Offering Help and Asking Favors
Offer help, get someone’s attention politely, and ask for something.
Useful phrases
| English | Darija | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| Can I help you? | wesh n-3awnk? | واش نعاونك؟ |
| Excuse me. (to a man) | sm7 li. | سمح لي. |
| Excuse me. (to a woman) | sm7i li. | سمحي لي. |
| Give me… please. | 3ṭini… 3afak. | عطيني… عفاك. |
Build a polite request
Choose sm7 li or sm7i li to match the person you are addressing. The last phrase leaves a space for the thing you are asking for; 3afak means “please.”
Practice
Practice offering help. Then choose the correct form of “Excuse me” for one man or one woman and read the request frame aloud.
Reading guide
Transliteration key: 3 = ع, 7 = ح, sh = ش, kh = خ, gh = غ. A dot under a consonant marks an emphatic consonant. Latin spellings are reading aids; they do not fully capture pronunciation.
Source and audio
Adapted from Peace Corps/Morocco, Basic Introduction to Arabic, lesson 13 (PDF page 12). Formatting, English dialogue glosses where present, and practice prompts are LearnLahja adaptations.
Audio is not currently available for this lesson.