Arabic Saying “It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Arabic Beginner Lesson- 34
When someone introduces himself or herself, a polite response is tasharrafnaa.
(tah-shah-raf-nah; It’s a pleasure to meet you.) tasharrafnaa is a formal
response, whereas ‘ahlan wa sahlan (ahel-an wah sah-lan; Nice to meet you.)
is much more informal.
sharafa is the Arabic term for “honor,” which means that tasharrafnaa literally
translates to “We’re honored.” In English, it’s the equivalent of “It’s a pleasure
to meet you.”
‘ahlan wa sahlan is a phrase with a dual role: When used at the beginning of
a dialogue, it means “hi” (see the section “You say hello . . .” earlier in this
chapter for further explanation). When used right after an introduction,
you’re informally saying “Nice to meet you.”