| /u-rīd/ | أُريد |
| /arīd/ | أَريد |
| /abā/ | أبا |
| /ab-ġī/ | أبغي |
| /abī/ | أبي |
| /ab-ġā/ | أَبغى |
| /baġī/ | باغي |
| /ašštī/ | أشتي |
| /biddī/ | بدي |
| /ʕāyiz/ | عايز |
| /dāyir/ | داير |
| /bġīt/ | بغيت |
| /nḥib/ | نحب |
By the end of this article, you will learn the different ways to say I want in Arabic. You will also learn in which dialect each one of them is being used.
أُريد
/u-rīd/
Is the most common word used in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Classical Arabic (fus-ḥa) for saying I want. It is derived from the root verb “أراد” /arāda/ which means to want. arāda actually means he wanted. Root verbs in Arabic are always in the masculine past tense form.
أَريد
/arīd/
arīd is just a natural mutation of the Classical Arabic word u-rīd that evolved sometime in history. This variant is widely used in many Arabic dialects across Arab countries such as Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Oman. It is also used in the United Arab Emirates, more specifically in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
أبا
/abā/
While arīd is used more in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in UAE, abā is extensively heard in the northern Emirates such as Dubai, Sharjah, and Ras Al Khaimah. It is also not uncommon to be used in some parts of Oman.
أبغي
/ab-ġī/
Much like abā, ab-ġī is spoken in the northern Emirates of the UAE. However, it is not widely spread as abā.
ab-ġī comes from the root verb “بغى” /baġā/, which one of its many meanings is to want or to ask for. If you are interested in learning about all the other meanings of the word baġā, check Almaany website.
أبي
/abī/
In Kuwaiti, Qatari and Bahraini dialects you will hear /abī/ being used for “I want”. You would rarely hear it being used in Emirati dialect.
While /abī/ is being used in those dialects, they are pronounced a little differently. In the Kuwaiti dialect and Emirati dialect, they are pronounced the same. However, in the Qatari dialect, the letter “b” is stressed. Bahraini dialect on the other hand stretches the letter “a” as well.
I want in Kuwait dialect: /abī/
I want in Qatari dialect: /abbī/
I want in Bahraini dialect: /aābbī/
أَبغى
/ab-ġā/
Saudi dialect is notorious for the use of /ab-ġā/ when it comes to saying I want. However, it is not the only word used in Saudi for I want as there are many dialects in Saudi.
باغي
/bāġī/
This word is used in Oman. What is interesting about this word is that it uses a form in Arabic called “إسم الفاعل” /essm al-faʕil/. It is literally translated to the name, or noun, of the doer. Simply, It is the name given to the person or the thing that does something. There will be a more detailed lesson about essm al-faʕil.
أشتي
/ašštī/
aššti is believed to come from the word ašštahi “أشتهي” with the letter “h” being removed. ešštaha “اشتهى”, which is the root verb, can mean to desire, to crave for, or to lust after.
It is generally used in the Yemeni dialect to mean “I want”.
بدي
/biddī/
If you are in any of the Levant countries, you would hear the word biddī being used for “I want”. There are a couple of theories, that I am not able to confirm, as to where this word comes from. Both theories relate to the word “ودي” /wuddī/, which means I wish or I would love. However, each theory has a different explanation of how it may have evolved to the word known today.
The first theory refers to the word “بودي” /biwuddī/, which can be translated to: within my wish. This theory suggests that “و”, the w, was omitted thus the word becomes biddī.
The other theory refers to the word “ودي” /wuddī/ without the extra “ب”. This theory in turns suggests that some nations had difficulty pronouncing the letter “و” /w/ and it is pronounced as a “v” instead. This made it sound viddī. Since the letter v doesn’t exist in Arabic and it is actually very close to the letter b in pronunciation, it became biddī with time.
While it is pronounced biddī in most Levantine dialects, you will find it pronounced baddī in Lebanon.
عايز
/ʕāyiz/
This word is used specifically in Egypt and some parts of Sudan. Similar to bāġī, ʕāyiz is essm al-faʕil “إسم الفاعل” and it literally means the one in need of. Because it is essm al-faʕil, it is gender-specific. A male will say ʕāyiz, while a female will say ʕāyizah.
There is also another variation of it; ʕāwiz/ʕāwwzah.
داير
/dāyir/
dāyir is another example of essm al-faʕil “إسم الفاعل” and it is used in Sudan. I have no idea where did this word come from. Maybe someone from Sudan can enlighten us.
Do you want to guess how a female would say “I want” in Sudanese Dialect?
بغيت
/bġīt/
bġīt is used in Moroccan dialect, darija.
نحب
/nḥib/
In Tunisia, they used nḥib for “I want”. it actually translates to we love or we would love.
Check out the Answers section if you have a question about Arabic.
The usage of the words explained in this post is not definitive nor thorough. It rather points out the most obvious and distinct words used in different Arabic dialects.
