Session 1 — Your first 2 hours¶

Mission¶

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

greet someone
say your name
ask someone's name
say where you are from
ask where someone is from
say how you are
say “I want…”
say “I need…”
understand ana / inta / inti / huwwe / hiyye
recognize several Arabic letters
read very simple Arabic words
produce a tiny conversation without translating word-by-word

Part 1 — 0:00–0:15¶

The most important principle¶

Do not try to memorize Arabic as isolated words.

Learn chunks and patterns.

For example, don't learn:

بدي = want

Learn:

ana baddi ahwe
أنا بدي قهوة
I want coffee.

Then change one element:

ana baddi mayy
أنا بدي مي
I want water.

ana baddi shay
أنا بدي شاي
I want tea.

ana baddi akol
أنا بدي أكل
I want food / I want to eat.

You are learning a sentence generator, not four sentences.

This is the core idea we'll use throughout the 20 hours.

Part 2 — 0:15–0:30¶

The five people you need first¶

Forget complicated conjugation for now.

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
أنا	ana	I
إنتَ	inta	you — masculine
إنتِ	inti	you — feminine
هو	huwwe	he
هي	hiyye	she

Pronunciation¶

ana

a-na

inta

in-ta

inti

in-ti

huwwe

HOO-weh

hiyye

HEE-yeh

The distinction between inta and inti matters.

If you're speaking to a man:

inta

If you're speaking to a woman:

inti

Part 3 — 0:30–0:45¶

Your first expressions¶

Learn these as complete chunks.

Greetings¶

Arabic	Transliteration	English
أهلا	ahlan	hi / hello
مرحبا	marhaba	hello
كيفك؟	kifak?	how are you? — male
كيفِك؟	kifik?	how are you? — female
منيح	mnih	good — male
منيحة	mniha	good — female
تمام	tamam	fine / good
شكرا	shukran	thank you
عفوا	ʿafwan	you're welcome / excuse me
إي	ee	yes
لأ	la'	no

First mini-dialogue¶

A: أهلا
ahlan

B: أهلا

A: كيفك؟
**kifak?

B: منيح، شكرا. وإنت؟
**mnih, shukran. w-inta?

A: تمام.

Translation:

A: Hi.
B: Hi.
A: How are you?
B: Good, thanks. And you?
A: Fine.

Part 4 — 0:45–1:00¶

Introductions¶

Now we build your first real sentence pattern.

“I am…”¶

In conversational Levantine Arabic, you generally don't need a verb equivalent to English “am” in simple present sentences.

For example:

ana Benoît

أنا Benoît

Literally:

I Benoît.

Meaning:

I am Benoît.

“You are…”¶

inta Benoît
You are Benoît.

inti Benoît
You are Benoît.

“He is…”¶

huwwe Benoît

“She is…”¶

hiyye Benoît

This pattern is extremely important.

Part 5 — 1:00–1:15¶

Where are you from?¶

The basic pattern:

ana min + place

أنا من...

min = from

Examples:

ana min Faransa
أنا من فرنسا
I'm from France.

ana min Paris
أنا من باريس
I'm from Paris.

Ask someone:

inta min wein?
إنتَ من وين؟

Where are you from? — to a man

To a woman:

inti min wein?
إنتِ من وين؟

Important word¶

wein = where

min wein?
from where?

This is an extremely useful Levantine expression.

Part 6 — 1:15–1:30¶

Your first verb pattern: بدي¶

This is one of the most useful words in Levantine Arabic.

بدي — baddi¶

Depending on context:

I want
I'd like
I need/want to

Examples:

ana baddi ahwe
أنا بدي قهوة
I want coffee.

ana baddi mayy
أنا بدي مي
I want water.

ana baddi akol
أنا بدي أكل
I want to eat / I want food.

ana baddi rouh
أنا بدي روح
I want to go.

Important observation¶

You don't need to think:

“How do I conjugate the verb want?”

Instead memorize:

ana baddi + X

Later we'll learn the other forms.

Part 7 — 1:30–1:40¶

I need…¶

Another extremely useful pattern:

ana b7taj...

أنا بحتاج...

b7taj = I need

The 7 represents the Arabic letter ح.

We'll learn why later.

Examples:

ana b7taj mayy
I need water.

ana b7taj masari
I need money.

ana b7taj musa3ade
I need help.

For now, don't worry about producing the perfect pronunciation of b7taj.

