How to say "good night" in Arabic
CognateMeaninggood night
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
لَيْلَة سَعِيدَة
layla saʿīdaלילה סעידה
ليلة سعيدة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
לילה טוב
layla tovلَايْلَا تُوڤ
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ل-ي-لHebrew root
ל-י-לLayla is Hebrew לילה, sound for sound — one of the clearest cognate pairs the two languages share.
Related Hebrew word:לילהlaylaلَايْلَا
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
تِصْبَح عَلَى خَيْر
tiṣbaḥ ʿala khērתצבח עלא ח'ירThe usual spoken good-night: 'may you wake to good.'
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
تِصْبَح عَلَى خَيْر
tiṣbaḥ ʿala khērתצבח עלא ח'ירCairo says exactly the same; the reply is w-inta min ahlu.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
تْصْبح عْلَى خِير
tṣbeḥ ʿla khīrתצבח עלא ח'ירDarija: tṣbeḥ ʿla khīr, the vowels squeezed out.
In a phrase
لَيْلَة سَعِيدَة يَا أُمِّي
layla saʿīda yā ummīלילה סעידה יא אמיgood night, mom