I find the Darija dialect to have many Darija expressions and sayings. Alot of the time when hearing these phrases by a native speaker, it is spoken so fast, You hardly have time to digest what was said. I guess the trick is to just memorize the phrase so that when you hear it you know the meaning. I unfortunately have this problem of trying to translate everything into english. Maybe practicing with someone using these Darija expressions would help.
The interesting thing about Darija expressions is that there is sometimes the words used would not literally give the meaning but through the culture and sometimes some story the Darija expression comes into existence. For instance 3la ras w 3in is a Darija expression that means my pleasure. If you were to translate this it would be “On the head and the eye”. As you can probably tell, using my method I would never be able to come up with my pleasure.
I will not go through every Darija expression in this post but will list alot of the phrases that I have encountered in my personal studies so far. I most likely will end up writing another post with additional Darija expressions. For now here are some Darija expressions to get you started.
| Phrase | Meaning | Literal meaning |
| bla jmil | Your welcome (response to thank you) | Without honour |
| la shukran 3la wajib | Your welcome (response to thank you) | No thanks is on the duty(my duty) |
| makayn mushkil | No Problem | There is no problem |
| Shnoo khbarek | Whats happening? | What is your news? |
| Ki dayr | How are you doing? | How are you doing? |
| Sa7a labas | How is your health? | How is your health? |
| bessalama | Goodbye | In peace |
| thella frasek | Take care | |
| bsa7a | Bon appetite (sorry I could not find an english equivalent) | In health |
| Traiq salama | Have a good trip | Peaceful road |