Darlene Eva

In Lebanese Arabic “my heart” is قلبي (2albi), with the first sound said as a glottal stop, so it sounds like albi.

In Lebanese Arabic you say بحبك (bhebbak) to a man and بحبك (bhebbek) to a woman. The spelling is the same and only the final vowel changes.

The Lebanese way to say “give me a kiss” is عطيني بوسة (ʿṭīni bōse). A shorter version is بوسني (bōsni), “kiss me”.

To tell a man “come here” in Lebanese Arabic, say تعا لهون (taʿa la-hōn). A woman is told تعي لهون (taʿi la-hōn) and a group تعو لهون (taʿo la-hōn).

In Lebanese Arabic “son” is ابن (ibn), and “my son” is ابني (ibni). People also say ولد (walad), which means both “boy” and “son”.

The Lebanese word for king is ملك (malek). The plural is ملوك (mlūk), and الملك (el-malek) means “the king”. Lebanon itself is a republic and has no king.

A man says آسف (ʾāsef) and a woman says آسفة (ʾāsfe) to mean “I am sorry”. To ask for forgiveness, use سامحني (sāmeḥni), “forgive me”.

The word for “cute” in Lebanese Arabic is كيوت (kyūt), borrowed from English.

Chickpea is حمص (ḥommoṣ) in Lebanese Arabic. The same word also names the dip made from chickpeas.

To say “really?” in Lebanese Arabic you ask عن جد؟ (3an jadd?), literally “seriously?”. عن جد؟ (3an jadd?) is used when someone tells you surprising news.