Syrian Arabic
Levantine Arabic as spoken in Damascus and Aleppo, and now in classrooms across Germany, Sweden and Turkey.
Where it is spoken
Syrian Arabic is spoken across Syria and by very large communities in Turkey, Germany, Sweden, Jordan and Lebanon. It sits in the Levantine group with Lebanese and Palestinian, and the three are mutually intelligible. Syrian television drama has a wide regional audience, which puts the Damascene accent in front of listeners well outside Syria.
How it differs
Syrian holds onto more of the Fusha vowel system than Lebanese does, so long vowels stay near their standard values. In Damascus the letter qaf becomes a glottal stop, while rural varieties keep it. Present-tense verbs take the Levantine b- prefix. Vocabulary sits close to Palestinian and Lebanese, with a small set of words particular to Syria.
Words you can hear
Each of these is recorded by a native speaker of this dialect. Tap any card to hear it.
A note on the written forms below. Spoken dialects are rarely written down, so most words appear in their standard spelling. Where this dialect has its own written form, it is marked.
A generation of Syrian children is growing up in European cities where the school language is German, Swedish or Turkish and the home language is Damascene. Those children often arrive at Arabic through their parents' speech and nothing else. Hearing everyday words in their own dialect, spoken by someone who sounds like family, keeps the link to relatives who did not travel with them.
Who should learn it
Anyone with Syrian family, anyone living in a European city with a large Syrian community, and anyone who wants a Levantine dialect that stays close to Fusha. It suits a learner who expects to read or study Standard Arabic as well.
Dialects
Hear all seven dialects
PopPond records the same words in Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian, Moroccan, Algerian and Fus-ha.