How to say "to love" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto love
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
aḥabbaאחב
أحب
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ahavأَهَاڤ
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ح-ب-بHebrew root
ח-ב-בThe root is ح-ب-ب, a perfect match for Hebrew ח-ב-ב: חיבב (was fond of) and חביב (dear) — ḥabīb (darling) is literally חביב. Hebrew אהב sounds close but is a different root; the real cousin is חבב.
Related Hebrew word:חיבבkhibevخِيبِڤ
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Speech drops the prefix: ḥabb. And baḥibbak (بحبك) is 'I love you'.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo: ḥabb; baḥibbak — 'I love you'; biyḥibb — 'he likes'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's 'to love' is the same verb as 'to want': bgha — kanbghīk, 'I love you' (ḥebb also exists).
In a phrase
He loved music
The root family
ح-ب-بח-ב-ב· love
The love root behind ḥabībī. Hebrew's ח-ב-ב is a genuine old twin — Biblical חֹבֵב, modern חיבב and חיבה — so this family is true kinship, not just borrowing. That said, Israeli חביבי and חבוב themselves are recent loans straight from Arabic: the root came home twice.
- حُبّ ḥubbloveחִבָּהaffection
- حَبِيب ḥabībbeloved, darlingחָבִיבlikeable, dear
- حَبِيبِي ḥabībīmy darling — the one Arabic word every Israeli knowsחֲבִיבִיbuddy (Israeli slang, borrowed straight back)
- أَحَبَّ aḥabbahe lovedחִבֵּבhe was fond of
- مَحْبُوب maḥbūbbeloved, popular
- حَبَّة ḥabbagrain, seed; pill (Levantine ḥabbe ḥabbe — little by little)