Arabic dialects / How to say
How to say “What's this” in Arabic dialects
“What's this” changes from one Arabic dialect to the next: shno hada in Morocco, da eh in Egypt, shu hayda in Lebanon, esh da in Saudi Arabia.
| Dialect | Say it | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| 🇲🇦 Moroccan Arabic | shno hada | شنو هادا؟ |
| 🇩🇿 Algerian Arabic | washnu hada | واشنو هادا |
| 🇹🇳 Tunisian Arabic | chneya hedha | شنية هذا |
| 🇱🇾 Libyan Arabic | shin hada | شن هذا |
| 🇪🇬 Egyptian Arabic | da eh | ده إيه؟ |
| 🇱🇧 Lebanese Arabic | shu hayda | شو هيدا؟ |
| 🇯🇴 Jordanian Arabic | ish haad | إش هاد؟ |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabic | esh da | إش دا؟ |
| 🇦🇪 Emirati Arabic | shu ha | شو ها؟ |
| 🇮🇶 Iraqi Arabic | shnu hadh | شنو هاذ |
Arabic often changes with who you are talking to. These are the forms taught in each Lahja course. In the spelling, 3 is the letter ayn, 7 is a breathy h, 2 is a glottal stop, 5 is kh and 9 is qaf.
There is no single Arabic word for most everyday things. Modern Standard Arabic has its own formal version, but in conversation people use their local dialect. Lahja teaches each dialect as its own course, so you learn the version people around you really say.