Short answer: Palestinian Arabic is a Levantine Arabic dialect, spoken by Palestinians in the region and around the world. It is very close to Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese Arabic, so what you learn here works across the Levant. Compared with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the big changes are a few sounds (the letter qāf often becomes a glottal stop), a handful of everyday words (shū for "what", biddi for "I want") and some small grammar markers such as the b- in front of present-tense verbs.
Below you will find the phrases you will use first, the sound changes that confuse learners, and a short café dialogue to read aloud.
Everyday Phrases to Start With
Transliterations are simplified. ʾ is a glottal stop (the catch in "uh-oh"), ʿ is the deep throat sound of the letter ع, and ḥ is a breathy h. Where a phrase changes for a man or a woman, both forms are given (m. / f.).
| English | Palestinian Arabic | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | مرحبا | marḥaba |
| Hello (reply, "two hellos") | مرحبتين | marḥabtēn |
| Good morning / reply | صباح الخير / صباح النور | ṣabāḥ il-khēr / ṣabāḥ in-nūr |
| Welcome | أهلا وسهلا | ahlan wa sahlan |
| How are you? (m. / f.) | كيفك؟ | kīfak? / kīfik? |
| Fine, thank God (m. / f.) | منيح / منيحة، الحمد لله | mnīḥ / mnīḥa, il-ḥamdu lillāh |
| What's your name? (m. / f.) | شو اسمك؟ | shū ismak? / shū ismik? |
| I want… | بدّي… | biddi… |
| Please (to a man) | لو سمحت | law samaḥt |
| Thank you | شكرا / يسلمو | shukran / yislamu |
| Here you are / please, go ahead (m.) | تفضّل | tfaḍḍal |
| Yes / No | آه / لأ | ā / laʾ |
| Very, a lot | كتير | ktīr |
| A little | شوي | shwayy |
| Like this, so | هيك | hēk |
| OK, fine | ماشي | māshi |
| Where? | وين؟ | wēn? |
| How much? | قدّيش؟ | ʾaddēsh? |
| Enjoy your meal / reply | صحتين / على قلبك | ṣaḥtēn / ʿala ʾalbak |
Two small habits make you sound natural straight away. First, people often answer a greeting by "doubling" it: marḥaba gets marḥabtēn. Second, hospitality phrases matter: when someone serves you food and says ṣaḥtēn ("two healths"), the polite answer is ʿala ʾalbak ("on your heart", said to a man; ʿala ʾalbik to a woman).
The Sounds That Change
If you have studied MSA, these are the shifts that will surprise your ears. They are also why the same word can sound different from one town to the next.
1. The letter qāf
In MSA, ق is a q pronounced deep in the throat. In Palestinian Arabic it is pronounced in three main ways, as the Maknuune lexicon project describes with the word قلب ("heart"):
| Variety | "heart" sounds like |
|---|---|
| MSA | qalb |
| City speech | ʾalb (glottal stop) |
| Many villages | kalb (a k sound) |
| Bedouin speech | galb (a hard g) |
So قهوة ("coffee") is ʾahwe in a city café. You still write it with ق: the spelling stays, only the sound changes. If the glottal stop and the throat sounds are new to you, our guide to why some sounds are hard to pronounce in Arabic explains how Arabic sounds are produced.
2. The letter kāf in village speech
In many rural varieties, ك softens to a ch sound (as in "church"). The word كيف ("how") can be heard as chīf. City speakers keep k: kīf.
3. "th" and "dh" become t and d
Like most Levantine city speech, Palestinian Arabic usually replaces the MSA sounds th (ث) and dh (ذ) with t and d. MSA كثير kathīr ("a lot") becomes كتير ktīr, and MSA هذا hādhā ("this") becomes هادا hāda.
4. The feminine ending: -e or -a
The feminine ending ة (tāʾ marbūṭa) is usually pronounced -e: مدرسة ("school") is madrase, and قهوة is ʾahwe. After certain consonants, mostly the "heavy" and throat sounds, it stays -a: منيحة is mnīḥa. Some southern varieties use -a everywhere.
Grammar Words That Make It Sound Palestinian
You do not need a new grammar to understand Palestinian Arabic. You need a few small words.
- "I want" is biddi. It is not a verb but a little word that takes endings: بدّي biddi (I want), بدّك biddak / biddik (you want), بدّه biddo (he wants).
- The present tense often starts with b-. MSA أعرف aʿrif ("I know") becomes بعرف baʿrif. The b- marks things that are true now or happen regularly.
- The future uses raḥ. رح أروح raḥ arūḥ means "I'm going to go".
- Negation uses ma and mish. Ma negates verbs: ما بعرف ma baʿrif ("I don't know"). Mish negates adjectives and nouns: مش بعيد mish bʿīd ("not far"). In Palestinian speech you will also hear a short -ish added to the end of a negated verb.
- Question words: شو shū (what), وين wēn (where), ليش lēsh (why), إمتى ēmta (when), كيف kīf (how).
- "This": هادا hāda (masculine), هاي hāy (feminine), هدول hadōl (plural).
MSA and Palestinian Arabic Side by Side
| English | MSA | Palestinian Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| What? | ماذا؟ mādhā? | شو؟ shū? |
| I want | أريد urīd | بدّي biddi |
| I know | أعرف aʿrif | بعرف baʿrif |
| Now | الآن al-ān | هلّأ hallaʾ |
| Like this | هكذا hākadhā | هيك hēk |
| A lot, very | كثير kathīr | كتير ktīr |
| Coffee | قهوة qahwa | قهوة ʾahwe |
Notice how much is shared. Most words come from the same roots, and many are simply pronounced differently. That is why learners with a solid MSA base usually pick up Palestinian Arabic quickly, and why the dialect is a popular first choice in our guide to which Arabic you should learn first.
A Short Café Dialogue
Read it aloud. A customer (man) orders a coffee.
Customer: مرحبا! marḥaba! (Hello!)
Waiter: مرحبتين! كيفك؟ marḥabtēn! kīfak? (Hello! How are you?)
Customer: منيح، الحمد لله. بدّي قهوة، لو سمحت. mnīḥ, il-ḥamdu lillāh. biddi ʾahwe, law samaḥt. (Fine, thank God. I'd like a coffee, please.)
Waiter: بدّك سكّر؟ biddak sukkar? (Do you want sugar?)
Customer: آه، شوي. ā, shwayy. (Yes, a little.)
Waiter: تفضّل. tfaḍḍal. (Here you are.)
Customer: يسلمو! yislamu! (Thank you!)
How to Learn Palestinian Arabic
- Learn the alphabet and basic MSA first, or alongside. Written Palestinian Arabic uses the same letters, and signs, menus and books are in MSA.
- Listen before you speak. Train your ear to hear ʾ where you expect q. Short daily listening helps more than long weekly sessions; our free Arabic listening practice is a good start for the sounds of the alphabet.
- Collect phrases, not word lists. Biddi…, shū ismak?, ʾaddēsh? and ṣaḥtēn will carry your first conversations.
- Speak with a real person. Dialects live in conversation, and a teacher corrects your sounds before habits set in. If you want guided practice, you can book a private Arabic lesson focused on Levantine speaking.
The Takeaway
Palestinian Arabic is Levantine Arabic with its own local colour: ʾ or k where MSA has q, -e endings, biddi for "I want" and shū for "what". Learn a dozen phrases, train your ear for the qāf, and you will understand far more than you expect, from Palestinian speakers and across the whole Levant.