Words R Us
- Arabic (ara)

When you consider the various dialects, Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world with over 400 million speakers.

The Arabic language is organized into 5 dialect families:

Dialects of Egypt and Sudan

Dialects of the Arabian Peninsula

Dialects of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine

Dialects of Iraq

Dialects of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya

Our site, dictionary and phrasebooks focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a standardized form used in business, literature, education, politics, and the media throughout the Arabic-speaking world. If your interest is not limited to one particular country, you should choose Modern Standard Arabic. Once you have basic knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, learning a dialect becomes an easy task. Learning to read, write and speak Modern Standard Arabic, and later learning the basics of a dialect, is the best route to sound knowledge of Arabic.

The following phrases show English, Arabic, and a transliteration in the latin alphabet.

I speak a little Arabic.
Ataḥaddaṯu qalilan min l-ʿarabiyyah

.أتَحَدَّثُ قليلاً من الْعَرَبيّة

Thank you very much!
Šukran jazīlan

!شـُكـْراً جَزيلاً

Do you speak Arabic?
hal tatakallam al-lughah al-'arabīyah?

هل تتكلم اللغة العربية؟