How to Say “How Are You” in Arabic — kifak, kifik, and the forms textbooks skip

The 3 Ways Palestinians Ask “How Are You”

1. Kifak / Kifik (كيفك) — the everyday default

Kifak is the workhorse — a contraction of kif halak that Levantine speech wore down to two syllables. It is casual but never rude: friends, coworkers, the shopkeeper you see every day. Between people who know each other it routinely replaces hello entirely.

2. Kif halak (كيف حالك) — the fuller, more respectful form

Same question, more cloth. Kif halak — literally “how is your condition?” — reads as warmer and more deliberate, which makes it the right choice for elders, new acquaintances, and anyone you want to show a little extra respect. It is still dialect, not MSA: the textbook كيف حالُكَ (kayfa haluka) is something no Palestinian says out loud.

3. Shu akhbarak (شو أخبارك) — “what's your news?”

This is the distinctly Palestinian move. Where kifak can be answered on autopilot, shu akhbarak opens the door to actual conversation — work, family, the news, the neighbor's wedding. Expect to hear the two stacked together, sometimes with a third (كيف العيلة؟ kif il-3eileh? — “how's the family?”) before you have managed to answer the first.

Masculine, Feminine, Plural: One Question, Three Endings

Arabic changes the ending of these phrases to match the person you are addressing. The Arabic spelling barely moves — the vowel does the work:

The plural kifkom covers any group — mixed, all men, all women. If you walk into a living room full of relatives, one kifkom greets everybody at once.

How to Answer “How Are You” in Arabic

Three answers cover ninety percent of real life:

Mni7 is the plain “good” — and note that here the ending tracks the speaker: a man says mni7, a woman says mni7a. Alhamdulillah is the answer that never fails — gratitude as a reflex, used by speakers of every register and background. And mashi l7al — “the situation is walking” — is the wry, honest middle option Palestinians reach for when things are just okay.

Whatever you answer, return the question. The full exchange sounds like: منيح، الحمد لله — وإنت؟ (mni7, alhamdulillah — w inta?) — “good, thank God — and you?” (Say w inti? back to a woman.) Skipping the return question is the conversational equivalent of hanging up mid-call.

How Palestinians Actually Use It

In Palestine, kifak is rarely a single question — it is the opening note of a little ritual. Greetings stack and loop: kifak, shu akhbarak, kif il-3eileh, kif il-shughul? — how are you, what's your news, how's the family, how's work — often before anyone has answered anything. The point is not information; it is warmth. Answering every question with one alhamdulillah and asking yours back is completely normal.

Two cultural notes worth knowing. First, asking about someone's family is expected, not nosy — skipping it with people you know can read as cold. Second, alhamdulillah does real work: it can mean “great,” “fine,” or — said flatly with a certain look — “we're surviving, don't ask.” Tone carries the actual answer. You will hear the same dance across the Levant; how it differs in Beirut or Cairo is covered in our Arabic dialects guide.

Common Mistakes & Pronunciation Tips

• Using kifak for everyone. The ending must match the listener: kifik to a woman, kifkom to a group. It is the single most common learner slip — and the most instantly noticed.
• The 7 in mni7 is a real sound. It stands for ح — a breathy, deep H from the throat, like fogging a mirror. Mni7 is roughly “mnee-H,” not “mini.” Our alphabet trainer lets you hear and drill it.
• Answering and stopping. “Mni7.” followed by silence sounds abrupt. Always bounce it back: w inta? / w inti?
• Reaching for MSA. Kayfa haluka will be understood — and will mark you as a textbook. Kifak is what the street, the kitchen, and the group chat actually use.