How to say "to remember" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto remember
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
dhakaraד'כר
ذكر
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
zakharزَاخَار
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ذ-ك-رHebrew root
ז-כ-רArabic ذ regularly becomes Hebrew ז, so dhakara = זכר exactly. The parallel runs deep: dhikrā (memory) matches זיכרון, and dhakar also means 'male' — just like Hebrew זכר.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo's 'to remember' is iftakar: mish fākir — 'I don't remember'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's 'to remember' is ʿqel (ʿla): ʿqelti ʿliya? — 'do you remember me?'
In a phrase
He remembered the past
The root family
ذ-ك-رז-כ-ר· remembering
Memory with the regular ז↔ذ swap: dhakara is זכר. Both languages also use this root for "male" — זכר and dhakar — an ancient shared polysemy. Arabic turned a reminder into the everyday tadhkira, a ticket, while Hebrew built מזכרת (souvenir) and תזכורת (reminder) from the very same instinct.
- ذَكَرَ dhakarahe mentioned, rememberedזָכַרhe remembered
- ذِكْر dhikrremembrance; Sufi devotional chantזֵכֶרmemory (of)
- تَذْكِرَة tadhkiraticket — literally "a reminder"תִּזְכֹּרֶתreminder
- ذِكْرَى dhikrāmemory, anniversaryזִכָּרוֹןmemory, memorial
- ذَكَر dhakarmaleזָכָרmale — the same double meaning
- مُذَكِّرَة mudhakkiranotebook; memorandumמַזְכֶּרֶתsouvenir