18 Useful Arabic Words and Phrases for Tourists

When touring in the Holy Land, whether a Private guide accompanies you or you are touring alone, knowing some useful Arabic words can be helpful.

Holy Land VIP Tours brought you a collection of 18 useful Arabic words which will help you during your trip to the Holy Land.

The two official Major Languages in Israel and Palestine are Hebrew and Arabic and it is spoken by most of the population.

If you are planning on visiting the Arabic cities of Israel such as Nazareth or Cities in the West Bank, we recommend you to check our other guide for Useful Hebrew words and Phrases.

Although a large amount of people speaks English, most of the locals speak Hebrew or Arabic due to the fact that these are the official state languages.

In the many cities in the Holy Land, especially those where there is Arabic majority such as Nazareth and Bethlehem you will find the following Arabic words and phrases helpful for communicating with the locals.

1. MERHABA and AHLAIN
   The Equivalent of Hello. If you planning on learning one word to use in the Arabic speech cities, make it this one and the next. The word Ahalain is also a greeting word but you shall use it as an answer to “Merhaba”.
2. SUBAH AL KHAIR and SUBAH AL NOOR
   The Arabic phrase for Good morning and the respective answer to it.
3. MUSA AL KHAIR and MUSA AL NOOR
   The Arabic phrase for Good evening and the respective answer to it.
4. EHALAN WA’SAHLAN
   The equivalent word for Welcome. You will usually hear it when entering any shop in the old city of Jerusalem or when visiting Nazareth. In that case, you can just answer with AHLAIN or any of the mentioned Daytime greetings words.
5. NA’AM & LA Yes & no.
6. KEEFIK & KEEFUK
   Those words are used when asking a woman and a man respectively, “How are you?”.
7. MA SALAAMEH – Goodbye
8. SHUKRAN is Thank you.
   
9. KTHEER – a lot
10. SHWAYEH\KHALIL – a little
11. HAMAM
    The word for Toilet. Defenitliy a word to memorize during your visit.
12. SALAAMU ALEIKUM and WA ALEIKUM ASSALAAM
    More religious version for the word hello and the answer to it respectively.
13. MIN FUDLIK and MIN FUDLUK
    the word for please when saying it to female and man respectively. Use this word as more as possible but don’t get upset if people are not saying it back, they might be in a rush.

In addition to the mentioned, for those who are looking for a good restaurant to eat or just for a souvenir, it’s also good to know the following useful Arabic words and phrases:

1. 1. Shekel
      That’s the currency in both Israel and in the Palestinian authority. It’s a fun word, don’t you think? Good luck figuring out the conversion.
   2. KADESH ISSEYR?
      Means “How much does it cost”. This phrase will be useful when shopping in the Holy Land for souvenirs to bring home.
   3. SHY
      The Arabic word for tea as some of you had guessed already.
   4. Kahway
      Coffee, also useful word
   5. SUKAR
      The word for Sugar and identical to the Hebrew one. When visiting coffee shops you can use the word SUKAR KHTEER which means A lot of sugar, you can use the word SUKAR KHALIL when asking for a small amount of sugar and use BIDOON SUKAR,  for no sugar at all.