Activity 1: Greetings in Dialects

Greetings may differ or overlap between dialects in Arabic. For example, in (Shami شامي) Levantine dialect, the word مرحبًا in Fus-ha may be pronounced without the tanween. In Emirati إماراتي dialect, the word مرحبا may be followed by الساع which means “hello at the time which you come.” There is also a lot of variety between the words that follow صباح or مساء. For example, صباح الفل is morning of flowers, which is a more common greeting in Egypt مصري compared to other Arab countries. صباح الياسمين, which means morning of Jasmine, is another variation to صباح الخير. Additionally, in greetings like, مساء النّور, the hamzah at the end of the word مساء is often dropped colloquially, to become مسا النّور. ADD NOTE MOROCCAN.

The following table outlines some colloquial greetings and the dialect they come from.