Vocabulary Cards — Session 15: I Drink...

Print this page. Cut along the dotted lines. Each card is index-card sized. Carry them in your pocket. Look at one card during snack time, at breakfast, before bed.

Card 1

Say it: ASH-rab Means: I drink

🎨 Picture: A child holding a cup with both hands, taking a sip.

Use it when: You pick up your water bottle. You sit down for breakfast. Someone asks what you want — and you start your answer with this word.

Card 2

Say it: MAA Means: Water

🎨 Picture: A clear glass of water on a kitchen counter, ice cubes inside.

Use it when: You're thirsty. After running around outside. At dinner, when mama asks what you'd like to drink.

Card 3

Say it: ha-LEEB Means: Milk

🎨 Picture: A tall glass of milk next to a bowl of cereal.

Use it when: Breakfast time. Before bed. When you pour it over your cornflakes. When teta offers you a warm cup.

Card 4

Say it: 'a-SEER Means: Juice

🎨 Picture: A glass of orange juice with a striped straw, an orange sliced beside it.

Use it when: At a birthday party. With your lunchbox. When baba squeezes oranges on a Saturday morning.

Card 5

Say it: AH-weh Means: Coffee

🎨 Picture: A tiny Lebanese coffee cup (finjan) on a saucer, steam rising. Sitto holding it on the balcony.

Use it when: You see a grown-up sipping in the morning. When jiddo and sitto sit together after lunch. (Kids don't drink it — but you'll hear this word EVERY day in a Lebanese house.)

Card 6

Say it: SHAAY Means: Tea

🎨 Picture: A clear glass of tea with mint leaves floating on top.

Use it when: Someone visits the house. After dinner. When it's cold outside and you wrap your hands around a warm cup.

Card 7

Say it: RAYB Means: Yogurt drink (ayran / laban drink)

🎨 Picture: A cold glass of frothy white yogurt drink next to a plate of rice.

Use it when: At lunch with rice and chicken. On a hot day. When you want something tangy and cold — a very Levantine drink.

This word starts with our letter of the day: ر (ra). Say it slowly: rrrrrayb. Feel the roll at the front of your mouth.

A bonus card — for the family

Card 8 (bonus)

Say it: bi-SIH-ta-k Means: To your health! (said when someone drinks or eats)

🎨 Picture: Two cousins clinking their juice glasses together at the kitchen table.

Use it when: Someone takes their first sip. Someone finishes a glass of water. You hand a cup to a friend. It's the Lebanese "cheers" — warm, everyday, said all the time.

In a Lebanese house, no one drinks alone. Someone always says bisihtak — and you say Allah yi'afeek back (or just smile).

How to use these cards

1. Put them on the fridge. Drinks live in the fridge. The cards belong there too.
2. Use them at meals. Before each sip, name the drink. Ana ashrab ma'. Ana ashrab haleeb.
3. Pick a "drink of the day." Today is 'aseer day. Say it every time you pour one.
4. Let the kid be in charge. Ask: "Shu btishrab?" (What do you drink?) Let them answer with a card.

On the letter of the day — ر (ra)

Today's letter is ر. You hear it in رَيب (rayb) and عَصير ('aseer).

It's a small letter that looks like a little hook hanging down. It makes a rolled rrr sound — like a tiny engine starting. Some kids get it on the first try, some kids take a year. Both are fine.

Look for ر in your cards. It's in 'aseer — can you find it? (Hint: it's the very last letter, hanging at the end.)

A note for the grown-ups

The verb أَشرَب (ashrab — I drink) is the first present-tense verb your child is meeting in this course. Don't drill it. Just use it. Every glass of water this week is a chance:

Ana ashrab ma'. Ana ashrab haleeb. Ana ashrab 'aseer.

Seven days of this and they own it. Promise.

Yalla Arabic · Vocabulary Cards · Session 15