Vocabulary Cards — Session 13: I'm Hungry!

Print this page. Cut along the dotted lines. Each card is index-card sized. Carry them in your pocket. Pull one out before lunch, before dinner, before snack.

Card 1

Say it: jou-'AAN (boy) / jou-'AA-neh (girl) Means: Hungry

🎨 Picture: A kid sitting at the kitchen table holding their belly, looking up at mama with big eyes.

Use it when: You walk in from school and your stomach is growling. It's almost dinner and you can't wait. You wake up on Saturday morning ready for breakfast.

Card 2

Say it: shab-'AAN (boy) / shab-'AA-neh (girl) Means: Full

🎨 Picture: A kid pushing their plate away, hands on a round belly, smiling.

Use it when: You finished your plate and can't eat one more bite. Teta offers seconds and you've truly had enough. Someone asks if you want dessert and — for once — the answer is no.

Card 3

Say it: 'at-SHAAN (boy) / 'at-SHAA-neh (girl) Means: Thirsty

🎨 Picture: A kid coming inside after playing on the balcony in the sun, reaching for a glass of water.

Use it when: You just ran around outside. You wake up in the middle of the night. You ate something salty and need water RIGHT NOW.

Card 4

Say it: A-kil Means: Food (Levantine)

🎨 Picture: A kitchen table full of small plates — bread, cucumbers, olives, a bowl of something warm.

Use it when: You smell something cooking. You ask "what's for dinner?" You see a table being set. Mama calls everyone to the kitchen.

Card 5

Say it: BID-di AA-kul Means: I want to eat

🎨 Picture: A kid at the fridge, door open, looking inside hopefully.

Use it when: You're hungry and you want to tell someone. You're asking for a snack. You're at sito's house and she asks what you'd like.

This is one of the most useful sentences in this whole course. Two little words. Practice them out loud.

Card 6

Say it: da-JAAJ Means: Chicken

🎨 Picture: A platter of roasted chicken with rice and pine nuts, steam rising.

Use it when: Chicken is for dinner. You see chicken at the grocery store. You're ordering food. You're naming animals on a farm.

This word starts with our letter of the day: د (dal). Find the د at the beginning!

A bonus card — for the family table

Card 7 (bonus)

Say it: SAH-tayn Means: "Two healths!" — what you say to someone who is eating

🎨 Picture: A grandfather smiling at his grandkids around a table piled with food, one hand raised.

Use it when: Someone sits down to eat. Someone takes their first bite. Someone finishes a meal. The answer back is عَلى قَلبَك ('ala 'AL-bak) — "to your heart."

Every Levantine family says this. It's how we bless the food without making a big deal of it.

How to use these cards

1. Keep them in the kitchen. Tape them to the fridge. Stick them on the cabinet. This is a food session — use them where food happens.
2. Use them at real meals. Before dinner, ask: "jou'an walla shab'an?" (Hungry or full?) Let the kid answer in Arabic.
3. One card per meal. Breakfast = one card. Lunch = one card. Dinner = one card. Three reps a day and it sticks.
4. Don't correct the gender too hard. If your daughter says jou'an instead of jou'aneh — gently model the right one back. No drilling.

On the letter of the day

Today's letter is د (dal). You see it at the start of دَجاج (dajaj — chicken). It makes a "d" sound, like in daddy.

It's a tiny letter. One curve. Almost like a little hook. Once you spot it, you'll start seeing it everywhere — in names (داود Dawood), in foods, in signs.

For now: just say the words. The letter will arrive on its own time.

Yalla Arabic · Vocabulary Cards · Session 13