If you have ever been added to an Arabic WhatsApp group, you have seen it. Messages full of normal English letters, and then, right in the middle of a word, a number. 3. 7. 2. Sometimes a 5.Here is the short answer. In Arabic texting, numbers stand in for Arabic sounds that have no letter in the English alphabet. 3 is the letter ع (3ain), that deep sound from the throat. 7 is ح, a breathy, whispered h. 2 is the hamza, the little catch in your throat you make in the middle of "uh-oh". This way of writing Arabic with Latin letters and numbers is called Arabizi, sometimes Franco-Arabic or just Franco.Now let's look at why it exists, what every number means, and why I don't make my students learn it.<h2 id="585add1f-1cb9-451b-a2a8-bc1689178f62" data-toc-id="585add1f-1cb9-451b-a2a8-bc1689178f62" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">A message you can't quite read</h2>Picture it. Your colleague from Beirut sends this to the team chat:<blockquote>kifak 7abibi? ana 3al tari2, 5alas 10 d2aye2 w ba3mel l meeting</blockquote>You recognise some of it. "Habibi", obviously. "Meeting", yes. Maybe "khalas". But the rest looks like a password someone forgot to hide. You're not sure if you're reading Arabic, English or a car number plate.It's actually simple once you know the code: "How are you, my friend? I'm on my way, ten minutes and I'll start the meeting." Every number is just a letter in disguise.<h2 id="9fbf5839-f468-47f6-b012-39fd3a35477f" data-toc-id="9fbf5839-f468-47f6-b012-39fd3a35477f" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Why Arabs write Arabic with numbers</h2>Go back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mobile phones and chat programs had no Arabic keyboard, or a very clumsy one. Young people across the Arab world wanted to text in the language they actually speak at home, so they used the keyboard they had.Most Arabic sounds were easy to write with Latin letters. A few weren't, so people picked numbers that look like the Arabic letter. That's the clever part:<ul><li>The number 3 is a mirror image of the Arabic letter ع.</li><li>The number 7 looks a lot like ح.</li><li>The number 2 resembles the little hamza sign ء.</li></ul>Arabic keyboards are everywhere now, but the habit stuck. It's fast, it mixes easily with English and French (very handy in Lebanon, where people switch languages mid-sentence), and for many people it simply feels like how you text.<h2 id="f6ae26da-5ff8-4c08-a46c-c89148b9b685" data-toc-id="f6ae26da-5ff8-4c08-a46c-c89148b9b685" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">The Arabizi numbers, one by one</h2>Arabizi has no official rulebook, so you'll see variations from country to country and from person to person. These are the ones you will meet most often:<div class="tableWrapper"><table style="min-width: 100px;"><colgroup><col><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Number</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Arabic letter</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">What it sounds like</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Example</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">2</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ء (hamza)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A short stop in the throat, like the break in "uh-oh"</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">2ahwe (coffee, in Levantine)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ع (3ain)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A squeezed sound from deep in the throat. No English equivalent</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3arabi (Arabic)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3' or gh</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">غ</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Like a French r, gargled at the back</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3'ali or ghali (expensive)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">5</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">خ</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Like the "ch" in Scottish "loch" or German "Bach"</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">5alas (that's it, enough)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">6</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ط</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A heavy, emphatic t</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">6ayyara (plane)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">7</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ح</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A strong, breathy h, as if fogging up a mirror</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">7abibi (my dear)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">8</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ق</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A q from the back of the throat</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">8alb (heart)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">9</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">ص</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A heavy, emphatic s</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">9aba7 (morning)</td></tr></tbody></table></div>In Levantine chats you'll mostly see 2, 3, 5 and 7. The 6, 8 and 9 turn up more in the Gulf and in North Africa, and many people just write t, q and s instead. And in Lebanon and Syria, the ق is usually pronounced as that little throat-stop anyway, which is why coffee is "2ahwe" and not "8ahwe".