How to say "to learn" in Arabic
New wordMeaningto learn
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
taʿallamaתעלם
تعلم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
lamadلَامَاد
How the two words are related
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ع-ل-مRoot ع-ل-م 'to know' (ʿilm 'knowledge'): taʿallama is 'to make oneself know'. Hebrew למד has no Arabic cognate verb — but it did give Arabic a loanword: tilmīdh 'pupil' comes from Aramaic talmīd, Hebrew תלמיד.
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Levantine drops the first vowel: tʿallam; bitʿallam ʿarabi, 'I'm learning Arabic'.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairene: itʿallim.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija: tʿellem, with the schwa-like e.
In a phrase
I am learning Arabic.
The root family
ع-ل-م· knowing
Arabic's great knowledge root — science, teachers, flags, and the world itself. Hebrew's ע-ל-ם is a different root meaning "to hide" (נעלם, תעלומה), so there is no straight twin; Hebrew covers this ground with י-ד-ע and ל-מ-ד instead. Yet עולם and ʿālam are clearly the same word — many linguists hold that Arabic took ʿālam from Aramaic ʿālmā, so the world sneaks in through a side door.
- عِلْم ʿilmknowledge, science
- عَلِمَ ʿalimahe knew
- مُعَلِّم muʿallimteacher
- عَالَم ʿālamworldעוֹלָםworld — likely the same word via Aramaic
- تَعْلِيم taʿlīmeducation, instruction
- عَلَم ʿalamflag, banner