Recognize it first.

Part 8 — 1:40–1:50¶

Your first 10 essential words¶

Don't learn 50 words today.

Master these.

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
أنا	ana	I
إنتَ	inta	you M
إنتِ	inti	you F
هو	huwwe	he
هي	hiyye	she
من	min	from
وين	wein	where
بدي	baddi	I want
مي	mayy	water
قهوة	ahwe	coffee

Notice:

قهوة

is pronounced approximately:

ahwe

That's a useful example of why Arabic script cannot always be learned by simply matching letters to English spelling.

Part 9 — 1:50–2:00¶

First reading exercise¶

Now we introduce the alphabet.

Don't attempt to learn all 28 letters today.

Today you need only 5.

ا — أ¶

alif

Usually associated with an a sound.

Example:

أنا
ana

ب¶

baa

Sound:

b

Example:

باب
bab

door

ت¶

taa

Sound:

t

Example:

بيت
beit

house

م¶

miim

Sound:

m

Example:

مي
mayy

water

ن¶

nuun

Sound:

n

Example:

أنا
ana

Your first decoding exercise¶

Look at these without transliteration.

1.¶

أنا

2.¶

باب

3.¶

بيت

4.¶

مي

Don't worry if you cannot read them perfectly.

Try to identify:

the letters
their sounds
where they connect

The goal today is recognition, not mastery.

Final 10-minute challenge¶

Now imagine that you meet a Lebanese/Syrian/Jordanian/Palestinian speaker.

Try to produce this conversation without looking at the English.

Speaker A¶

أهلا، كيفك؟

You¶

منيح، شكرا. وإنت؟

Speaker A¶

تمام. شو اسمك؟

شو اسمك؟
shu ismak?

= What's your name?

You¶

أنا Benoît.

Then:

أنا من فرنسا.

Then ask:

وإنتَ من وين؟

New expression: شو اسمك؟¶

This is important.

shu = what

ism = name

-ak = your, masculine

So:

shu ismak?

Literally:

what your-name?

Meaning:

What's your name?

To a woman:

shu ismik?

Your first complete conversation¶

Male interlocutor¶

A: أهلا، كيفك؟
ahlan, kifak?

B: منيح، شكرا. وإنت؟
mnih, shukran. w-inta?

A: تمام. شو اسمك؟
tamam. shu ismak?

B: أنا Benoît. وإنت شو اسمك؟
ana Benoît. w-inta shu ismak?

A: أنا Ahmad.

B: إنت من وين؟
inta min wein?

A: أنا من لبنان.

B: وأنا من فرنسا.
w-ana min Faransa.

What you should actually memorize today¶

Not everything above.

Your active vocabulary for Session 1 is:

People¶

ana — أنا
inta — إنتَ
inti — إنتِ
huwwe — هو
hiyye — هي

Conversation¶

ahlan — أهلا
marhaba — مرحبا
kifak? — كيفك؟
kifik? — كيفِك؟
mnih — منيح
tamam — تمام
shukran — شكرا
ʿafwan — عفوا
ee — إي
la' — لأ

Questions¶

shu — شو
wein — وين
min — من
ismak — اسمك

Useful patterns¶

ana + X → I am X
ana min + X → I'm from X
ana baddi + X → I want X
ana b7taj + X → I need X

Homework — 20 minutes¶

Don't simply reread the vocabulary.

Do active recall.

Exercise 1¶

Without looking, say:

I am Benoît.

I'm from France.

I want coffee.

I want water.

Where are you from?

What's your name?

I'm fine, thanks.

Exercise 2¶

Translate into Levantine:

Hi.
How are you? — male
How are you? — female
I'm good.
I'm from France.
I want coffee.
I want water.
What's your name? — male
Where are you from? — male
Thank you.

Exercise 3 — Arabic recognition¶

Identify the letters in:

أنا
بيت
باب
مي

Don't use transliteration.

One important rule for the next 20 hours¶

Do not try to memorize Arabic spelling by looking at transliteration.

From now on, we'll progressively move:

Arabic → transliteration → meaning

rather than always:

English → transliteration → Arabic

That is how we'll transition from “I know some Arabic phrases” to actually reading and understanding Arabic.

Session 2 should build directly on this: شو / مين / وين / هيدا / هاي + family + possession + more alphabet, while starting the first controlled speaking drills.