Greetings Dialogue

Follow John and Mohamed as they greet each other and exchange names.

Read the conversation

1. John: s-salamu 3alaykum.
   السلام عليكم.
   Peace be upon you.

2. Mohamed: wa 3alaykum s-salam.
   وعليكم السلام.
   And peace be upon you, too.

3. John: kif dayr?
   كيف داير؟
   How are you?

4. Mohamed: labas, l-7amdullah. u nta?
   لا باس، الحمد لله. ونتَ؟
   Good, thanks be to God. And you?

5. John: bikhir, l-7amdullah.
   بخير، الحمد لله.
   Good, thanks be to God.

6. Mohamed: shnu smitk?
   شنو سميتك؟
   What is your name?

7. John: smiti John. u nta?
   سميتي دجون. ونتَ؟
   My name is John. And you?

8. Mohamed: smiti Mohamed.
   سميتي محمد.
   My name is Mohamed.

9. John: mtshrfin.
   متشرفين.
   Nice to meet you.

10. Mohamed: mtshrfin.
    متشرفين.
    Nice to meet you.

Notice the pattern

U nta? means “And you?” when addressing a man. This lets you return a question without repeating the whole sentence.

Practice

Read one role, then switch roles. Repeat the conversation using your own name. Cover the English glosses and see which lines you can recognize.

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 3 (PDF page 4). Formatting, English dialogue glosses where present, and practice prompts are LearnLahja adaptations.

Audio is not currently available for this lesson.