Basic Phrases & Greetings

صباح الخير
(good morning)
Saba7 el-khayr!

صباح النور
(good morning to you too)
Saba7 en-noor!

مساء الخير
(good evening)
Masaa2 el-khayr!

مساء النور
(good evening to you too!)
Masaa2 en-noor!

السلام عليكم
(Peace be upon you)
es-salaam 3alaykum!

و عليكم السلام و رحمة الله و بركاته
(And the peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you too)
es-salaam 3alaykum w ra7matullah w barakaatuh

ازيك؟
(How are you?)
Izzayak? to male
Izzayik? to female

الحدلله تمام و انت ازيك؟
(Fine, and how are you?)
el-7amdulillah tamaam, w enta izzayak? to male
el-7amdulillah tamaam, w enty izzayik? to female

نهارك سعيد
(Have a happy day!)
nahaarak sa3eed - to a boy
nahaarik sa3eed - to a girl

نهارك سعيد مبارك
(Have a happy and blessed day too!)
nahaarak sa3eed mubaarak - to a boy
nahaarik sa3eed mubaarak - to a girl

مبروك
(congratulations)
mabrook!

الله يبارك فيك
(God bless you! Mabrook is usually replied in this way)
allah ybaarik feek - to a boy
allah ybaaraik feeki - to a girl

شكرا
(thank you)
shukran

عفوا
(you're welcome)
3afwan

كل سنة و انت طيب
كل سنة و انت طيبة
(May every year find you in good health/ Happy Birthday/Special Occasions)
kull sana w enta Tayyib - to a boy
kull sana w enti Tayyiba - to a girl

و انت طيب
و انت طيبة
(And you too!)
w enta Tayyib - to a boy
w enti Tayyiba - to a girl

مع السلامة
(with peace/farewell! Bye! - said by the person staying behind)
ma3a es-salaama

الله يسلمك
(God be with you!)
allah ysallimak - to a boy
allah ysallimik - to a girl

Things to note from these phrases:

1. ء - this sign is a HAMZA. It denotes a 'glottal stop'. This sounds like the start of any word that begins with an "a" in english. If you say "arm" you should notice a slight noise at the beggining. It's not vocal. It's like when people don't pronounce their T's.
2. ة - this is a TA MARBUTA. TA MARBUTA literally means "tied T". Ta marbuta has the dots of T ت with the shape of H ه. It is put on the end of some words to make them feminine, and sounds like an "a". When another word comes after it, it becomes 'untied' and sounds like "t" not "a". So for example, you say ma3a salaama (مع السلامة) but ra7mat-ullah (رحمة الله).
   
3. انت means YOU. When "you" is a female, it is pronounced enti. When "you" is a male, it is pronounced enta. Short vowels are not written, and since the difference is of short vowels, انت is written the same in both cases.
   
4. Words that end in ك (k) referring to a person you are talking to change depending on if you are talking to a boy or a girl. For a boy, it is pronounced -ak. For a girl, it is pronounced -ik. For example; The word بنتك means "your girl". If you are saying this word to a man, it is pronounced bintak. If you are saying it to a woman, it is pronounced bintik. In both cases, it is spelled the same as it is only a short vowel that is different and short vowels are not written in Arabic.
5. شكرا (thank you - shukran) is not written with an N ن . The same can be said of عفوا (you're welcome - 3awfan). It is written with an alif A ا instead. Strictly speaking, this ا alif is a special type. In formal writing, it is written as اً (with 2 small lines above it). The 2 small lines are called TANWIN which literally means "providing with N". This does what it says, it provides the word with an N sound. In normal typing, the 2 small lines are sometimes missed out and so shukran for example is written like شكرا rather than شكراً