Found this easy to use Darija Grammar Cheat Sheet, hope it helps someone.

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@arabicmyway
Found this easy to use Darija Grammar Cheat Sheet, hope it helps someone.
Moroccan Darija (الدارجة) is a language derived from a variety of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic language continuum and is mutually intelligible, to an extent, with Algerian Arabic and to a lesser extent with Tunisian Arabic. It shows very strong historical and linguistic Berber, French, and Spanish influences. Standard Arabic, not spoken in daily life, is used for official communications by the government and other public bodies, while Moroccan Darija has a strong presence in TV, cinema, and advertising and is the most spoken language in daily life.
Morocco’s official languages are Arabic and Berber. The country’s distinctive group of Moroccan Arabic dialects is referred to as Darija. Approximately 89.8% of the population can communicate to some degree in Moroccan Arabic. The Berber language is spoken in 3 main dialects (Tarifit, Tashelhit, and Central Atlas Tamazight). In 2008, Frédéric Deroche estimated that there were 12 million Berber speakers, making up about 40% of the population.
Basic Moroccan Darija vocabulary
[Some super common Moroccan Darija words I learnt during my time in Rabat. It’s almost impossible to go to Morocco without hearing at least a couple of these on a daily basis. Feel free to correct any mistakes. Picture by me.]
إييه [iyyeh] yes لا [la] no بزاف [bzzaf] a lot شوية [shwiya] a little بسلامة [bslama] bye ماشي مشكل [mashi moshkil] no problem …بغيت [bghit] I want… فين؟ [fin] where? واش…؟ [wesh] question word used for yes or no questions —> واش فهمت/فهمتي شويا؟ [wesh fhimt/fhmti shwiyan] Did you understand a little? —> واش نتا/نتي من المغرب؟ [wesh nta/nti min lmghrib] Are you from Morocco? سمح ليا [sma7 lia] excuse me زوين [zwin] beautiful مزيان [mazyan] good ما عرفتش [ma 3reftsh] I don’t know ما فهمتش [ma fhemtsh] I don’t understand أشنو سميتك؟ [ashno smiteyk?] What’s your name? …سميتي [smiyti] My name is… منين نتا/نتي؟ [mnin nta/nti?] Where are you from? أنا من المغرب [Ana min lmghrib] I’m from Morocco
this post is meant to be a directory of every resource I come across for Arabic. I’m trying to keep this post specifically for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), so if they are any mistakes, let me know. It will be a continuous work in progress so thank you for your patience! also, please let me know if any of the links suddenly stop working.
info
about world languages [general overview]
about world languages [modern standard arabic]
encyclopaedia britannica
glottolog
introduction by @ayearinlanguage
intro to arabic by @the-caravan-languages
language learning faq
language learning profile
omniglot
playlist of samples
the arabic language: its amazing history and features [video]
world atlas of language structures
Keep reading
I am learning Arabic now, but I have difficulties in getting a teacher and any environments who can I share with them or learn together bout arabic. Do u have any suggestion for me, ? Or, can I learn written and spoken Arabic only by myself, ?
Well, I by no means think that language classes are the end all be all. If you have access to them, great, but if you don’t, don’t even sweat it! Before I had taken Japanese or Korean classes (which I didn’t do until college btw), I had been studying on my own, on and off, for a few years. Here is how I typically approach my new languages (and this works well for me, personally):
1. Learn the alphabet, well
2. Learn the super useful and basic sayings and how to introduce yourself
Of course, this just always seems like the best and easiest thing to do. Not only are these the things that are most important, so I’ll likely run into them all the time, but by learning basic phrases, I can get a feel for the way the language works, both in regards to how the language sounds, and how sentences are typically constructed. This early on, even when I don’t know all of the words, I like to point out certain patterns I see while looking at the translations (For example, when I was learning Korean, even though I didn’t really know any words or grammar, just by looking at translations of basic phrases, I could see “Oh, sentences in the past tense all seem to have this -ㅆ어요 ending whereas present tense sentences only had -요,” things like that.
3. Vocab, vocab, vocab!
Even though you may not know how to hold whole conversations, I feel like learning basic vocabulary at this point is the best idea. Verbs, places, time, direction words, family members, colors; all the super important things that you would likely want to talk about on an every day basis. Just build it up for a while.
