How To Greet People in Egyptian Arabic

Knowing how to greet people in Egyptian Arabic is important.

Because, let’s face it: greetings are huge in Egyptian culture.

You use them when you are greeting your boweb, you use them with your friends on the streets, and you even use them when you are buying snacks at a koshk.

But which ones to use? That’s why we made this post. It gives you options, and if you learn them by heart, it will make you sound a lot more fluent as well.

Today, Cleo Lingo will be explaining….how to greet people in Egyptian Arabic.

Basic Greetings in Egyptian Arabic

We will start with some basic ways to greet people in Egyptian Arabic.

Welcome! : AWWhulawn.

.اهلا

Egyptians usually don’t use the word “Hello.” Instead, they skip it for “Welcome” ore one of the following greetings.

Good morning. : suhBAWHH elKHAIR.

.صباح الخير

This is usually only used until 12 PM noon, and sometimes (rarely) until about 2 PM.

Good evening. : MEHssaw elKHAIR.

.مساء الخير

Good night. : TESSbuh ‘AWluh KHAIR.

.تصبح على خير

This literally means “Wake up to good things.”

Peace upon you. : ihsuhLAWM ‘awLAYkome.

.السلام عليكم

This might be the most commonly heard “greeting” in Egypt. Pretty much everybody uses it in all situations, including non-religious people and Christians.

Friendly Greetings in Egyptian Arabic

Here are some more friendly ways to greet people in Egyptian Arabic.

These aren’t very formal.

How are you? : ihZAYuck?

ازيك ؟

How are you? : ‘AWmll AY / ‘AWmluh AY?

عامل ايه؟ – عاملة ايه؟

The second one, as we have talked about, is for when you are addressing a female.

What’s up? : AY elawkhBAR?

ايه الاخبار؟

Direct Greetings in Egyptian Arabic

Here are some ways to greet people in Egyptian Arabic that uses “yaw”  يا (Hey…).

Hey friend! : Yaw SAWhhuhbee!

!يا صاحبي

Hey sir! : Yaw BEHshuh!

!يا باشا

This is the title of a Turkish officer of high rank, and was used in Egypt back in the Ottoman days.

The word is still very commonly used as “boss”, or just a higher ranking person.

Hey boss! : Yaw moo’AWlum!

!يا معلم

My sweetheart! : hhawBEEbee / hhawBEHBtee

!حبيبي / حبيبتي

One of the most important greetings to know in Egyptian Arabic.

Creative Ways to Greet Someone

If you want to say things in a slightly different way, here are some creative greetings in Egyptian Arabic.

Happy that I saw you! : MawbSOOT ehnee SHOOFtuck.

!مبسوط اني شفتك

Nice to meet you. : FORsuh s’awEEduh.

.فرصة سعيدة

I didn’t see you for a long time! : MAWshoofTUCKS men zuhMEHN!

!مشفتكش من زمان

If the grammar on this one is weird, make to sure to read about making mish sandwiches.

Where have you been? : FAYnuck men zuhMEHN.

فينك من زمان؟

Slang Greetings in Egyptian Arabic

Here are a few “street slang” ways to greet people in Egyptian Arabic.

Lit: “He lives, that who has seen you” : ‘AWeesh men SHEHfuck.

.عاش من شافك

What’s up (Lit: what’s the word?) : Eh el Kalam?

ايه الكلام؟

YAWstuh! (Not really a good translation in English)

!ياسطى

This is super slang, used when you are with your friends. It’s also very common when getting  a taxi.

In case you don’t believe us, check out how to get a taxi in Egyptian Arabic.

Morning Greetings in Egyptian Arabic

There’s quite a few greetings that Egyptians use in the morning.

Besides the one we covered at the beginning for “good morning” (suhBAWHH elKHAIR.  /صباح الخير), here are  a few more:

Sabaho. – .صباحو

This is a variation of the word suhBAWHH for “morning.”

suhBAWHH suhBAWHH. – .صبح صبح

This term is a famous variation of suhBAWHH that was coined by Mohamed Saad in the movie El Lembi.

A morning of jasmin. : suhBAWHH el foll.

.صباح الفل

A morning of flowers. : suhBAWHH el WAIrdd.

.صباح الورد

Basically, think about any thing sweet or pleasant and add it after the word suhBAWHH.

It will probably work 🙂

Give it a try and be creative. Let us know if you have a new Egyptian Arabic term coined by you.

Cultural Insight

Egyptian mornings are a bit late compared to the western culture.

Things move a little bit slower, and especially on a Friday morning (the day of prayer), basically NOBODY is up early.

That’s why Egyptians who work for multinational companies will have a totally different life style than those who work in local shops and workshops. Usually shops open around 10:00 to 11:00 am and close at 1:00 am (before the COVID-19 lockdown).

This cultural aspect is reflected in the language…

…one reason why there are so many “morning greetings!”

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo