Street Signs & Franco-Arabic
Practice decoding common Cairo signage words and the digit-based chat alphabet Egyptians use online.
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Questions Covered in This Set
10 cards to master
شارع
shaari3 — street (said esh-shaari3 with ال, sun-letter rule)
ميدان
midaan — square (e.g. Midan Tahrir)
محطة / مخرج / دخول
maHaTTa (station) / makhrag (exit) / dukhuul (entrance)
ممنوع
mamnuu3 — forbidden
صيدلية and مستشفى
Saydaliyya (pharmacy) and mustashfa (hospital)
In Franco-Arabic, what do 2, 3, and 7 stand for?
2 = ء/ق (glottal stop), 3 = ع ('ayn), 7 = ح (breathy H)
What do 5 and 3' represent in Franco?
5 (or kh) = خ; adding an apostrophe gives the dotted cousin: 3' = غ, 7' = خ, 9' = ض
Why does the sign say 'Giza' and not 'Jiza'?
Egyptians pronounce ج as a hard g; ق often becomes a glottal stop (el-'aahira for القاهرة)
Two habits of real Egyptian signage
Short vowels are almost never written, and ال (el-) is glued onto the front of nouns
Translate: '3amel eh? ana ray7 el-2ahwa, te3ala.'
How are you? I'm heading to the café, come. (عامل ايه؟ انا رايح القهوة، تعالى)
