Egyptian Arabic translator

Most translators answer in Modern Standard Arabic, which Egyptians understand but never use at the market. Parlo translates into Egyptian Arabic (Masri), as it is spoken and typed in Cairo, and back into English from it. Speak or type in English or any of Parlo's languages, and hear the answer read aloud.

Spoken in: Egypt, and understood across much of the Arab world thanks to Egyptian film and television.

How Egyptian Arabic differs from standard Arabic

• ج is a hard "g". جميل ("beautiful") is gamīl, not jamīl.
• ق often becomes a catch in the throat: قهوة ("coffee") sounds like 'ahwa.
• Question words go last and change: fēn (where), ēh (what), izzāy (how), lēh (why), imta (when).
• "Not" is mish, "this" is da/di, and "I want" is 'āyez ('ayza for a woman).

The same phrases, side by side

From Parlo's phrasebooks: standard Arabic on the left, Egyptian Arabic on the right.

How Parlo handles Egyptian Arabic

1. Choose Arabic (Egyptian) in the language list.
2. Type or speak. The translation comes back in everyday Egyptian Arabic, in Arabic script, and is read aloud. It works the other way too: speak Egyptian Arabic and read it in English.
3. For a two-way chat, open the conversation translator and put the phone between you.

• Parlo writes Egyptian the way Egyptians type it: the everyday words (مش، كده، ده، إزاي، عايز) spelled consistently, with no vowel marks.
• Before reading aloud, Parlo adds the missing vowels to common Egyptian words and says ج as "g", so the voice sounds Egyptian rather than formal.

Translations are made by AI and can be wrong, so check anything important. For medical, legal or official matters, use a professional interpreter.