Learn Moroccan Arabic online

[Kendra1]

Originally posted by Ghazala
but just to let you know........ I use the n even tho' it makes no sense phonetically

so do i and everyone i know !..it makes the elision easier

[coolpharess]

salam
it is up to you how you want to speak
besslama..

[Kendra1]

Originally posted by coolpharess
salam
it is up to you how you want to speak
besslama..

gee thanks

[micael]

momo! salam bro how u doing?

what happen to the old arabic lesson thread? anychance we can get that retrieved?

[coolpharess]

Originally posted by micael
momo! salam bro how u doing?

what happen to the old arabic lesson thread? anychance we can get that retrieved?

no body knows where momo is..but you are welcome to ask for any help needed
Massalama,

[Apprentice]

Hi
I hope you can help. I am British, living in Chicago. I have just begun what I hope is a long-term relationship with a wonderful Moroccan lady here. I would like to learn some of her language. She speaks really good English and French. I can speak French, after spending 20 years in Belgium, but I would like to be able to say a few things in her own language just to show I care. Things like 'Please', 'Thank-you', 'Darling' etc. I am finding it very difficult because the langauge is not written down anywhere. She was born and raised in Rabat, so I suspect that the dialect is Dereeja ?
Thanks a lot. I hope I have not broken up the thread of you postings too much.

[Anonymous]

How thoughtful of you to learn some darija to impress your lady,I'm sure she'll be very impressed

I am Brit too, married to a Moroccan. I am Muslim by birth so I know some classical Arabic from reading the Koran as I was growing up. However I've learnt a few words in dareeja because of my hubby.

I think "dareeja" , just means "dialect" so there are different dialects in different places. But North African Arabic is different from the classical Arabic spoken in the Middle East.

Like I said , I only speak a few words but here goes :

Thank you = Shoukran
Darling = habiba
Beautiful = Zweena (so if you tell her she is zweena, you'd probably earn a few brownie points)

Another handy word to know is "Labas". It is a very common Moroccan term, they use it ALL the time. I think that literally it means "how are you" but they use it as "hello" or "how's it going". So its the first tghing you'll say when you see someone. If you listen to Moroccans having conversations you will notice that Labas is said about 10 times in the opening lines

Good Luck, you could read through some of the threads in this section to learn more new words. That's what I do