Lebanese

About Lebanese Arabic

The guides in this category give Lebanese Arabic, the everyday spoken Arabic of Lebanon. It belongs to the Levantine group of dialects and is close to the Arabic spoken in Syria, Jordan and Palestine. It is quite different from Modern Standard Arabic, which Lebanese people use for writing, news and formal occasions, so a phrase from here may sound odd in Cairo or Morocco. For standard Arabic and other dialects, see Arabic.

Lebanese Arabic is mostly spoken rather than written. Many guides here give it in Arabic script as well as Latin letters, and in messages many Lebanese write it in Latin letters with numbers for sounds English lacks, such as 3 for ʿayn and 7 for a strong ḥ. French and English words often mix into everyday speech, as in the greeting "Hi, kifak, ça va?". The word for "you" changes with the person you speak to: enta to a man, enti to a woman and ento to a group.

LanguageArabic, Levantine variety
FamilyAfroasiatic, Semitic
Where spokenLebanon and the Lebanese diaspora
ScriptArabic script, informally Latin letters with numbers
Codeapc (ISO 639-3, Levantine Arabic)

Classification: Wikidata. Retrieved 26 September 2026.

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