مرحبا
“مرحبا” (мархаба) — hi in Arabic. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. The h here is the breathy throat one (ح) — marhaba on an audible breath out of the throat. In a live sentence: “مرحبا, من زمان!” — Hi, long time no see! Written with the characters م, ر, ح, ب, ا. One of 9 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | مرحبا |
| Read in Latin letters | мархаба |
| Translation | hi |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
How to pronounce it
the h here is the breathy throat one (ح) — marhaba on an audible breath out of the throat
Why it looks that way
The all-purpose hello from Morocco to Oman: right at any hour, friendly and polite at once. For everyday talk this one word is enough
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- مرحبا, من زمان!мархаба, мин заман!Hi, long time no see!
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- نهارك سعيدнахарак саʿидgood dayLiterally "your day [be] happy". Arabic has no plain "good day" — it is said as a wish, and the answer is expected in the same shape
- مع السلامةмаа ас-салямаgoodbyeLiterally "go with safety". Salama here is being safe: a wish to arrive whole, not a farewell forever
- كيف حالك؟кейфа хаалюк؟how are you?Literally "how is your state?". The -uk on the end is "your": to a man haaluk, to a woman haaluki
- كيف حالكم؟кейфа хаалюкум؟how are you all?The plural you. To one respected person the plural is heard too — haalukum serves as the polite form
- إلى اللقاءиля аль-ликааsee youLiterally "to the meeting". Warmer than maa as-salama, and among friends it lives on its own
- صباح الخيرсабаах аль-хейрgood morningLiterally "morning of goodness". The answer is sabah an-nur, "morning of light": the wish is returned in the same shape
- مساء الخيرмасаа аль-хейрgood eveningLiterally "evening of goodness". It lives after sunset; the border with good morning runs somewhere near noon
- تصبح على خيرтусбих аля хейрgood nightLiterally "may you wake in goodness". The answer is wa anta min ahli, "and you among the good" — worth memorizing too
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hi” in Arabic?
The all-purpose hello from Morocco to Oman: right at any hour, friendly and polite at once. For everyday talk this one word is enough
- How do you say “good evening” in Arabic?
Literally "evening of goodness". It lives after sunset; the border with good morning runs somewhere near noon
- How do you say “see you” in Arabic?
Literally "to the meeting". Warmer than maa as-salama, and among friends it lives on its own
- How do you say “how are you?” in Arabic?
Literally "how is your state?". The -uk on the end is "your": to a man haaluk, to a woman haaluki
- How do you say “good day” in Arabic?
Literally "your day [be] happy". Arabic has no plain "good day" — it is said as a wish, and the answer is expected in the same shape
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “hi” in Arabic?
«مرحبا», read “мархаба”. The h here is the breathy throat one (ح) — marhaba on an audible breath out of the throat. In a live sentence: “مرحبا, من زمان!” — Hi, long time no see! Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters م, ر, ح, ب, ا.
How is “مرحبا” written in Latin letters?
мархаба. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The all-purpose hello from Morocco to Oman: right at any hour, friendly and polite at once. For everyday talk this one word is enough. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.