Knowing words in Lebanese is not enough to sound natural when you’re communicating in Lebanon! It’s a complex style of communication that is unique in many ways!

Here are 7 things you need to know about speaking Lebanese!

#1 You have to mix 3 languages in your speech

Since it is compulsory to learn Arabic, French, and English at schools in Lebanon, Lebanese people tend to mix these 3 languages when speaking. “Hi! Kifak? Cava?” is a phrase that perfectly describes the Lebanese dialect! Or maybe…

What a lot of people don’t know is that #Lebanon is a tri-lingual country. The three languages are food, food and food.#LanguageOfLove

— Anthony Salame (@AnthonySalame) 19 June 2017

#2 “Man”, “bro”, and “guys” are gender neutral in Lebanese

E.g: Hi bro shta2tellik!

#3 Abbreviations are very common

Abbreviating is a common thing to do when you’re speaking in Lebanese Arabic. Here are some words that are abbreviated: McDonald’s = Macdo Mar Mikhael = Mar Mikh Esthéticienne = Esthe Ma ele jlede = MEJ

#4 Inventing words

We Lebanese don’t like to stick to old words, so we just invent new ones regularly!

Sakata3sh

is one example; it represents a very high number. We’re not the only ones!

#5 Intro to the word habibi

Technically,

habibi

means lover or sweetheart, and this is exactly what Lebanese people mean when they say it. However, they also call

habibi

the person they’re fighting with, even if it’s a complete stranger! E.g:“Habibi you’re the one who caused the accident! Not me!” Confusing much?

#6 There are words that describe food and people at the same time

Here are some examples!

word – its relationship with food – adjective for human beings

“Helo” – candy or sweet – beautiful (male) “Mahdoum” – digestible – funny “Byettekal/ btettekal” – eatable – cute

#7 Some words have many pronunciations

You must have participated in a debate once in your life about how certain words are pronounced:

Nabrich

or

narbich

?

Ma2ani2

or

ma2eni2

?

Male32a

or

mal3a2a

? We need a national debate to solve this issue ASAP. This is how the debate will most probably look like:

BONUS:

#8 Lebanese expressions

Lebanese expressions are funny and weird at the same time!

Here are 9 of them

!