How to Navigate Your Kitchen in Egyptian Arabic : Part 2

Introduction

Last week we covered the first part of your kitchen.

This included some need-to-know vocabulary, as well as a bunch of phrases that you could use when cooking.

Since we had a ton more information for you, we thought we’d do it again.

Today, Cleo Lingo will be covering….how to navigate your kitchen in Egyptian Arabic, part 2.

Vocabulary

We will start with some of the essentials, and move to the full phrases from there.

Lighter. : “wuhLAW’eh.”

.ولاعة

How To Smoke Shisha Like a Mob Boss

With Arabic, the root system makes a ton of related words sound almost the same.

Stove. : “BOOtuhGEHZZ.

.بوتجاز

Oven. : “FOOrnn.”

.فرن

Butter. : “zuhBEHduh.”

.زبدة

Whisk. : “MUHthdrub.”

.مضرب

Flour. : “duhEE”

.دقيق

Eggs. : “BAYtdh.”

.بيض

This is one of the words you need to know. Seems like Egyptians eat eggs with every breakfast.

Cheese. : “GEHBnuh.”

.جبنة

As we said, we made a post for you about fruits and vegetables.

However, if you need a reminder of how to say the two most essential veggies, here they are:

Tomatoes. : “tuhMAWtumm.”

.طماطم

Cucumber. : “kheeARE”

.خيار

Pasta. : “MAkuhROnuh.”

.مكرونة

I  must say: Egyptian “macronuh” leaves a lot to be desired;.

There aren’t a whole lot of options in typical supermarkets, so don’t be expecting to make gourmet Italian pasts while staying here.

Rice. : “ROZE”

.رز

A little thing of rice will come with almost every single meal you ever order at a restaurant.

Oil. : “ZATE”

.زيت

Olive Oil. : “ZATE zayTOON”

.زيت زيتون

And here are some more phrases.

The more exposure to correct sentences you get, the more you start to understand how the language works.

Cutting the onions. : “BEE’taw’ elBAWsll”

.بيقطع البصل

Fry the meat/chicken/fish. : “HAWmrr elLAWHmuh / elfuhREKH / elSEHmuck”

.حمر اللحمة/الفراخ/السمك

Eric is chopping the green pepper. : “Eric BEE’taw’ elFILLFILL elAWKthdrr.”

.ايريك بيقطع الفلفل الاخضر

She will boil the pasta, while you prepare the sauce. : “HEEuh huhTAWGluh elMAkuROnuh AW’behl MAWhuthdrr elSOSE”

.هي هتغلى المكرونة عقبال ماحضر الصوص

https://cleolingo.com/egyptian-arabic-future-tense/

I will pour the milk first. : “Ana HEHsib ehlLEHbun”

.انا هصب اللبن

Heat/warm-up the rice, we will eat in a bit. : “SEHkhn elROZE…huhNEHkol kuhMEHN SHWAYuh.”

.سخن الرز ..هناكل كمان شوية

Are you going to you cook with me? : “huhTUHTbuh-khee mawAYuh?”

هتطبخي معايا؟

Warm-up the oven, we are ready! : “SEHkhun elFARN, EHnuh GEH-ZEEN!”

.سخن الفرن .. احنا جاهزين

She started to grate the cheese. : “HEEuh buhTEHBshrr elGEBnuh.”

.هي بتبشر الجبنة

Crush some garlic, its so tasty. : “EHFrumm shWAYuh tom, TAW’moo HEHloo OWee.”

.افرم شوية توم .. طعمه حلو قوي

https://cleolingo.com/the-curious-case-of-the-missing-qaff/

After cooking, now its time to enjoy your meal. Don’t forget to clean though!

Do the dishes! : “EHghsill elMOOawEEN”

!اغسل المواعين

NOTE: This is where voice notes started not working. We have no idea why. We will include the Arabic and transliterations, and hopefully you can figure it out from there. Hopefully, we will be computer pros soon enough.

Clean the table. : “NUHthuff elTAWruhBEEzuh.”

.نضف الترابيزة

Funny side-story: my last apartment in Cairo before I moved away.

I lived with two Egyptian guys, and they were (quite literally) the most disgusting people I have ever know. They would never clean up after themselves, let the trash can fill up until it was overflowing, and couldn’t have washed the toilet to save their lives.

Gross.

While we hope you get to use phrases related to cleaning up the apartment, you might actually never get any results if your roommates are like mine.

And that’s just disgusting.

We are eating in 5 mins. : “huhNEHkoll kuhMEHN KHUHmiss duhAY.”

.هناكل كمان خمس دقايق

Then again, if an Egyptian tells you “five minutes,” they probably don’t really mean it:

https://cleolingo.com/egyptian-time/

The food was great, how did you make that? : “elEHkoll kawn HEHloo….aw’MELtoo eeZAY?”

.الاكل كان حلو..عملتو ازاي

I like it so much, you are a master chef. : “awGEHBnee OWee….EHNtuh tuhBEHK GEHmid”

.عجبني قوي.. انت طباخ جامد

Quite the compliment.

Then again, on the other side:

Shitty food, don’t come anywhere near the kitchen again. : “EHkoll ZAYuh KHUruh….mawTUH’RUHbsh men elMOTEbawkh TEHnee

.اكل زي الخرة ..متقربش من المطبخ تاني

It tastes like yesterday. : “TAW’moo EHkoll BAWeet.”

.طعمه اكل بايت

Not a nice thing to say, Especially if yesterday sucked.

So tasty. : “HEHloo OWee.”

.حلو قوي

While we might have said it in a previous post, “hehloo” literally means “sweet.”

This can be confusing when you use it as the much more general word “tasty.”

Makes it sound like the burger you are using is sweet, which might be a bit concerning.

This was definitely weird for me at first.

Too sweet, next time add less sugar. : “MAWskore OWee….ehSTEHkhudemm SUHkrr EHull”

.مسكر قوي ..استخدم سكر اقل

In all honesty, you might never actually hear this in Egypt.

They really like their sugar, in everything from coffee and cereal to tea and soup.

If you are cooking for an Egyptian, better to be too sweet than not enough.

It needed a bit of salt, but I like it. : “mehTAWG SHWAYuh MEHlh, bess awGEHBnee OWee.”

.محتاج شوية ملح ..بس عجبني قوي

Cultural Insight

This may very well be any country in the world, but Egyptians love their food.

So much so, in fact, that being able to reference which foods you like (and better yet, are able to somehow cook) will win hearts everywhere.

Figure out how to put together a decent dish of koshary on your own, and the Egyptian government might just crown you king.

Gonna have to figure out how to use that kitchen first, though.

Good luck winning hearts. 🙂

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo