How to say "to see" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto see
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
رَأَى
raʾāראא
رأى
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ראה
ra'aرَاءَا
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ر-أ-يHebrew root
ר-א-הRoot ר-א-ה / ر-أ-ي, one to one: raʾā is ראה. Arabic mirʾāh (mirror) is 'the seeing-thing' — compare Hebrew מראה, which means both 'sight' and 'mirror'.
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
شَاف
shāfשאףSpoken Levantine almost always uses shāf; raʾā sounds bookish in conversation.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
شَاف
shāfשאףCairo says shāf as well: shuft — 'I saw'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
شَاف
shāfשאףDarija: shāf; shefti? — 'did you see?'
In a phrase
رَأَى الْبَحْر
raʾā al-baḥrראא אל-בחרHe saw the sea