How to say "on" in Arabic
CognateMeaningon
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
عَلَى
ʿalāעלא
على
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
עַל
alأَل
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ع-ل-وHebrew root
ע-ל-הArabic ʿalā is Hebrew עַל, both from the root ʿ-l-w, "to be high" — the family of עליון and עלייה and of Arabic ʿālī ("high"). With suffixes the twins really show: ʿalayhi ≈ עָלָיו.
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
عَ
ʿaעFast speech shrinks ʿalā to ʿa-: ʿal-yamīn — "on the right".
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
عْلَى
ʿlaעלאDarija drops the first vowel: ʿla (ʿlīk — 'on you').
In a phrase
اَلْكِتَاب عَلَى الطَّاوِلَة
al-kitāb ʿalā aṭ-ṭāwilaאל-כתאב עלא א-טאולהThe book is on the table.