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Session 4 — Food, Coffee & Restaurants

Cumulative time: 8 / 20 hours
Duration: ~2 hours
Main objective: turn your existing patterns into a practical restaurant conversation.

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

  • order food and drinks

  • say what you like and don't like

  • ask for something with/without an ingredient

  • ask for the menu and bill

  • understand basic quantities

  • say “I want this/that”

  • describe food with a few basic adjectives

  • recognize several new Arabic letters

  • conduct a 3–5 minute café/restaurant interaction

0:00–0:15 — Active recall

No notes.

Say these in Levantine:

  1. I'm from France.

  2. I'm 46.

  3. I want coffee.

  4. I want water.

  5. I have money.

  6. I don't have time.

  7. How much?

  8. How much is this?

  9. What's your name?

  10. Where are you from?

  11. Who is this?

  12. Please.

Then say the numbers:

3 → 7 → 10 → 12 → 15 → 20

The goal is automatic retrieval, not perfect grammar.

0:15–0:30 — Essential restaurant vocabulary

Don't learn this as an isolated list. We'll immediately use it in sentences.

Arabic Transliteration English
أكل akel food / eating
مطعم mat3am restaurant
قهوة ahwe coffee
شاي shay tea
مي mayy water
عصير 3asiir juice
خبز khbez bread
رز rezz rice
لحمة la7me meat
دجاج dajaj chicken
سمك samak fish
سلطة salata salad
بطاطا batata potatoes
بيض bayd eggs
جبنة jibne cheese

Five to prioritize

For today, make these automatic:

ahwe — coffee
mayy — water
khbez — bread
dajaj — chicken
salata — salad

0:30–0:45 — “I like” and “I don't like”

A very useful Levantine pattern is:

بحب — b7ebb

I like / I love

Examples:

ana b7ebb ahwe.
I like coffee.

ana b7ebb dajaj.
I like chicken.

ana b7ebb salata.
I like salad.

You can usually omit ana once the context is clear:

b7ebb ahwe.

= I like coffee.

I don't like

ma b7ebb...

Examples:

ma b7ebb samak.

I don't like fish.

ma b7ebb lahme.

I don't like meat.

Important pattern

You already know:

ma ʿandi = I don't have

Now:

ma b7ebb = I don't like

This is exactly the type of pattern we're looking for.

0:45–1:00 — “I want this”

You already know:

baddi = I want

Now combine it with today's demonstratives.

This

hayda

This — feminine

hayy

So:

baddi hayda.

I want this.

baddi hayy.

I want this.

Don't worry yet about deciding which demonstrative goes with every noun. We're going to develop grammatical gender progressively.

That

hdaak

That — masculine

hdiik

That — feminine

Example:

baddi hdaak.

I want that.

1:00–1:15 — With / without

These are extremely useful in restaurants.

With

مع — ma3

ma3 = with

Examples:

ahwe ma3 sukkar

coffee with sugar

sandwich ma3 jibne

sandwich with cheese

dajaj ma3 batata

chicken with potatoes

Without

بلا — bala

bala = without

Examples:

ahwe bala sukkar

coffee without sugar

sandwich bala jibne

sandwich without cheese

dajaj bala batata

chicken without potatoes

A very useful sentence

baddi ahwe bala sukkar.

I want coffee without sugar.

Or:

baddi ahwe ma3 sukkar.

I want coffee with sugar.

This is already enough to make a customized order.

1:15–1:30 — More restaurant expressions

لائحة — la2me / la2i7a

In different Levantine varieties you'll hear different terms for menu.

For a beginner, you'll commonly encounter:

menu

as a borrowed word.

So simply:

menu, law sama7t.

Menu, please.

The bill

حساب — 7saab

el-7saab, law sama7t.

The bill, please.

This is an important phrase to memorize as a chunk.

Please bring me...

A useful structure:

jib li...

Bring me...

Example:

jib li mayy, law sama7t.

Bring me water, please.

To a male speaker, this is a perfectly useful conversational pattern.

1:30–1:40 — Quantities

You already know numbers.

Now add:

Arabic Transliteration English
واحد wa7ad one
نص nos half
شوي shway a little
كتير ktiir a lot
أكتر aktar more

Useful expressions

shway

a little

shway sukkar

a little sugar

ktiir

a lot / very

baddi shway mayy

I want a little water.

baddi aktar

I want more.

1:40–1:50 — New Arabic letters

You now know:

ا ب ت م ن ي و ل ك س ر د ف ق ع

Today add:

ج — jiim

Sound varies by dialect.

In much Levantine speech it is commonly:

j

Example:

جبنة
jibne

cheese

ح — 7aa

This is:

7

in Arabizi.

It is a strong, breathy h sound.

Example:

حب
7obb

love

لحم
la7m

meat

خ — khaa

Written:

خ

Pronounced approximately:

kh

Like the sound in Scottish loch.

Example:

خبز
khbez

bread

ش — shiin

Sound:

sh

Example:

شاي
shay

tea

ص — saad

A heavier/emphatic s.

For now:

s

but pronounced with a darker/heavier quality.

You don't need perfect pronunciation yet.

1:50–2:00 — Restaurant role-play

Now we put everything together.

Read it once.

Then read it again without looking at the English.

At a Lebanese restaurant

Waiter

أهلا، تفضل.

ahlan, tfaddal.

Hello, please / go ahead.

You

مرحبا. بدي شاورما دجاج، لو سمحت.

marhaba. baddi shawarma dajaj, law sama7t.

Hello. I'd like chicken shawarma, please.

Waiter

مع بطاطا؟

ma3 batata?

