How to say "building" in Arabic
CognateMeaningbuilding
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
مَبْنَى
mabnāמבנא
مبنى
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
מבנה
mivneمِڤْنِي
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ب-ن-يHebrew root
ב-נ-הSame root as بَنَى, 'to build' (already in your deck) — ب-ن-ي lines up with Hebrew ב-נ-ה letter for letter, with the regular final-weak ي↔ה alternation. مبنى and מבנה are even built on the identical pattern: literally 'that which is built'.
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
عِمَارَة
ʿimāraעמארהCairo's apartment building is an ʿimāra.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
عْمَارَة
ʿmāraעמארהDarija: ʿmāra.
In a phrase
مَبْنَى جَدِيد
mabnā jadīdמבנא ג'דידa new building