Learn Iraqi Arabic العراقي
The Arabic of Baghdad and the two rivers — direct, warm, and full of words borrowed from Persian, Turkish and English.
Lessons
Structured lessons covering greetings, family, food, travel and more.
Phrases
How to say hello, thank you, happy birthday and the rest, with audio and the forms for a man, a woman or a group.
Stories
Read and listen to Iraqi Arabic stories with translation and a vocabulary glossary.
Vocabulary
Search the word database, hear each word, and save it to your review deck.
Start Here
How to learn Iraqi Arabic: the sounds to get right first, the words that carry every sentence, and how long each stage takes.
Verb Conjugations
Full conjugation tables for 72 common verbs, every tense, affirmative and negative.
Conversation Practice
Talk to the AI tutor in Iraqi Arabic and get corrections as you go.
Where Iraqi Arabic is spoken
Spoken by over 40 million people in Iraq and by large communities abroad. What is taught as Iraqi Arabic is usually Baghdadi, the variety heard on Iraqi television and understood across the country.
What makes Iraqi Arabic different
ك often becomes "ch"
kalb (dog) is said chalib, and "you (f)" endings are -ich instead of -ik: shloonich? (how are you, to a woman). It is one of the most recognisable Iraqi sounds.
ق becomes "g"
qahwa (coffee) is gahwa and qalb (heart) is galub. Iraqi keeps a hard g where Egyptian and city Levantine use a glottal stop.
aku and maku
aku means "there is" and maku "there isn't". shaku maku? ("what's there, what's not?") is the classic Iraqi "what's up?".
Its own everyday words
hassa (now), shlon (how), shgadd (how much), baachir (tomorrow) and hwaaya (a lot) set Iraqi apart from its neighbours from the first conversation.
How Iraqi Arabic compares
Practice the basics
8 questions, half of them spoken out loud. Free, no account needed.
Common questions
Is Iraqi Arabic hard to understand for other Arabs?
It is less familiar than Egyptian or Levantine because less Iraqi media is watched abroad, but Gulf speakers understand it easily and most Arabs can follow it with a little exposure.
How do you say "how are you" in Iraqi Arabic?
shloonak? (شلونك) to a man, shloonich? to a woman and shloonkum? to a group. It literally asks "what is your colour?".
Should I learn Iraqi or Gulf Arabic?
They are close cousins and share many words and sounds. Learn Iraqi if you have family, friends or work connected to Iraq; Gulf Arabic if your life is in the UAE, Kuwait or Qatar.