Arabic varieties glossary: MSA, colloquial Arabic, Darija and more

Core terms

• Fusha (الفصحى) — “the most eloquent”: the formal Arabic standard. It covers Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic.
• Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) — today’s formal written and broadcast Arabic, shared by all Arab countries: news, books, documents, education.
• Classical Arabic — the Arabic of the Quran and early literature; same core grammar as MSA, older vocabulary and style.
• Quranic Arabic — the Classical Arabic of the Quran, studied for understanding; recitation follows Tajweed rules.
• ʿAmmiyya (العامية) — colloquial or spoken Arabic in general, as opposed to Fusha.
• Dialect / variety — a regional form of spoken Arabic. “Variety” is often preferred because it carries no judgement about status.
• Diglossia — using a formal standard for writing and formal speech and a local variety for daily life, as Arabic speakers do.

Regional varieties

• Darija (الدارجة) — “the everyday language”: Moroccan spoken Arabic. Algerians and Tunisians call theirs darja or derja.
• Maghrebi Arabic — the spoken Arabic of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
• Hassaniya — the Arabic variety of Mauritania and the far south of Morocco; distinct from northern Darija.
• Egyptian Arabic (Masri) — Egypt’s spoken Arabic, widely recognised through media; Saʿidi is spoken in Upper Egypt.
• Levantine Arabic (Shami) — the spoken Arabic of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.
• Gulf Arabic (Khaleeji) — the spoken Arabic of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and eastern Saudi Arabia.
• Najdi and Hejazi — major Saudi varieties of central Saudi Arabia and of the western region around Jeddah and Mecca.
• Iraqi, Sudanese and Yemeni Arabic — further regional groups with their own features.

Writing and learning terms

• Harakat / tashkil — small marks above or below letters that show short vowels; usually left out in everyday writing.
• Arabizi — Arabic typed in Latin letters with numbers for some sounds, such as 3 for ع and 7 for ح.
• Tajweed — the rules for reciting the Quran correctly.
• CEFR levels (A1–C2) — the European scale used to describe language ability, used for Lisanova’s MSA levels.
• Amazigh (Tamazight) — a separate language family of North Africa, not an Arabic dialect; in Morocco it is official and often written in the Tifinagh script.

Which of these does Lisanova teach?

Modern Standard Arabic, Moroccan Darija and, as a separate path, Quran reading, Tajweed, memorization and meanings. Lisanova does not teach the other regional varieties in this glossary, Hassaniya or Amazigh.

Lisanova Academy teaches Modern Standard Arabic and Moroccan Darija — plus separate Quran & Islamic Studies courses — online from Morocco, in private 60-minute video lessons with Moroccan teachers. It does not teach Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi or other Arabic dialects. The first trial lesson is free; one private hour is $20, and private packages are 8 hours $120, 12 hours $170 and 16 hours $200.