How to say "how" in Arabic
New wordMeaninghow
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
كَيْفَ
kayfaכיף
كيف
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
אֵיךְ
eikhإِيخ
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ك-ي-فNo relation to Hebrew אֵיךְ — but this very Arabic word already shows up twice elsewhere in this app: as the loan-slang כיף, 'fun' (from kayf, 'mood, pleasure'), and inside the greeting كَيْفَ الْحَال. Interrogative 'how' and the noun 'mood' both grew from one root ك-ي-ف, 'manner, state' — 'how' is simply 'in what manner'.
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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
إِزَّاي
izzāyאזאיCairo's how is izzāy — the root of izzayyak, how are you.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
كِيفَاش
kīfāshכיפאשDarija's how is kīfāsh.
In a phrase
كَيْفَ الطَّقْس الْيَوْم؟
kayfa aṭ-ṭaqs al-yawmכיף א-טקס אל-יוםHow is the weather today?