How to Talk About New Year’s Resolutions in Egyptian Arabic

Well, we are five weeks into 2022, which means…..there’s about a 50 percent chance you’ve failed on those pesky resolutions.

But who cares? As long as you are making relatively consistent progress, that’s all that matters!

Just like learning Egyptian Arabic, actually. 🙂

Today, Cleo Lingo will be covering…. how to talk about New Year’s resolutions in Egyptian Arabic.

New Year’s Resolutions in Egyptian Arabic: Example Phrases

One of the first things to learn is how to actually say “Happy New Year.”

Happy New Year to you (said to one guy). : Kol sana w enta tayb.

.كل سنة وانت طيب

While this is specifically addressing a male, you should know now the difference for a female (…w enty tayba“) from our post on the gender of nouns.

Happy New Year (to a group of people). : kol sana w entom taybeen.

.كل سنة وانتم طيبين

I hope you have a great and healthy year. : kol sana w enta belse7a w elsalama.

.كل سنة وانت بالصحة والسلامة

Here is how you say what you are planning on doing:

I am planning this year… : ana bakhatat el sanadi…

…انا بخطط السنادي

My goal this year… : hadafi elsanadi…

…هدفي السنادي

This year I want to… : elsanadi 3ayz….

…السنادي عايز:

Making a plan, a goal, or a resolution is more or less the same thing.

And for what those resolutions might actually be? Just complete the above with the following:

…exercise more / go to the gym. : …atmaran aktar/ w aro7 elgym.

.اتمرن اكتر / اروح الجيم…

…read more. : a2ra aktar

.اقرا اكتر…

….get better at Arabic (lit. “…be better in Arabic). : ..akoon ahsan f el3arabi.

اكون احسن في العربي…

Need more motivation?

Here are ten reasons to learn Egyptian Arabic. 

New Year’s Resolutions in Egyptian Arabic: Things To Stop Doing

Here are some things you might want to STOP doing:

This year I want to stop smoking (cigarettes). : elsanadi 3ayz abtal sagayer.

.السنادي عايز ابطل سجاير

…eat less koshary. : …akol koshari a2al.

.اكل كشري اقل…

This is the worst resolution. And if you want to break it, here’s how to order koshary in Egyptian Arabic.

…stop sleeping late. : …abtal anam met2khar.

.ابطل انام متأخر…

You could also just say “I am going to…” and then complete it with the verb. As we have discussed previously, this is fairly easy to do.

Simply add the “h” (هـ)  letter to the very to imply the future. Check out Egyptian Arabic future tense for more information.

This year, I am going to stop smoking (cigarettes). : elsanadi habatal ashrab sagayer.

.السنادي هبطل اشرب سجاير

How to smoke in Egyptian Arabic might be helpful. 🙂

And what if you want to describe what last year was like? For those times when you want to describe how last year was, here’s what you might say when the topic comes up:

Last year was… : elsana el fatet kant…

…السنة الفاتت كانت

…good / bad / great / amazing. : …7elwa / we7sha/hayla/ to7fa.

.حلوة/  وحشة/  هايلة/  تحفة…

New Year’s Resolutions in Egyptian Arabic: Some More Phrases

I think New Year’s resolutions are great. They are a good way to stay motivated on goals. : ana shayf enak t7ot khetet elsana el gdeda haga kwaissa, btkhaleek mrakez 3ala ahdafak w mot7ames.

.انا شايف انك تحط خطة السنة الجديدة حاجة كويسة. بتخليك مركز على اهدافك ومتحمس

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. People always start and then stop 2 months later. : ana shayf en khetet elsana el gededa haga malhash lazma, elnas btnsaha ba3d shahreen.

.انا شايف ان خطة السنة الجديدة حاجة ملهاش لازمة. الناس بتنساها بعد شهرين

Here are some cute little things that people usually say when discussing the new year. These are for when you are feeling extra motivated:

2020 (literally “twenty twenty”) is my year. : ehshreen ehshreen elsana bihta3ee.

.عشرين عشرين السنة بتاعتي

We originally wrote this in 2020. Here’s how to count in Egyptian Arabic for more updated years.

Cultural Insight

Let’s go back to the first vocab phrase you learned today:

.كل سنة وانت طيب

Egyptians say this all the time: New Year’s, Ramadan, birthdays, you name it.

The whole Kol sana w enta tayb / Kol sana w enti tayba thing is pretty much everywhere.

Doesn’t matter what is going on. I swear, I showed up to work one day with a new haircut and one of my colleagues told this to me. Egyptians don’t always mean it seriously, obviously: it’s just a very common way of expressing joy of some kind.

One of these super important phrases to have in your back pocket.

Good luck with your resolutions! 🙂

…

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo