Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Navigating international borders confidently requires specialized vocabulary. In this lesson, you will learn the terms needed to declare items, answer immigration queries, and understand transit and customs procedures.

### Immigration and Crossing Borders

When traveling internationally, you will encounter offices for هجرة (immigration) and points of عبور (crossing). Officials may ask you questions using the word أي (which), followed directly by a noun to specify exactly what they are asking about.

{{item:1178807}}

{{item:1178810}}

### Inspections and Stating Purpose

Security measures like تفتيش (inspection) are in place to prevent illegal activities such as تهريب (smuggling). 

To explain actions taken to prevent a negative outcome—like avoiding a fine or staying out of trouble during an inspection—you can use the conjunctions لئلا or حتى لا, both meaning "so that not" or "lest". You may recognize لئلا as a contraction of لِـ (for), أن (that), and لا (not). These are followed by a present tense verb.

{{item:1178808}}

{{item:1178814}}

{{item:1178817}}

### Customs, Exemptions, and Validity

If you are carrying prohibited items, customs officials will use the verb صادر to "confiscate" them.

{{item:1178819}}

If your flight connects to another destination, you will wait in the ترانزيت (transit) area.

{{item:1178822}}

You will also need to describe the status of your documents and goods using adjectives like معفى (exempt) and ساري (valid). Remember that these adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. For example, a masculine noun takes the form معفى, while a feminine person or noun takes the form معفاة. Likewise, a feminine noun like تأشيرة (visa) uses the feminine form سارية.

{{item:1178827}}

{{item:1178825}}

{{item:1178829}}

Finally, when discussing what you have with you, you may encounter the noun حيازة (possession), which is heavily used in legal and border contexts.

{{item:1178833}}

Border Control and Customs

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
immigration	هجرةhijra
The immigration officer asked me which passport I am carrying.	سألتني ضابطة الهجرة أي جواز سفر أحمل.sa'alatnî dâbitatu l-hijrati ayya jawâzi safarin ahmilu
You must give your papers to the immigration office so that you do not pay a fine.	يجب أن تعطي أوراقك لمكتب الهجرة لئلا تدفع غرامة.yajibu an tu'tiya awrâqaka limaktabi al-hijrati li'allâ tadfa'a gharâmatan.
crossing (the act of crossing)	عبورoubour
Which crossing point will you use?	أي نقطة عبور ستستخدم؟ayya nuqṭati 'ubûrin satastakhdimu?
You must wait at the crossing point so that the guard does not bother you.	يجب أن تنتظر عند نقطة العبور لئلا تزعجك الحارسة.yajibu an tantazira 'inda nuqtati al-'ubûri li'allâ tuz'ijaka al-hârisatu.
Which guard bothered you?	أي حارس أزعجك؟ayyu hârisin az'ajaka?
inspection	تفتيشtaftîsh
Do not carry prohibited things so that you are not afraid of the inspection.	لا تحمل أشياء ممنوعة لئلا تخاف من التفتيش.lâ tahmil ashyâ'a mamnû'atan li'allâ takhâfa mina ttaftîshi.
smuggling	تهريبtahrîb
Which type of smuggling did the police discover?	أي نوع من التهريب اكتشفت الشرطة؟ayya naw'in mina t-tahrîbi ktashafati sh-shurtatu?
The officer monitors the airport well so that smuggling does not happen.	تراقب الضابطة المطار جيدا حتى لا يحدث التهريب.turâqibu aḍ-ḍâbiṭatu al-maṭâra jayyidan ḥattâ lâ yaḥdutha at-tahrîbu
to confiscate	صادرsâdara
The customs employee will confiscate it.	ستصادره موظفة الجمارك.satusâdiruhu muwadhdhafatu l-jamâriki
Did the inspector confiscate the meat?	هل صادرت المفتشة اللحم؟hal sâdarati al-mufattishatu al-lahma?
transit	ترانزيتtrânzît
We will stay in the transit hall for an hour.	سنبقى في قاعة الترانزيت لمدة ساعة.sanabqâ fî qâ'atit tarânzît limuddati sâ'ah
Which officer asked you about the transit visa?	أي ضابط سألك عن تأشيرة الترانزيت؟ayyu dâbitin sa'alaka 'an ta'shîrati at-trânzît?
exempt	معفىmu'fan
Is the diplomat exempt from inspection?	هل الدبلوماسية معفاة من التفتيش؟hal id-diblumâsiyyatu mu'fâtun mina t-taftîsh?
customs (adjective)	جمركيjumruki
This item is exempt from the customs tax.	هذا الغرض معفى من الضريبة الجمركية.hâdhâ al-gharadu mu'fan mina ad-darîbati al-jumrukiyyati
valid (in effect, in force)	ساريsâri
My visa is valid for a month.	تأشيرتي سارية لمدة شهر.ta'shiirati sâriyatun limuddati shahrin
This driver's license is not valid.	رخصة السائق هذه ليست سارية.rukhsatu assâ'iqi hâdhihi laysat sâriyatan
The tourist paid the customs tax.	دفعت السائحة الضريبة الجمركية.dafa'atis-sa'ihatu ad-dariibata al-jumrukiyyah
possession	حيازةhiyâzah
Possession of a weapon at the airport is prohibited.	حيازة السلاح في المطار ممنوعة.hiyâzatu as-silâhi fî al-matâri mamnûʻah.
The officer discovered the traveler's possession of drugs.	اكتشفت الضابطة حيازة المسافرة للمخدرات.iktashafati id-dâbitatu hiyâzata al-musâfirati lilmukhaddarâti