3.5: Culture
In this section
- You will watch a video and reflect on the popular dishes in Egypt and other countries.
- You will learn some culture notes about ordering in a restaurant in Egypt then test yourself on these expressions.
Warm-up: Watch this video about street food in Cairo. Engage in a discussion with your classmates about the popular dishes in Egypt, US, and different countries around the world.
Culture notes
As you learned in the previous section, there are a variety of ways to order foods or drinks in a restaurant/café.
- ممكن which literally means ‘possible’ can be used to begin a request as in ممكن مَيّة لو سمحت, which translates to something like ‘May I have water please?’
- The phrase لوسمحتي / لو سمحت is used interchangeably or along with من فضْلِك /من فَضْلَك in the beginning or end of the request.
- The word واحد is used to refer to an item of service and it is used for both a masculine item and a demine item such as واحد رز which means ‘one rice,’ which is masculine, and واحد سلطة خضرا which means ‘one green salad,’ which is feminine.
- The phrase هات لي /هاتي لي is most frequently used in the restaurant setting.
- عايز/عايزة can also be used in requesting food/drink, and usually combined with لو سمحت/ لو سمحتي
- Respect address forms and honoring phrases are expected from service providers towards customers. Examples include تحت أمرك andأي خدمة .
- The word حاجة, which literally means ‘a need’ is frequently used in Egyptian Arabic in different contexts to mean ‘something’ or ‘a thing’ as inعايز حاجة؟ andكُلّ حاجة .
- يا فندم is an address form borrowed from Turkish ‘ efindim ,’ and it is used in Egypt as an address form meaning ‘sir/madam’ to show respect for people whom we do not know well. It is usually heard in service encounters and it is used for both males and females.
Test yourself
Check the right expressions in each of the following situations.
Key Takeaways
- You can now order food and drink in Arabic. Find a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant and practice some of the expressions you learned.