Levantine Arabic vs Moroccan Darija
Low in the Levantine-to-Darija direction. Moroccans typically follow Levantine reasonably well thanks to Syrian and Lebanese television; Levantines rarely follow Darija without practice. Almost every high-frequency word differs — بدي against بغيت, هلّق against دابا, منيح against مزيان.
The differences, side by side
| Levantine Arabic | Moroccan Darija | |
|---|---|---|
| The letter ق | Glottal stop in the cities — قلب is said albe | Usually kept as q, sometimes g — قلب is qalb |
| The letter ج | Soft j, as in French "jour" — جميل is jamiil | Soft j — جميل is jmil |
| Present tense | b- prefix: بكتب (baktob), "I write" | ka- or ta- prefix: كانكتب (kanktib), "I write" |
| Future tense | رح (rah) or ha-: رح اكتب | غادي (ghadi) or غا: غادي نكتب |
| Negation | ما before the verb: ما بعرف | ما...ش around the verb: makanktibsh |
| "What?" | شو (shu) | شنو (shnu) / آش (ash) |
| "Now" | هلّق (halla2) | دابا (daba) |
| "I want" | بدي (baddi) | بغيت (bghit) |
| "Good" | منيح (mnee7) | مزيان (mezyan) |
The same phrases in both
| English | Levantine Arabic | Moroccan Darija |
|---|---|---|
| hello | مرحبا mar7aba | السلام عليكم s-salam 3alaykum |
| how are you? | كيفك؟ kifak? | كيف داير؟ kif dayer? |
| thank you | شكرا shukran | شكرا shukran |
| happy birthday | كل سنة وإنت سالم kull saneh w inta salem | عيد ميلاد سعيد 3id milad sa3id |
| good morning | صباح الخير saba7 el khayr | صباح الخير sba7 lkhir |
| good evening | مسا الخير masa l-kheir | مسا لخير msa lkhir |
| goodbye | مع السلامة ma3 as-salameh | بسلامة bslama |
| please | لو سمحت law sama7t | عافاك 3afak |
| excuse me | عفوا 3afwan | سمح لي sme7 li |
| I'm sorry | انا اسف ana aasef | سمح لي sme7 li |
| yes and no | إيه ولأ eh w la2 | اييه و لا iyyeh w la |
| my name is... | اسمي ismi | سميتي smiti |
Which one should you learn?
Follow your destination. Neither one will help you much with the other, so the practical question is whether you are heading to the Levant or to Morocco.