Greetings in Tunisian Arabic

Greetings are the front door into Tunisian: “3aslema” to say hello, “3aychek” to say thanks, “beslema” when you leave. They're the first words your family expects from you — and the ones that get the biggest smiles.

Every word below comes from spoken Derja, not textbook Arabic: Arabic script, franco pronunciation (the digits 3, 7 and 9 stand for Arabic sounds) and a real everyday sentence.