4. Grammar!
I feel like once you have a substantial amount of vocab knowledge, now is the time for you to be focusing in on grammar. Of course at this point you already may have noticed a few things without having studied it, but now you can really dig into the grammar rules and start learning how to put together your own sentences. Thanks to all the vocab you now know, you should be able to construct sentences/hold conversations and talk about your self on at least a basic level, ask for directions, order food at a restaurant, things like that.
5. Get more comfortable with the past and then the future tense
Once I’m comfortable with the present tense, I focus on learning past, and then future tense (and if we’re talking Spanish, the 1,000 other tenses 😒) Once you’re finished with this point, I consider myself having created a solid foundation. Now all I have to do is decorate it! :)
6. a. Expand on vocabulary, then b.expand even further on grammar.
When you’re at least somewhat comfortable enough to recognize when sentences are in present, vs past, vs future,it’s time to hone your skills! Now is the time to learn all of that not-your-everyday-conversation type vocab, like more specific colors or body parts, outer space, less popular animals, more places and verbs, etc. This is where I typically try to get all fancy with sentence enhancers (aka adverbs, adjectives, idioms).
Going back and forth, repeating steps 6a and b.
You can never have too much vocab or grammar knowledge; it just keeps growing and growing.
Gee, writing this list out makes language acquisition seem like a short and easy process lol, but we all know it takes so much time and dedication. Once you’ve done all of this, I think you should be about at an intermediate level (on paper at least). It sucks not having anyone to practice speaking with, right? 😭 For the longest time I didn’t have anyone to speak any of my languages with. Now that I’m older, I guess I just have no shame in my languages. I walk around my house speaking Korean all the time. I get my pronunciation from dramas and music. I speak Spanish with my coworkers at my job. But if you really have no one, just sing! Or repeat things out loud that you hear in the movies or shows you watch.
So yea, I definitely know for a fact that it can be done. You already have a tumblr account, so that’s good. There are so many resources here. Notes, links, friendly people who will answer your questions the same as a teacher would, friendly people who will chat with you in your target language. Then there’s youtube, and there are endless apps and websites dedicated to teaching languages. I said it once and I’ll say it again, folks: Don’t underestimate the power of the internet! We can do so much on here, and for free. Take advantage of everything, and learn to work with what you’ve got, and when I say that, I mean both tangible and intangible factors. So much of how quickly and effectively you will learn, is based off of how well you do that (work with what you’ve got). If you know you love music, use it to learn. If you’re a doodler, draw out your notes. Some people like the sticky notes thing. If you’re like me and like to travel, go to countries that speak the languages and force yourself to talk to people. If your interest in languages and or motivation to study comes in waves (like me again haha), then work with that. Realistically, that happenes to a lot f us, I think. I stopped trying to fight it. If I am studying Korean for 2 months and suddenly I just want to study Spanish for 5 days, then I just do it, otherwise trying to force myself to study becomes a drag. I don’t ever want this to become a task for me rather than being fun.
Sorry this became so long 😭 but I really hope it helps! I’m considering starting Arabic, btw. I definitely want to start a new one this year, I just don’t know yet whether I want to start learning French again, or start learning Arabic or Mandarin. Anyway, happy studying!! :)
Hey did you know I keep a google drive folder with linguistics and language books that I try to update regularly
If anyone wants to know which languages I have represented so far:
These mostly reflect my own interests so if you’re missing a particular language I can try and find it but the lack of variety stems pretty much just from the fact that this is my personal collection.
I have added Romanian, Portuguese, Finnish, Cherokee and Cantonese
Mango Languages Modern Standard Arabic Unit One chapter 2 - Vocab and Grammar tips
This is my sister, Zainab - هذه أختي زينب
This (f) - هذه
This (m) - هذا
my sister - أختي
Do you also have a brother? - هل عندكَ أخ أيضاً؟
You have - عندكَ
brother - أخ
also - أيضاً
Grammar Note - There are two ways to ask a yes or no question in Arabic. One is to add the particle هل at the beginning of a sentence. The other is to keep the statement as it is and raise your voice at the end. There is no equivalent to “do,” “does,” “did,” etc. in Arabic. The affirmative answer is نعم and the negative answer is لا.
Yes. He is over there. - نعم. هو هناك
yes - نعم.
there - هناك
He is with my dad and my mum - هو مع أبي وأمي.
