Easy & essential Arabic phrases to use when travelling to Jordan

We understand that some of you -our lovely customers- are first time visitors to the Middle East, so you may not have any prior knowledge of the Arabic language, or even of the culture you will be entering into, that’s okay.

In fact it is a good thing, we are so excited for you that you are going to step out and discover things somewhere completely new. What an adventure!!

Yet, having a couple of tips up your sleeve of what to expect won’t go amiss, and here on the blog we publish articles that will, inshallah, be helpful to you!

But first; you may have noticed the sneaky use of ‘inshallah’ in the sentence above. Inshallah loosely translates to “God willing”, is one of the many phrases that stem from the word for God ”Allah”. Religion (Both Christianity & Islam) is such a building block, that it has shaped the language, very revelatory of the way of life and value system in this region.

So, without further ado, here are the words and phrases that we have found to be useful for people new to Jordan or visiting for a short time. We hope it will come in your aid!

Greetings:

• Welcome! = Ahlan wa sahlan! (means something along: while you’re here, we’ll be your family and make things effortless for you)
• Hello = 1. Marhaban or 2. As-salam alaykum
• How are you? = Keyf halak? (if asking a male) :: Keyf halik? (to female)
• I am well = Bekhair
• And you? = Wa anta? (to male) :: Wa anti? (to female)

General vocab:

• Yes = Naam
• No = La
• Please = Min fadlika
• Thank you = Shukran
• You’re welcome = Affwan
• All is good = Tamam
• Where? = Wayn?
• How? = Kiif?
• What? = Shu?
• Here = Hona
• As you like = Zai mabedak (to male) :: Zai mabedek (to female)

Common expressions (as in almost every conversation!):

• Praise God = Alhamdu Lillah
• Gratefulness for something someone else mentioned = Mashallah
• God willing = Inshallah
• You = Inta (to male) :: Inti (to female)
• I / Me = Ana
• Sorry = Aasif
• How much? = Bekam?
• Beautiful = 1. Jameel or 2. Helu
• Tea = Shai
• Sugar = Sokkar (actually the English word comes from the Arabic one!)
• Without sugar = Bdoun sokkar
• The bill = El-hesab
• Invoice = Fatora
• Let’s go = Yalla
• My beloved = Habibi
• Dear = Azizi

Taxi language 😁:

• Left = Shmal
• Right = Yameen
• Straight = Doghri
• Taxi meter = A’ddad
• Please stop here (or to any driver when you’re stepping out of his vehicle) = Yaateek el-aafia (this literally translates to ‘May God give you more Health & Wealth’, but is also the common phrase to use when telling your driver you want to get out)

Shukran for reading!

If you found this article helpful, check our tours and other posts for tips and advice that you will surely benefit from while planning you trip to Jordan. Inshallah we’ll see you soon.