Levantine Arabic vs Modern Standard Arabic
Levantine speakers read and understand Fusha from schooling, but speak Shami at home. Levantine keeps more Fusha vocabulary intact than Darija does, so a Fusha learner will recognise a good deal of Levantine on the page — until the question words and the b- prefix appear.
The differences, side by side
| Levantine Arabic | Modern Standard Arabic | |
|---|---|---|
| The letter ق | Glottal stop in the cities — قلب is said albe | Pronounced as a full q — قلب is qalb |
| The letter ج | Soft j, as in French "jour" — جميل is jamiil | Soft j — جميل is jamiil |
| Present tense | b- prefix: بكتب (baktob), "I write" | Bare imperfect: أكتب (aktub), "I write" |
| Future tense | رح (rah) or ha-: رح اكتب | سـ or سوف: سأكتب (sa-aktub) |
| Negation | ما before the verb: ما بعرف | لا / لم / ما before the verb: لا أكتب |
| "What?" | شو (shu) | ماذا (maadhaa) |
| "Now" | هلّق (halla2) | الآن (al-aan) |
| "I want" | بدي (baddi) | أريد (ureed) |
| "Good" | منيح (mnee7) | جيّد (jayyid) |
The same phrases in both
| English | Levantine Arabic | Modern Standard Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| hello | مرحبا mar7aba | مرحبا mar7aban |
| how are you? | كيفك؟ kifak? | كيف حالك؟ kayfa 7aluka? |
| thank you | شكرا shukran | شكرا shukran |
| happy birthday | كل سنة وإنت سالم kull saneh w inta salem | عيد ميلاد سعيد 3eed meelaad sa3eed |
| good morning | صباح الخير saba7 el khayr | صباح الخير saba7u al-khayr |
| good evening | مسا الخير masa l-kheir | مساء الخير masaa' al-khayr |
| goodbye | مع السلامة ma3 as-salameh | إلى اللقاء ila al-liqa' |
| please | لو سمحت law sama7t | من فضلك min fadlika |
Which one should you learn?
Fusha for reading, writing and formal registers. Levantine for talking to people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan or Palestine. The overlap is large enough that the second one you learn comes quickly.
Practice Levantine Arabic phrases
8 questions, half of them spoken out loud. Free, no account needed.