Categories: "How To" Tuesday

10 Egyptian Arabic Compliments

Knowing some Egyptian Arabic compliments can go a long way.

Made your Egyptian boweb angry? Kept somebody waiting for hours that didn’t really understand how Egyptian time works? See a cute Egyptian at a cafe, and feel like flirting with them a little?

Then it’s time to learn some Egyptian compliments!

That’s what we have for you today:

10 Egyptian Arabic compliments, what they literally mean in English, what they actually mean, and some examples of them in action.

Enjoy!

Egyptian Arabic Compliments That Are Common

We will start with compliments that are common in Egyptian Arabic. These are Egyptian Arabic compliments that you would hear quite frequently.

Then we’ll move onto compliments that are a little less common.

1) What a beautiful look / what an elegant look! : eh el 7alawa dee /elshyaka de?

ايه الحلاوة دي؟ / ايه الشياكة دي؟

Literally: “What is all this beauty? / What is all this elegance?”

This is when someone has clearly put the effort to dress up or to look good and you want to acknowledge that

Example: You are going out with your girlfriend and she’s looking fiiiiiiine in her new dress.

What is all this elegance and beauty? You look great! : Wow, eh elshyaka w elhalawa de? Shaklek helw awy!

!ايه الشياكة والحلاوة دي! شكلك حلو قوي

2) You are welcome / we enjoy your company. : Mnwar/Mnwara.

.منور/ منورة

Literally: “You (male/female) are lighting up / shining.”

This is usually used when someone is visiting you at your place, or if someone is asking to join you / come along.

Example: A friend is joining your ride with your friends in the car.

Sorry, I came as an extra today guys. : Ana asef, ana get zyada elnharda ya gama3a.

. انا اسف انا جيت زياده النهارده يا جماعة

No worries, you are welcome. : wala yhmak, enta mnwar.

.ولا يحمك انت منور

3) God bless your work. : Alah ynwar!

!الله ينور

Literally: “God enlighten you.”

Usually used with blue collar workers when they provide a service and do it so well that you want to admire it.

Example: A painter has painted your room in a couple of hours and it looks awesome.

God bless your work, Mr. Khaled! : Alah ynwar ya 3am khaled!

!الله ينور يا عم خالد

4) You are a master. : enta m3alem!

!انت معلم

Literally: “You are a master.”

This one is very generic. It could basically be used whenever someone is doing something super well in any field (a good football player, a good chef, a good carpenter) and demonstrating their high skill level.

Example: Watching a football game with your friends, and a player makes a very good move*

Messi is a master! : Messi da m3alem!

!ميسي ده معلم

Note: the word da means “that.”

This Egyptian Arabic compliment would be literally saying “That Messi is a master,” but its a filler word that has to be used here.

Knowing how to watch football in Egyptian Arabic would be helpful here.

5) You are a full moon. : Amar arb3tashar.

.قمر اربعتاشر

Literally: “Moon of 14.” (According to the Islamic Calendar, the moon is full on the nights of 13th, 14th and 15th of each lunar month).

This is basically just used to tell someone how beautiful they are.

Example: A friend of yours asks how she looks today, and you tell her she looks like the moon (same meaning as “amar arb3tashar”).

You are like the moon! : Enty zay el amar!

انتي زي القمر

6) God bless you / God Protects you. : Alah ykhaleek / Alah ykhaleeki.

.الله يخليك/ الله يخليكي

Literally: “God bless you / God keeps you.”

This one is not specifically a compliment, but rather a polite way of saying “thank you.” but we didn’t want to leave you without a way to respond to a compliment, so here is one way to say it and its used as “Thank you”

You can also use allah instead of rabna (means the exact same thing).

Example: Your friend just told you that you look good today.

You too, thanks. : w enta kaman, rabna ykhaleek.

وانت كمان ..ربنا يخليك

Egyptian Arabic Compliments That Are More Rare

While common Egyptian Arabic compliments are always nice to know, the more rare ones are also good.

Just shows you how good your Arabic is getting!

7) You have a pretty laugh / smile. : D7ketak tganen.

.ضحكتك تجنن

Literally: Your smile / laugh is driving me crazy.

This is used in a flirty way. Its an Egyptian Arabic compliment that’s useful when you want to tell somebody that they have a really pretty smile / laugh.

Example: You just told a joke and the girl you like laughed super hard about it. Time to make your move!

You have a pretty laugh, by the way. : Dehktek tganen 3ala fekra.

.ضحكتك تجنن على فكرة

In case this girl becomes your girlfriend, check out our post about Valetines Day in Egypt.

Might be useful to know. 😉

8) We have been visited by the Prophet. : da7na zarna el naby.

.دا احنا زارنا النبي

Literally: We have been visited by the prophet.

In the Egyptian culture, seeing or being visited by the prophet is the absolute highest blessing you could have ever reach. Telling someone this is a super nice compliment in Egyptian Arabic.

Example: Exactly what it sounds like.

Ramadan in Egypt is a great time where you might use this.

9) You are really skilled with your hands. : Edeek tetlaf fi 7areer.

.ايدك تتلف في حرير

Literally: Your hands should be wrapped in silk.

This is used when somebody is super skilled and detailed with their hands (usually when they make or build something). Use this Egyptian Arabic compliment when you want to show how precious you think their hands are!

Example: Your tailor Mohamed made your dress exactly the way you asked for it, with all requested details.

Thanks Mr. Mohamed, the dress is super nice, your hands should be wrapped in silk. : shokran ya ostaz mohamed, el fostan helw awy …enta edak tetlaf f 7areer.

.شكرا يا استاذ محمد. الفستان حلو قوي …انت ايدك تتلف في حرير

Note: this might also be a good situation to use the compliment from #3 (allah ynwar).