'as-salāmu alaykum
Hello; Peace upon you

alaykumu s-salām
Hello; Peace upon you, too

kayf hāluk?
How are you?

shukran. al-hamdu li-lāh. wa ant?
Thank you. Fine, by God's mercy. And you?

'anā bi-khayr
I'm fine

ma as salāma
Go without fear

ilā l-liqā'
So long; Until the next time

Grammar: Personal pronouns

There are of course more pronouns than these, but that will be dealt with later.

2. Counting

0	—	sifr		1	—	wāhid
2	—	ithnān		3	—	thalātha
4	—	'arba a		5	—	khamsa
6	—	sitta		7	—	sabca
8	—	thamāniya		9	—	tisca
10	—	ashra		11	—	'ahada cashra
12	—	ithnā cashra		13	—	thalātha cashra
14	—	'arbaca cashra		15	—	khamsa cashra
16	—	sitta cashra		17	—	sabca cashra
18	—	thamāniya cashra		19	—	tisca cashra
20	—	cishrūn		21	—	'ahad wa-cishrūn
22	—	ithnān wa-cishrūn		23	—	thalātha wa-cishrūn
24	—	'arbaca wa-cishrūn		25	—	khamsa wa-cishrūn
26	—	sitta wa-cishrūn		27	—	sabca wa-cishrūn
28	—	thamāniya wa-cishrūn		29	—	tisca wa-cishrūn
30	—	thalāthūn		35	—	khamsa wa-thalāthūn
40	—	'arbacūn		42	—	'ithnān wa-'arbacūn
50	—	khamsūn		59	—	tisca wa-khamsūn
60	—	sittūn		66	—	sitta wa-sittūn
70	—	sabcūn		73	—	thalātha wa-sabcūn
80	—	thamānūn		84	—	'arbaca wa-thamānūn
90	—	tiscūn		91	—	'ahad wa-tiscūn
100	—	mi'a		1000	—	'alf

Grammar: Use of numbers

Numbers in Arabic are quite complicated, there are different rules for the numbers, numbers are declined according to gender. Getting the grip on numbers in order to make practical use of them (few Arabs used numbers correctly), is however reasonably easy.
From 21 to 99 you count like this: (example) 24: Four wa-forty.From 12 to 19 you count like this (example) 15: Five Ten. 11 is slightly slightly diverging.
When putting numbers together with nouns you do like this:

• 1: (example) 1 book is said as simply as "book", "kitāb", you leave 1 out, unless it is very important to emphasise that it is one book.
• 2: (example) 2 books is a special case, as Arabic not only has singular and plural, but also dual. The rules here are straight, but often ommitted by students, who wind up saying "2 books",

  ithnān kutub.
  That is not correct, and the correct dual for 2 books is

  kitābāni.
  

• 3 and up: You place the full form of the number first, immediately followed by the noun: 42 books:

  ithnān wa-'arba^cūn kutub.
  While this is not the correct form, it is OK to say it this way at the present level. If you're curious, this is the correct way for saying 42 books:

  ithnān wa-'arba^cūn kitābān.

3. Meeting people

mā-smuk?
What's your name?

'ismī salīm
My name is Salim

'ismuhu rashīd
His name is Rashid

'ismuhā warda
Her name is Warda

'anā sā'ih
I'm a tourist (as uttered by a man)

'anā sā'iha
I'm a tourist (as uttered by a woman)

'a^cmal hunā
I'm working here

'anā tālib
I'm a student (as uttered by a man)

'anā tāliba
I'm a student (as uttered by a woman)
 
Grammar: Basic Arabic sentences

"To be" and "to have" — verbs you don't use!

Two verbs are normally ommitted from Arabic (this thing makes learning the language a little bit easier). These two are to be and to have. The first of these two is well exemplified above. Instead of saying "My name is Erik", you say "Name mine Erik" — 'ismī 'īrīk
The same applies for qualities: Instead of saying "She is a teacher", you say "She teacher" — hiyya mudarrisa, "he tourist" — huwa sā'ih
As for the verb "to have", which can also equal "to own": Instead of saying "He has a car", you say "To him a car" — lahu sayyāra, "to her a book" — lahā kitāb, "to me a house" (="I own a house") — lī bayt
Elegant, don't you think?
Even if this could appear slightly confusing at the very first, the rules are terribly simple, and soon you will see yourself forming basic sentences,- without the use of any verb. However, be prepared, Arabic is full of verbs, and there is no way around them if you want to communicate properly in Arabic.

4. In the hotel

ayna l-funduq salām?
Where is the Hotel Salam?

The result is that you never write, nor pronounce: "al-t.....", "al-th....", "al-d....", "al-dh....", "al-r....", "al-z....", "al-s....", "al-sh...." and so on.
You do write and pronounce: "at-t....", "ath-th....", "ad-d....", "adh-dh....", "ar-r....", "az-z....", "as-s....", "ash-sha....." and so on.
For the remainder of the letters, you leave the "l" of the definite article intact.

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