My dad - أبي
my mum - أمي
Does he live here, too? - هل يعيش هنا أيضاً؟
he lives - يعيش
here - هنا
Grammar note - Like the English words “here” and “there,” the Arabic place adverb هنا means “towards or with the speaker” and هناك means “away from,” or “not with the speaker."
Our whole family lives here - عائلتنا كلها تعيش هنا.
Our family - عائلتنا
Whole - كلها
She lives - تعيش
Grammar note - Notice that تعيش is different from يعيش. They both mean "lives” but the first is used with feminine subjects whereas the second is used with masculine subjects.
Father - أب
Mother - أم
sister - أخت
aunt (of paternal side) - عمة
aunt (of maternal side) - خالة
uncle (of paternal side) - عم
uncle (of maternal side) - خال
son - ابن
daughter - ابنة
cousin (referring to the son of a paternal uncle) - ابن عم
cousin (referring to the daughter of a paternal uncle) - ابنة عم
* in order to talk about the son or daughter of a paternal aunt, you just replace عم with عمة
Cousin (referring to the son of a maternal uncle) - ابن خال
Cousin (referring to the daughter of a maternal uncle) - ابنة خال
* in order to talk about the son or daughter of a maternal aunt, you just replace خال with خالة
cousin (referring to the daughter of a maternal
engagement - خطبة
Marriage - زواج
married - متزوج
husband - زوج
wife - زوجة
parents - والدان
children - أطفال
grandparents - أجداد
grandmother - جدة
grandfather - جد
grandson - حفيد
granddaughter - حفيدة
Vocabulary inspired from Arabic love songs
Requested by anon Click on the transliteration for the audio
Anguish / agony | Lawʿa |لَوْعَةٌ
Ardent love | Hiyām | هِيام
Beauty | Ǧamāl |جَمال
Chaos | Fawḍā |فَوْضى
Charming | Fattān / sāḥir |فَتانٌ / ساحِرٌ
Cruelty | Qaswa |قسْوَةٌ
Desire | Raġba |رَغْبَةٌ
Destiny | Naṣīb | نَصيبٌ
Distance | Masāfa |مَسافة
Dreams | ʾaḥlām |أَحْلامٌ
Eye | ʿayn |عَيْنٌ
Fire | nār | نارٌ
Flirting / tender words of love | ġazal | غَزَلٌ
Fondness | ġarām | غَرامٌ
Hair | šaʿr |شَعْرٌ
Heart | qalb |قَلْبٌ
Hugging / embracing | ḥaḍana |حَضَنَ
(Being) jealous | yaġār |يَغار
Longing | šawq | شَوْقٌ
Love | Ḥubb | حُبٌّ
Love at first sight | Ḥubb min awwali naẓra |حُبُّ من أّوَّلِ نَظْرَة
Marriage | Zawāǧ | زَواجٌ
Night | Layl |لَيْلُ
Passion | Šaġaf | شَغَفٌ
Poetry | šiʿr |شِعْرٌ
Regret | Ḥasra |حَسْرَةٌ
Reunion / meeting | Liqāʾ| لِقاء
Separation | Firāq | فراق
Soul | Rūḥ | روحٌ
Tears | Dumūʿ| دُموعٌ
Yearning | Ḥanīn |حَنين
Hello!! I want to learn modern standard arabic. I’m moving to Dubai in a year and I want to be prepared hehe. I did learn a lot from your blog, I was wondering how I could learn it faster. Could you help me?
Hello, anon!
It’s wonderful that you’re feeling so motivated to learn the language! I’ll try my best to help you.
First, I would like to redirect you to this Arabic apps master-list [link] by @wonderful-language-sounds. It has so many interesting apps that could help you.
I’m happy to hear that you found my blog helpful. Here are some tips that I recommend to help you learn Arabic faster :
1- Try to watch as many movies and tv shows in Arabic as possible. Using a textbook to learn is very useful, but I believe that hearing the words and expressions applies in different situations by speakers will help you understand them and memorize them easier. The tv show can be anything you, whether they are Arabic dramas or the Arabic dubbed version of your favorite drama (many foreign dramas especially East Asian dramas get dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic) or animated series or animated movie.
2- When you’re watching something in Arabic, try to have a small note book to write down the new words or expressions that you found interesting. This will help you build up your vocabulary.
3- Listen to music. There are artists like Rim Banna, Kathem Alsaher, Hmood Alkhadr, Marcel Khaleefa, and Abdul Rahman Mohammed who sing in Modern Standard Arabic so give their songs a try. Music is a way to learn Arabic words “on the go” while you’re doing something else and don’t feel like taking a pen an a paper and going in study mood.
