Small but Useful Arabic Phrases That You Need To Know

مُفيد

root: ف-ي-د / adjective / definition: useful, beneficial

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As much as most of us, as Arabic students, love to learn all sorts of complex and specific vocabulary, knowing the small, simple stuff that fills up sentences is really important too.

So, below, I’ve made a fairly compact list of small but useful Arabic phrases that you’ll find to be really common:

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إلخ

(abbreviation of إلى آخِره) etcetera/etc

وَما إلى ذلك

and so forth, etc

حَتّى لَو

even if

لا…إلّا

nothing/no…except, only

لَم…بَعد

not yet (e.g. لَم أَنَم بعد “I haven’t slept yet”)

مِن أَجْل

for the sake of, on account of

بِشَكْل

(when you add an adjective after بشكل, it forms an adverb–e.g. بشكل متزايد “increasingly”, بشكل عام “generally”, etc)

بِصورة

in a … way (works in the same way as بشكل to form adverbs)

مِن قِبَل

by, at the hands of

والعَكس بِالعَكس

and vice versa

مِن خِلال

through, by means of

عن طريق

via, by way of, by means of, through

بما في ذلك

including

بالتالي

therefore, consequently, accordingly

مِن حَيثُ

as to, with regards/respect to, in view of, in terms of

أخيراً ولَيسَ آخِراً

last but not least

عاجِلاً أو آجِلاً

sooner or later

عِبارة عن

equivalent/tantamount to, meaning

على الإطلاق

at all, without exception

حَسَبَ

according to, depending on

أساساً

basically, primarily

وَفقَ

in accordance with, according to

أيّ…يُذكَر

any notable/significant… (e.g. أي تقدُّم يذكر “any significant progress”)

سواءً

regardless of whether, no matter whether

لِدَرَجَة ما

to a certain degree (this construct–the indefinite followed by ما– can usually be translated as “some” or “a certain”. E.g. لسَبَب ما “for a certain reason, for some reason”, في مجتمع ما “in a given society”)

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I think that’s some of the most common ones, but this definitely isn’t an exhaustive list. Which other ones would you add? Let us know in the comments!

See you on my next post, إلى اللقاء!

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Edit: There’s now a part 2 and part 3 of these small but useful Arabic phrases, which include a link to the corresponding vocab set on Quizlet where you can revise all of these terms.

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