<h2 id="cd35a441-4f34-48ad-a077-ae13dea3089a" data-toc-id="cd35a441-4f34-48ad-a077-ae13dea3089a" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Why I don't teach my students Arabizi</h2>Arabizi is great for native speakers. They already know the language. The numbers are just a reminder of sounds they have been making since they were two years old.For a learner, it's a different story.First, there's no standard. The same word can be written several different ways: 7abibi, habibi, 7abiby, hbb. If you're trying to learn a word, that's three too many.Second, the numbers make words look like codes. Your brain has to stop, translate the number back into a sound, then put the word together. Try reading "ba3ref 2enno 7a2ak" out loud at normal speed. It's tiring, and tired learners give up.That's why, at Storyinteracters, we built our own way of writing spoken Arabic. It's called Storyinteracters Arabic, and it keeps just one number: the 3, because the 3ain really has nothing close to it in English or French. Everything else uses letters:<ul><li>H (capital) for ح, so 7abibi becomes Habibi</li><li>X for خ, so 5alas becomes Xalas</li><li>An apostrophe for the throat-stop, so 2ahwe becomes 'ahwe</li></ul>Compare the same sentence written three ways:<blockquote>Arabic script: عندك قهوة؟ إيه، خلص حبيبيArabizi: 3andak 2ahwe? 2eh, 5alas 7abibiStoryinteracters Arabic: 3andak 'ahwe? eh, Xalas Habibi</blockquote>"Have you got coffee? Yes, that's it, my friend." The last version you can read out loud on your first day. That matters, because reading isn't the goal. Speaking is. If you want the longer version of that argument, I wrote about it in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.storyinteracters.com/blog/can-you-learn-arabic-without-the-alphabet/">Can You Learn Arabic Without the Alphabet?</a><h2 id="dede95d3-6c41-43ae-b91f-53a1a160579c" data-toc-id="dede95d3-6c41-43ae-b91f-53a1a160579c" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">So should you learn Arabizi at all?</h2>Learn to read it, yes. It takes about ten minutes with the table above, and it will make you feel much less lost in group chats. When your friend writes "ya3teek el 3afye", you'll know it means "may God give you strength", the thing Levantine people say to anyone who has been working hard.But don't build your learning on it. Use one clear, consistent system while you're learning to speak, and let Arabizi be something you decode, not something you study.<h2 id="0ff64aa1-6882-48f3-8c8e-afc659392299" data-toc-id="0ff64aa1-6882-48f3-8c8e-afc659392299" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Frequently asked questions</h2><h3 id="c28a9fdf-bb1d-4235-92b4-1867fc98af6c" data-toc-id="c28a9fdf-bb1d-4235-92b4-1867fc98af6c" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What does 3 mean in Arabic texting?</h3>The number 3 stands for the Arabic letter ع (3ain), a sound made by tightening the throat. It appears in very common words like 3arabi (Arabic) and ma3 (with).<h3 id="23929403-1bc6-4182-b54e-55f4ee38a9cb" data-toc-id="23929403-1bc6-4182-b54e-55f4ee38a9cb" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What does 7 mean in Arabic texting?</h3>The number 7 stands for ح, a strong breathy h. You'll see it in words like 7abibi (my dear) and 7elo (nice, sweet).<h3 id="cc3d1588-7829-4d5c-ba8a-b4369ad0a61f" data-toc-id="cc3d1588-7829-4d5c-ba8a-b4369ad0a61f" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What does 2 mean in Arabic texting?</h3>The number 2 stands for the hamza, a short stop in the throat. In Levantine Arabic it also replaces the letter ق in many words, so you'll see 2ahwe (coffee) and 2alb (heart).<h3 id="2aaf528d-6784-4c3e-a484-5e15c661ed98" data-toc-id="2aaf528d-6784-4c3e-a484-5e15c661ed98" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Is Arabizi the same in every Arab country?</h3>Not quite. The core numbers (2, 3, 7) are used everywhere, but people in different countries use the others differently, and some just use letters like kh, gh and q instead.<h3 id="3892f9cd-1bdd-432a-a450-07d1e1836027" data-toc-id="3892f9cd-1bdd-432a-a450-07d1e1836027" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Do I need to learn Arabizi to learn spoken Arabic?</h3>No. It helps to recognise it, but you don't need it to learn to speak. A consistent system with as few numbers as possible is much easier for learners.<h2 id="3141f138-8d2b-46af-90a6-36495fcc3f0b" data-toc-id="3141f138-8d2b-46af-90a6-36495fcc3f0b" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Ready to start speaking Arabic?</h2>Storyinteracters is an online Levantine Arabic course for complete beginners. You learn to speak through interactive stories, starting with the most frequent verbs, and you never need the Arabic script.Try the whole of Chapter 1 for free: just your email, no credit card.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.storyinteracters.com/course-detail/chapter-1-free/32142/">Start Chapter 1 free →</a>

Seen 3, 7 or 2 in the middle of Arabic words on WhatsApp? Here's what Arabizi numbers mean, why Arabs use them, and an easier way for learners to write spoken Arabic.

What Do 3, 7 and 2 Mean in Arabic Texts? Arabizi Explained

What Do the Numbers 3, 7 and 2 Mean in Arabic Texts? Arabizi Explained

Is Arabizi the same in every Arab country?

Do I need to learn Arabizi to learn spoken Arabic?

Learning Arabic is not difficult with Storyinteracters! In this page, we post our views and reactions on Language Learning, research, language and AI, as well as on topics related to learning Arabic specifically. Please send us articles and videos to review by email to info@storyinteracters.com and add comments to our blog!

What Do the Numbers 3, 7 and 2 Mean in Arabic Texts? Arabizi Explained

What Do the Numbers 3, 7 and 2 Mean in Arabic Texts? Arabizi Explained

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