone who is working: the driver, the cook, the man sweeping the courtyard. Reply: “allah yaafik”.
• لو سمحت — law samaht — Excuse me, please. The safest way to open any sentence; to a woman, “law samahti”.

Asking the price

If you learn one word, learn قديش “addesh” — how much. Half of every conversation in the souq turns on it.

• قديش؟ — addesh — How much. On its own it is a complete question; point and say it.
• غالي كتير — ghali ktir — Too expensive. “Ktir” means very, and you will hear it in every third sentence.
• ما في حسم؟ — ma fi hasm — Is there no discount. In Syria the word for a discount is “hasm”.
• آخر سعر؟ — akher siir — Last price. The question that closes a negotiation.
• عم تفرّج بس — am atfarraj bass — Just looking. Say it once and the pressure stops, without anyone taking offence.
• ما معي فراطة — ma maai frata — I have no change. “Frata” is small change, and you will need the phrase daily.
• خلص، منيح — khalas, mnih — Fine, agreed. Two words end the haggling.

Asking the way

Syrians give directions by landmark, not by street name: the mosque, the souq gate, the square. Ask the same way.

• وين …؟ — wein — Where is. “Wein al-jamaa al-umawi” gets you to the Umayyad Mosque.
• كيف بوصل عـ…؟ — kif busal aa… — How do I get to.
• بعيد؟ — baaid — Is it far. If the answer is “arib”, it is close.
• على طول / دغري — ala tul, dughri — Straight ahead. The second word came from Turkish and is the one you will hear most.
• عاليمين / عاليسار — al-yamin, al-yasar — To the right, to the left.
• وقّفني هون — waqqifni hon — Stop here. In a taxi this is the only sentence you strictly need.
• ضعت — daat — I am lost. Say it and people gather to help; it is the shortest route to a direction.

At the restaurant

• شو بتنصحني؟ — shu btinsahni — What do you recommend. This works better than guessing from a menu you cannot read.
• بدون لحمة — bidun lahme — Without meat. Most Syrian mezze is meatless anyway, so the choice is wide.
• مي، لو سمحت — mayy, law samaht — Water, please.
• الحساب لو سمحت — al-hsab law samaht — The bill, please.
• سفري — safari — To take away. One word does it.
• صحتين — sahtein — Enjoy your meal, said before and during eating. The reply is “ala albak”.

Thanking, and saying no politely

A bare no sounds abrupt in Arabic. The refusal is softened by a blessing attached to it, and then the matter is closed.

• شكراً — shukran — Thank you. Reply: عفواً “afwan”, or “tikram”.
• تسلم إيديك — tislam ideik — Bless your hands. Said to whoever cooked, carved or built the thing in front of you.
• الله يعطيك العافية — allah yaatik al-afye — Thanks for your effort. For drivers, waiters, the man at the gate.
• لا، مشكور — la, mashkur — No, thank you. The standard polite refusal.
• شبعت والله — shbiit wallah — I am full, truly. Say it to stop a second plate arriving, and expect to say it twice.
• ما بدّي، شكراً — ma baddi, shukran — I do not want it, thank you. “Baddi” means I want; the “ma” turns it around.

In an emergency

Save these six in your phone. If you cannot say them, showing the screen does the job.

• ساعدني — saaidni — Help me.
• بدّي دكتور — baddi doktor — I need a doctor.
• وين أقرب مشفى؟ — wein aqrab mashfa — Where is the nearest hospital. Syrians say “mashfa”, not the textbook word.
• في صيدلية قريبة؟ — fi saydaliyye aribe — Is there a pharmacy nearby. The pharmacy is often the first place to go.
• ضاع جوازي — daa jawazi — I have lost my passport.
• اتصل بالإسعاف — ittasil bil-isaaf — Call an ambulance.

Words you already know, and three you will misread

English borrowed a good deal from Arabic, so part of the vocabulary is already in your head. A few other words sound simple and mean something other than what you assume.

• سكر، قطن، قهوة، ليمون — sukkar, qutn, qahwe, laymun. Sugar, cotton, coffee and lemon came into English from Arabic and still sound like themselves.
• صفر “sifr” — zero, and the ancestor of the English word. Useful when a number is being written down for you.
• حبيبي “habibi” — literally my beloved, but used between friends, drivers and shopkeepers all day long. It is not flirtation.
• إن شاء الله “inshallah” — often meant literally, sometimes a soft no. Read the face, not the phrase.
• معليش “maalesh” — never mind, no harm done. It covers both an apology and its acceptance.

Thirty words are plenty for a week. What earns the goodwill is not accuracy but the attempt: a badly pronounced marhaba opens more doors in Damascus than a faultless English sentence.