4- When you’re organizing the vocabulary, try to organize the words in certain categories rather than alphabetical order. It helps you link them together and organize them in your mind.
5- Don’t forget studying the grammar to understand the structure of sentences and the language, starting with the alphabets! Take your time to learn the alphabets, even if it takes you longer than you expect. Remember that it’s a good investment of your time to learn the alphabets so that you will lessen your dependence on transliteration and make it easier for you to learn new vocabulary.
6- As for reading, since you will need diatrics I have made a list for beginners [link] and here’s a link for audio books so that it will help you read the books that don’t have diatrics in them. [link]
7- It’s important to set goals and be motivated but be sure not to pressure yourself. Study at a pace you’re comfortable with so that the journey will be more enjoyable. I made a post about self studying [link] and other studying tips [link].
In addition to this, I’ll link you to a previous ask, which I hope you’ll find helpful [link].
Feel free to check my [grammar posts] and [vocabulary posts] if you haven’t already,
I wanna learn Arabic, but I’m confused about different dialects, any advice on what to know before starting? Like which dialect should I focus on? Tysm for your time
you learn the grammar of modern standard arabic and the colloquials from several dialects, whatever fits you. and: whatever sticks, that’s the most important part. if egyptian arabic sticks, go for it, if gulf arabic doesn’t, go back to egyptian and related ones.
so if you do both, modern standard and local expressions, chances are you’ll be understood either way. a bit of classic arabic so you can speak and especially read, some colloquial to speak & understand even better 👍
no boredom guaranteed since it’s a 2 in 1 strategy. if you find yourself not being able to memorize this or that, you switch over to the other, advance, come back, and you’ll be able to memorize it.
now my favorite part. every learner is usually drawn to a specific region. we may be interested in the entirety of the culture but after enough research or by pure intuition/interest, we know our corner. you classically find yourself immersed in of these three areas.
north africa
middle east
arabic peninsula
i guarantee your heart beats for a very specific sociocultural and linguistic niche once you have the overview. there are similarities between several dialects found there. just learning one from each region can eclipse the area. so, three in total, whatever comes the easiest to you.
there are only five (!) main dialect groups to begin with!
- Maghrebi, Egyptic, Mesopotamian, Levantine & Peninsular Arabic.
and yes, 29 specific dialects as subcategories of those. may i remind you: that’s across two continents, 22 countries, a gigantic area. that’s pretty fair. i take it as a variety to choose a good fit from rather than an overwhelming challenge.
going by the elimination principle takes you far, there’s usually one of the five main groups that works best with the brain’s systematic grasp of languages you already know. so, it’s naturally learning-friendly after you get into it. i promise one or two of these five is already your compatible friend so to speak.
for comparison: meanwhile germany — which is as tiny as Yemen — as one country has 53 (😲) dialects and 13 main categories. and we don’t even understand each other clearly while most arabs usually do.
check out the pronunciation differences (e.g. harder or softer consonants) first rather than the different vocabulary between dialects. telling them apart by listening helps and also gives a motivation boost imo, and makes you well-versed in navigating arab cultures.
in that regard: every arab teacher online will teach dialects mentioning the sort of attitude and tone of the speaker along with it. in other words, see dialects as personality facets: it’s easier to grasp them that way. each one has a different flair and it’s naturally important to the native speakers.
the only dialect that arabs don’t universally understand at all is moroccan. it confuses them entirely so you can imagine how hard it is for new learners. so put it off for much later or skip it unless you want to go to marrakech 😂 EXCEPTION: IF YOU LEARN/SPEAK SPANISH. the maghrebi dialect will welcome you. some words are super uncanny since the countries are neighbors after all.
the rest: there are variations and alternative phrases, but everyone gets the gist when people speak clearly and somewhat formally.
chances are that if you have a mentor or teacher, you’ll be exposed to one particular dialect anyway. sometimes, you don’t come to the dialect but it comes to you.
