مرحبا، كيفك؟

A common pronunciation is:

• marḥaba, kīfak? when speaking to a man
• marḥaba, kīfik? when speaking to a woman

A few notes:

• ḥ in marḥaba is a stronger, breathier h sound than English h
• kh is not used here; كيفك starts with a normal k
• The long ī in kīfak/kīfik sounds like the ee in see

You may also see it written in Latin letters as marhaba, keefak/keefik.

The sentence has two parts:

• مرحبا = hello
• كيفك؟ = how are you?

More literally:

• كيف = how
• -ك = you (addressing one person)

So كيفك؟ is an everyday Levantine way to ask someone how they are.

Because Arabic often does not use a present-tense verb like am / is / are in sentences like this.

In English, you say:

• How are you?

In Levantine Arabic, you can simply say:

• كيفك؟ = How are you?

This is completely normal. Arabic often leaves out the present-tense to be in everyday speech.

Yes. In speech, it changes by gender, even though it is often written the same way without short vowels.

Common forms:

• كيفك؟ pronounced kīfak? = to a man
• كيفك؟ pronounced kīfik? = to a woman

You may also hear plural forms such as:

• كيفكن؟ = How are you all?

So the written form can look identical in some cases, but the pronunciation tells you who is being addressed.

مرحبا is widely understood across the Arabic-speaking world, not just in the Levant.

In Levantine, it is a very normal and friendly greeting. You may also hear other greetings such as:

• أهلا
• أهلا وسهلا
• هاي in very casual speech

But مرحبا is safe, common, and easy for learners to use.

It is generally neutral to friendly and works well in everyday situations.

• مرحبا is polite and common
• كيفك؟ is natural in spoken Levantine and sounds conversational

It is fine for friends, classmates, neighbors, shopkeepers, and many casual or semi-polite situations.

If you want something a bit more formal or more standard, you might hear:

• كيف حالك؟

But in everyday Levantine conversation, كيفك؟ is extremely common.

Both mean How are you?, but they feel slightly different.

• كيفك؟ is very common in spoken Levantine and sounds natural in daily conversation
• كيف حالك؟ is also common, but can sound a bit fuller, slightly more formal, or closer to Standard Arabic

You should definitely learn كيفك؟ if you want natural Levantine speech.

Some very common answers are:

• منيح = good
• الحمد لله = thank God / I’m well
• تمام = fine / great
• ماشي الحال = okay / getting by

Often the speaker will return the question:

• منيح، وإنت؟ = Good, and you?
• الحمد لله، كيفك إنت؟ = I’m well, how are you?

If speaking to a woman, you may hear:

• وإنتِ؟ instead of وإنت؟

Because short vowels are usually not written in normal Arabic spelling.

So:

• kīfak
• kīfik

can both appear as كيفك

Native speakers understand the correct pronunciation from context. This is very common in Arabic writing.

If you are writing in Arabic script, yes, it is normal to use ؟ at the end of a question.

So you would write:

• مرحبا، كيفك؟

Notice that the Arabic question mark looks reversed compared with the English one.

Yes, absolutely.

In real conversation, people often say just:

• كيفك؟

especially if they already greeted the person or if the situation is casual.

Adding مرحبا simply makes it a fuller greeting:

• مرحبا، كيفك؟ = Hi, how are you?

Both are natural.

A couple of useful points:

• مرحبا ends with ا, and is commonly spelled exactly this way
• كيفك is made of كيف
  • ك
• In everyday Arabic writing, short vowels are usually omitted, so learners need to learn pronunciation separately from spelling

That means you may know the meaning of the sentence, but still need practice hearing and saying:

• kīfak
• kīfik

even though both are usually written as كيفك.