Arabic dialects / How to say
How to say “Expensive” in Arabic dialects
“Expensive” changes from one Arabic dialect to the next: ghali in Morocco, ghālī in the United Arab Emirates, ghalya in Algeria.
| Dialect | Say it | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| 🇲🇦 Moroccan Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇩🇿 Algerian Arabic | ghalya | غالية |
| 🇹🇳 Tunisian Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇱🇾 Libyan Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇪🇬 Egyptian Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇱🇧 Lebanese Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇯🇴 Jordanian Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabic | ghali | غالي |
| 🇦🇪 Emirati Arabic | ghālī | غالي |
| 🇮🇶 Iraqi Arabic | ghali | غالي |
Arabic often changes with who you are talking to. These are the forms taught in each Lahja course. In the spelling, 3 is the letter ayn, 7 is a breathy h, 2 is a glottal stop, 5 is kh and 9 is qaf.
There is no single Arabic word for most everyday things. Modern Standard Arabic has its own formal version, but in conversation people use their local dialect. Lahja teaches each dialect as its own course, so you learn the version people around you really say.