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!
!