With potatoes?

You

إي، مع بطاطا.

ee, ma3 batata.

Yes, with potatoes.

Waiter

شي تاني؟

shi taani?

Anything else?

You

إي، بدي مي.

ee, baddi mayy.

Yes, I'd like water.

Waiter

باردة؟

baarde?

Cold?

You

إي، باردة، لو سمحت.

Yes, cold, please.

Later...

You

الحساب، لو سمحت.

el-7saab, law sama7t.

The bill, please.

Waiter

عشرين يورو.

ʿishriin euro.

20 euros.

You

تمام. شكرا.

Fine. Thank you.

New expressions from the dialogue

تفضل — tfaddal

This is extremely common.

Depending on context it can mean:

  • here you are

  • go ahead

  • please

  • come in

  • help yourself

You'll hear it constantly.

For now:

tfaddal = here you are / please / go ahead

شي تاني؟ — shi taani?

Literally:

something else?

Meaning:

Anything else?

Very useful in shops and restaurants.

باردة — baarde

Cold — feminine.

Because mayy is grammatically feminine in many Levantine varieties.

We'll gradually learn gender through vocabulary rather than memorizing abstract grammar rules.

The restaurant sentence generator

You now have a very powerful template:

baddi + food/drink + ma3/bala + ingredient + law sama7t

Examples:

Coffee with sugar

baddi ahwe ma3 sukkar, law sama7t.

Coffee without sugar

baddi ahwe bala sukkar, law sama7t.

Chicken with potatoes

baddi dajaj ma3 batata, law sama7t.

Coffee without milk

baddi ahwe bala 7aliib, law sama7t.

Vocabulary: don't overlearn

Your active vocabulary for Session 4 should be approximately:

Food

  • ahwe — coffee

  • shay — tea

  • mayy — water

  • dajaj — chicken

  • samak — fish

  • la7me — meat

  • salata — salad

  • jibne — cheese

  • khbez — bread

  • batata — potatoes

  • bayd — eggs

Restaurant

  • mat3am — restaurant

  • menu — menu

  • 7saab — bill

  • tfaddal — please/go ahead

  • shi taani? — anything else?

Modifiers

  • ma3 — with

  • bala — without

  • shway — a little

  • ktiir — a lot

  • aktar — more

Verbs/patterns

  • baddi — I want

  • b7ebb — I like

  • ma b7ebb — I don't like

  • jib li — bring me

Active recall test

Don't look at the previous sections.

A — Translate

  1. I like coffee.

  2. I don't like fish.

  3. I want chicken.

  4. I want coffee without sugar.

  5. I want water with ice.

  6. Bring me water, please.

  7. Anything else?

  8. The bill, please.

  9. How much?

  10. It's expensive.

B — Build

Create:

I want chicken.

Then:

I want chicken with potatoes.

Then:

I want chicken without potatoes.

Then:

I want chicken with potatoes, please.

Don't translate each word individually.

Think in blocks:

baddi → dajaj → ma3 → batata → law sama7t

C — Restaurant comprehension

Imagine the waiter says:

ma3 batata?

What does he mean?

He says:

shi taani?

What does he mean?

He says:

ʿishriin euro.

How much?

He says:

tfaddal.

What is he probably doing?

D — Speaking challenge

You enter a café.

You must produce the entire interaction yourself:

1. Greeting

marhaba

2. Order

baddi ahwe...

3. Customize

ma3 sukkar / bala sukkar

4. Ask the price

addēsh?

5. Receive the coffee

shukran

6. Ask for the bill

el-7saab, law sama7t

7. Pay

Use one of your numbers.

Reading challenge

Read these directly from Arabic.

1

قهوة

2

شاي

3

خبز

4

جبنة

5

لحم

6

دجاج

7

مي

8

سلطة

9

بطاطا

10

حساب

Don't worry about reading every word perfectly.

Try to identify the letters you already know.

For example:

شاي

You should now immediately recognize:

ش = sh
ا = a
ي = y/i

Therefore:

shay

Homework — 30 minutes

1. Vocabulary — 10 min

Learn actively:

ahwe
shay
mayy
dajaj
samak
la7me
salata
jibne
khbez
batata
7saab
ma3
bala
shway
ktiir

2. Sentence generation — 10 min

Create 10 different orders using:

baddi + food/drink + ma3/bala + ingredient

For example:

baddi ahwe bala sukkar.

Don't memorize my examples. Generate your own.

3. Speaking — 5 min

Act out the restaurant dialogue aloud.

Do both sides.

Change the food, price and drink each time.

4. Reading — 5 min

Read:

قهوة
شاي
خبز
جبنة
دجاج
حساب
مي
بطاطا

Then close the transliteration and try again.

20-hour checkpoint — 8 hours completed

You now have four important conversational engines:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
ANA + X
I am X

ANA MIN + X
I'm from X

ANA BADDI + X
I want X

3ANDI + X
I have X

And now:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
B7EBB + X
I like X

MA B7EBB + X
I don't like X

BADDI + X + MA3 + Y
I want X with Y

BADDI + X + BALA + Y
I want X without Y

This is much more important than knowing hundreds of isolated words.

Your target before Session 5

You should be able to walk into a café and say, without translating mentally:

Marhaba. Baddi ahwe bala sukkar, law sama7t. W baddi mayy. Addēsh? ... El-7saab, law sama7t. Shukran.

That is already a real communicative ability, not merely vocabulary knowledge.

Session 5 will move from the restaurant to your home and daily environment: rooms, objects, locations, fi / ma fi, “here/there,” and the first serious work on Arabic sentence structure and gender.