i recommend the wonderful and cheery maha who regularly teaches slang and levantine aka palestinian dialect, while at the same time giving you all the modern standard arabic basics. she’s very active on youtube. i have a hard time since i’m a visual learner but if you memorize well through reading and listening, this is it:
Youtube Resources for Learning Arabic:
https://www.youtube.com/c/arabicblooms https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAZW-b756LIsPZrJeyF3NJw/playlists https://www.youtube.com/lumink/playlists https://www.youtube.com/c/LanguageLearningMarket/search?query=arabic
Words that will help you to understand Arabic when memorised:
1. The. (Al) أل
2. Of. (Min) من
3. To. (Ilah). إلي
4. And. (Wa) و
5. In. (Fee) في
6. it (Huwa/hiya) هو/ هي لغير عاقل
7. You (anta). أنت
8. That. (Dzaka). ذاك
9. He. (Huwa). هو
10. She. ( Hiya). هي
11. For. (Lee) لي
12. On. (Alah) علي
13. With. (Ma'a) مع
14. As. (Ka). گ
15. I. (Anaa). أنا
16. They. (Hum). هم
17. Be. (Kun). كن
18. At ( fee/alah). في علي
19. Have. (Lahu). له
20. This. (Hadza) هذا
21. From. (Min). من
22. Or. (Au); أو
23. Had. (Lahu). له
24. By. (Bawaasidatu) بواسطة
25. Hot (haarun saakin) حارساكن
26.but. (Lakin). لكن
27. Some. (Ba'adu). بعض
28. What. (Maadzaa). ماذا
29. There (hunaaka) هناك
30. We. (Nahnu). نحن
31. Can. (Yastadee'u) يستطيع
32. Other. (AkhAr). أخر
33. Out. (Khaarijan). خارجا
34. Where. (Aina). أين
35. All. (Kullu). كل
36. When. (Mataa) متي
37. Up. (Aaliyan) عاليا
38. Down. (Sufliyyu). سفلي
39. Use. (Isti'imal). إستعمل
40. Word. (Kalimatu). كلمة
41. How (kaifa). كيف
42. Said. (Qaala). قال
43. Each. (Kullu waahidu). كل واحد
44. Which. (Ayyi). أي
45. Do. (Adhaa). أدي
46. Their. (Lahum) لهم
47.time. ( waqtu). وقت
48. If. (Idzan). إذا
49. Will. (Saufa). سوف
50. Way (dariqatu). طريقة
51. About (taqriban). تقريبا
52. Many. (Kaseeran). كثيرا
53. Then. (Ba'ada dzalik). بعدذالك
54. Would. (Saufa). سوف
55. Write (kataba). كتب
56. Them. (Him). هم
57. Like (hubbu). حب
58. So. (Hakadzaa). هكذا
59. These. (Haa'ulaa'i). هؤلاء
60. Long. (Daweelun). طويل
61. Make. (Ja'ala). جعل
62. Made. (Ma'amuulun). معمول
63. Thing. (Shai'un). شيع
64. See. (Unzur). أنظر
65.him. (Huwa). هو
66. Himself. (Nafsahu). نفسه
67. Herself. (Nafsaha) نفسها
68. Myself. (Nafsee). نفسي
69. Yours (laka/lakum/lakuma). لك/لكم/لكما
70. Yourself (nafsaka/nafsaki). نفسك
71. Themselves (Nafsakum). نفسكم
72. Has. (Lahu). له
73. Look. (Nazru). نظر
74. More. (AksAr). أكثر
75. Day. (Alyaum); اليوم
76. Go. (Dzahaba). ذهب
77. Come. (Ta'al). تعل
78. My (Lee). لي
79. Sound. (Sautu) صوت
80. No. (Laa). لا
81. Most (bidharajatu kabeer) بدرجةكبير
82. Number. (Adad). عدد
83. Who. (Man) من
84. Over. (Zaa'ida). زاءد
85. Know. ( arif). عرف
86.water. (maa'u). ماء
87. Than. (MinA). من
88. Call. (Yad'u). يدعو
89 first. (Auwalan). أولا
90. Last. (Akhiran). أخرا
91. People. (Alnaasu); الناس
92. Side. (Naahiyatu). ناحية
93. Been. (Kaana) كان
94. Now. (Al'An). الآن
95. Find. ( Aujad) أوجد
96.any. (Ayyi). أي
97. New. (Jadeed). جديد
98. Work. (amalu) عمل
99. Part. (Juz'u). جزء
100. Take. (Khudz). خذ
101. Get. (Sal) صل
102. Place. (Makaan). مكان
103. Live. (Ish). عش
104. After. (Feema ba'ad). فيمابعد
📩Please forward to all. Jazakumullahu khaiyran