A study: “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic
The two common ways that Egyptian Arabic speakers say “How are you?” to each other is (m) Ezayak? / ازيك؟ (f) Ezayek? / ازيك؟ and (m) 3aml eh? / عامل ايه؟ (f) 3amla eh? / عاملة ايه؟.
There are many ways to say “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic. In this article we’ll cover the most common ways with accompanying recordings so that you can learn how to write and speak them. And to learn how to say “Hello” in Egyptian Arabic reference this IBL article on the topic which lists nine ways to say greet someone or people with seven associated recordings.
And when you’re done reading this material you may want to study and learn how to respond when asked how you’re doing in Egyptian Arabic. IBL wrote the article (1094 words) Responding to “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic. (10 responses with recordings)
1. Ezayak? / Ezayek?
One of the most common ways that Egyptian Arabic speakers say “How are you?” to each other is (m) Ezayak? / ازيك؟ (f) Ezayek? / ازيك؟. The phrase most directly translates into English as “How are you?” And even when the founder of the Ithaca Bound Languages project first visited Egypt in 2022 this was the phrase that he was taught by an Egyptian person shortly after arriving in Cairo. (El Qahera / القاهرة)
You will notice that the masculine and feminine forms have slightly different Latin script spellings but that the Arabic script the words are spelled the same. The reason for this is that in Standard Arabic (Fos7a / الفصحى) diacritics would accompany certain letters that would provide a reader more information about the pronunciation. But Egyptian Arabic speakers normally don’t use the diacritics in their written speech. To see these two words with the diacritics it’s: (m) ازيَّك (uses the Fat7a) (f) ازيِّك (uses the Kasra). (You can see the diacritics accompanying the letter ي) But again, when writing in Egyptian Arabic it’s conventional to omit these diacritics—We show them to you hear to demonstrate how their existence, albeit is hidden, influences the pronunciations of the two words.
When addressing more than one person (the plural) the word becomes Ezayoko? / ازيكوا؟.
IBL contributor, Samar A., pronounce Ezayak?, Ezayek? & Ezayoko?:
2. 3aml eh? / 3amla eh?
Another common way that Egyptian Arabic speakers say “How are you?” is (m) 3aml eh? / عامل ايه؟ (f) 3amla eh? / عاملة ايه؟. In Egyptian Arabic Eh? / ايه؟ means “What“. And 3aml/3amla means something along the lines of “Doing something”. So by asking 3aml eh? / 3amla eh? to someoen, you’re basically asking them “How’s your life?”.
The plural form is 3amlen eh? / عاملين ايه؟.
Listen to Samar A. pronounce 3aml eh?, 3amla eh? & 3amlen eh?:
3. A5barak eh? / A5barek eh?
The phrase (m) A5barak eh? / اخبارك ايه؟ (f) A5barek eh? / اخبارك ايه؟ means “What’s your news?” In Egyptian Arabic (based on Fos7a), A5bar / اخبار means “News” and the -k / ك- puts the word in the You form.
In the plural form this phrase is A5barko eh? / اخباركوا ايه؟.
In the below recording Samar A. pronounces A5barak eh?, A5barek eh?, & A5barko eh?:
(Editor’s note: Do you want to compare and contrast how to say “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic versus Tunisian Arabic? IBL has written the article How to greet someone in Tunisian Arabic. (1264 words with Tunisian recordings)
4. Eh el a5bar? / ايه الاخبار؟
A similar phrase to the previous section is Eh el a5bar? / ايه الاخبار؟. This phrase is more casual in use, reasonably akin to the English phrase, “What’s up?” This is a phrase that could be used in an office setting but it’s not conventional to use with someone in a superior position, such as a manager or the boss.
And Eh el a5bar? is gender-neutral and is used in both singular and plural settings.
(A fun cultural and historical fact: In modern history, the two most popular newspapers in Cairo (still in existence at the time of this writing) is El A5bar / الاخبار and El ahram / الاهرام. Ahram / هرام means Pyramids. In previous generations, as a joke, people would say Eh el a5bar? Eh el ahram? to each other. Essentially, asking the other what the two newspapers of Cairo are saying. Although this phrase isn’t as common as it was in past generations, it’s still widely known and remembered amongst Egyptian Arabic speakers. And for you to use such a phrase with an Egyptian speaker would show that you’re definitely studying and learning Egyptian Arabic!)
Samar speaks Eh el a5bar?
5. Eh el a7wal? / ايه الاحوال؟
The last greeting we’re going to study today is Eh el a7wal? /ايه الاحوال؟. This is a less common, but widely known way to say “How are you?” amongst Egyptian Arabic speakers. In English, a7wal means “state” or “status”. So by asking this question, you’re basically asking someone, in a colloquial and friendly way, “What’s your state of affairs?” This phrase, Eh el a7wal?, is a sibling to Tunisian Arabic’s Chna7welek? / شنحولك؟.
Intrinsically Eh el a7wal? is in the plural form, but like the proverbial Arabic greeting El salam 3lekom it can be said to one person or multiple people.
Below, Samar A. pronounces Eh el a7wal?:
Responding to a greeting
Like in English, it’s customary in Egyptian Arabic to respond in-kind to a greeting. After responding (E.g., Kwys/Kwysa which means “I’m good“) someone can then say back (m) Wenta… (f) Wenty… (pl) Wento… (“And you?”) followed by any of the greetings above. So if someone says to you (m) Ezayak? (f) Ezayek? (“How are you?”), and after you tell them how you’re doing, you can respond:
(male speaker to female interlocutor) Wenty ezayek?
(male speaker to male interlocutor) Wenta ezayak?
(female speaker to female interlocutor) Wenty ezayek?
(female speaker to male interlocutor) Wenta ezayak?
Or you can swap Ezayak/Ezayek with any of the greetings above. For example, in the above example, using (m) A5barak eh? (f) A5barek eh? instead:
(male speaker to female interlocutor) Wenty a5barek eh?
(male speaker to male interlocutor) Wenta a5barak eh?
(female speaker to female interlocutor) Wenty a5barek eh?
(female speaker to male interlocutor) Wenta a5barak eh?
In closing
There are many rich and fun (and some with historical relevance!) ways to say “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic. As a natural sequal to this article, you may want to read the IBL article Responding to “How are you?” in Egyptian Arabic. You may also want to review how to say “Hello” and how to say “Goodbye” in Egyptian Arabic. And if you’re unaware, IBL is documenting Egyptian Arabic and has available a catalogue of over 600 Egyptian Arabic pages (English to Egyptian Arabic translations with recordings) with over 3000 accompanying statements. Here is the catalogue — IBL: Egyptian Arabic.
Enjoy learning Egyptian Arabic.
And as always, we wish you a marvellous journey!
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