Egyptian Arabic Conversation 8: Yalla

Today we are back with Egyptian Arabic conversation 8.

In each Conversations post, we will provide you with:

1. a screenshot from an actual conversation between two Egyptians
2. the translation of each line of text, including English, Franco and Arabic script
3.  context on the conversation and further explanation

We think learning Egyptian Arabic from actual, authentic conversations between Egyptians is both fun and effective. We hope you like it too!

Let’s get started with Egyptian Arabic Conversation 8: yalla. 

Egyptian Arabic Conversation 8: Yalla.

As always, we will start out with a few screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation in Egyptian Arabic.

The conversation is in Franco, but we put the actual Arabic below.

Before getting started with this Conversations post, be sure to check out our post on writing in Franco Arabic. 

Egyptian Arabic Conversation 8: Translation

T: Omar Basha (nickname), are you awake? : omar basha, sa7y?

عمر باشا ، صاحي؟

O: Awake, is something wrong or what? : sa7y, fe 7aga wala eh?

صاحي في حاجة ولا ايه؟

T: No, everything is ok…but I will go running tomorrow morning at the club, coming? (Lit. No everything is ok…but I will go tomorrow morning the club in order to run, coming?) : la2 kolo tamam, bas ana haro7 bokra elsob7 elnady 3lshan agri, tegi?

لا كله تمام..بس انا هروح بكرة الصبح النادي علشان اجري, تيجي؟

O: Lets go dude, I’m IN. : yalla beeenaaa, ana IN.

.IN يلا بينا ..انا

T: Great, 8 is good (Lit. Great, like daisies…8 is good?)? : tayb zai elfoll, 8 tamam?

طيب زي الفل…8 تمام؟

O: Make it 7:30 because I have a meeting early. : khaleha 7:30 3alshan 3andi egtma3 badri.

.خليها 7 ونص علشان عندي اجتماع بدري

T: Great. : tayba.

.طيبة

Egyptian Arabic Conversation 8: Important Vocabulary

Fe 7aga. / في حاجة

This literally means “is there something” but Egyptians use it to mean “is something wrong?”

Yalla beeenaaa. / .يلا بينا

The word yalla is an important one to know, and “beena” is one of the most common additions to the word.

Yalla beena basically means “let’s go / let’s do it, dude.”

Zai elfoll. / .زي الفل

Literally means “like the daisies”, but in conversation means “all good.”

Fun fact: you can also use this word when saying “good morning” in Egyptian Arabic.

Literally, “morning of daisies”.

Khaleha… : …خليها

This is basically “make it…” as you would say in English.

Always a good word to know.

Tayb. / طيب 

The Egyptian word tayb is used twice in this conversation (طيب  and طيبة).

It means “good.”

Although for the other uses of the word, check out the post above!

Context + Further Explanation

One thing of note here…

The guy uses the word “in” when he says “Lets go dude, I’m IN”:

yalla beeenaaa, ana IN. / .IN يلا بينا ..انا

This is not Egyptian Arabic – it’s English (in case you were confused!).

This is just one of the “English slang words” that younger Egyptians might use.

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo