English to Moroccan Darija Dictionary (2023) 🇲🇦

Living in Morocco and not knowing the language can be tricky. Moroccan Darija is a dialect of Modern Standard Arabic, but to say it’s Darija is far from MSA is an understatement. Arabic has tons of dialects including Egyptian, Lebanese, Libyan, and Sudanese… but Moroccan Arabic is tricky, as it is often very different from other dialects and there are very few resources for learning Moroccan Darija. There’s basically one textbook, and it’s over a decade old.

My husband saw me struggling to learn his native language, so together we created this spreadsheet. As of now, it’s very basic, but so far it’s been incredibly helpful for me in figuring out the fundamentals as I learn. My husband is a freelance developer, and he is working on an app version of this spreadsheet eventually but for now, we’ll host it here.

Feel free to download it, use it, love it, and add to it! If you have any suggestions to make it better, send us an email 🙂 We’d love feedback on how to make this a better resource for all Darija learners.

Click here to access and download the English/Moroccan Darija Dictionary via Google Sheets.

A few notes about the English to Moroccan Darija Dictionary:

Anas is from the Khemisset region. His dialect will likely differ from someone who is from somewhere else, such as Nador or Dakhla. Regional dialects vary, but most people should know what you’re saying!

Darija uses letters to represent sounds that we don’t have in English:

• 7 (ح) is a breathy hhaa sound (watch this video)
• 3 (ع) is a throaty ahh sound (watch this video)
• 9 (ق) is a glottal stop that sounds like it’s coming from the back of the throat (watch this video)

For more information about Moroccan Darija:

• See our full list of Darija language resources
• Read our Essential Moroccan Darija Phrases for Travel
• See our tips on the best way to learn Darija

Check out this list of Darija books

• Moroccan Arabic: Shnoo the Hell is Going On H’naa? A Practical Guide to Learning Moroccan Darija – the Arabic Dialect of Morocco by Aaron Sakulich
• Enjoy Morocco, Speak Darija! Book 1: Moroccan Dialectal Arabic by M. Gerard Wissocq
• Most Common Expressions You Will Need While You Are In Morocco by Ahmad Allali
• Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook & Dictionary 4
• Peace Corps Moroccan Arabic (Darija) Textbook (2011) – Probably the most famous and useful book for Darija learners, and it’s free!
• A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Moroccan-English by Richard S. Harrell – Also free!

Some of these may be Amazon links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.

A few final notes about the Moroccan Darija spreadsheet

This resource is completely free, but if you would like to contribute to the project through Buy Me A Coffee, 100% of donations go directly to Moroccan animal aid efforts.

If you have any suggestions or would like to contribute to the spreadsheet, that would be awesome! We hope this will be a helpful resource for many people trying to learn the language. Please send us a message and let us know what feedback you have or if you’d like to help.