How to say "if" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningif
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
idhāאד'א
إذا
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
imإِيم
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Built on the same particle ʾidh that is traditionally compared with Hebrew אָז ("then") — the regular ז↔ذ match, with the sense slid from "then" to "when, if". Bonus: the hypothetical لَوْ (law) is the exact twin of literary Hebrew לוּ, as in לוּ יְהִי.
Related Hebrew word:אזazأَز
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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 mostly says law for 'if' (also iza, with ذ → z): law samaḥt — 'if you please'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's 'if' is ila (from idhā): ila bghīti — 'if you want'.
In a phrase
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