How to say "to read" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto read
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
qaraʾaקרא
قرأ
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
karaكَارَا
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ق-ر-أHebrew root
ק-ר-אSame root ק-ר-א, sound for sound: qaraʾa is קרא. The Qurʾān literally means 'the recitation' — built just like מקרא, the Hebrew name for the Bible.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
In urban Levantine the qāf becomes a glottal stop and the final hamza drops: ʾara.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo too: ʾara, the qāf a glottal stop; biyiʾra — 'he reads'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija keeps the q and drops the vowel: qra; kayeqra — 'he reads' (and 'he studies').
In a phrase
He read the book