How do you say “I miss you” in Arabic?
In Palestinian and Lebanese Arabic it's ishta'tillak (اشتقتلك) to a man and ishta'tillik to a woman. Egyptians say wahashtini, literally “you've made me feel your absence.” In formal Arabic it's ishtaqtu ilayk.
I miss you
اشتقتلك
How each dialect says it
Tap to hear it the way people from each place say it.
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PalestinianJerusalem, Nablus, Gaza, Jenin0:01اشتقتلكish-TA'-til-lak texted as eshta2tellakTo a woman: اشتقتلِك ishta'tillik
In some villages the q is a k: ishtaktillak.
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LebaneseBeirut, Tripoli, Saida0:01اشتقتلكish-TA'-tel-lak texted as eshta2tellakTo a woman: اشتقتلِك ishta'tellik
“Ishta'tellak ktir” (I missed you so much) is the usual full version.
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EgyptianCairo, Alexandria0:01وحشتنيwa-HASH-ti-ni texted as wa7ashtiniTo a woman: وحشتيني wahashteeni
The absent person is the subject: “you have made me miss you.”
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GulfKuwait, the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar0:01اشتقت لكish-TAGT lak texted as eshtagt lkTo a woman: اشتقت لچ ishtagt lich
The q turns into a g in most Gulf speech.
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Formal ArabicTextbooks, news, speechesاشتقت إليكish-TAQ-tu i-LAY-ka texted as eshtaqtu ilaykTo a woman: اشتقت إليكِ ishtaqtu ilayki
Letters and poems. Sounds formal out loud.
Saying it like you mean it
The Levantine phrase comes from sh-w-q, the root of longing. Shoq is yearning, and ishta'tillak means “I have come to long for you.” In Palestinian and Lebanese cities the q is said as a glottal stop, which is where the little catch in the middle comes from. In some Palestinian villages it turns into a k.
Egyptians take a different road. Wahashtini comes from w-h-sh, the root of wildness and desolation, and the grammar puts the absent person in charge: you have made me feel desolate. The reply keeps the same shape, w inta kaman wahashtini, and you too have made me miss you.
The phrase gets heavy use in voice notes between families spread across countries. A daughter in Toronto, a mother in Nablus, a grandmother in Amman: ishta'tillik is often the first thing said on the call and the last.
In a sentence
How people actually use it, dialect by dialect.
- Palestinianاشتقتلك يمّا، إمتى بتيجي؟ishta'tillik yamma, imta bitiji?I miss you, mom. When are you coming?
- Egyptianوحشتيني أوي يا ماماwahashteeni awi ya mamaI missed you so much, mom.
- Lebaneseاشتقتلك كتير يا حبيبيishta'tellak ktir ya habibiI missed you so much, habibi.
People also ask
Why does Egyptian Arabic say wahashtini?
It's built the other way round: the person you miss is the subject. Wahashtini is closer to “you've made me feel your absence.”
How do you reply to ishta'tillak?
W ana kaman (me too) or, warmer, w ana aktar (me more).
Is there an Arabic word for missing home?
Hanin (حنين) is longing or nostalgia, often for a place. Palestinians use it for the towns and villages their families were forced out of.
Related words
Words that tend to come up in the same conversation.
How we checked this page
Checked by two AI models, not yet by a native speaker
Each dialect form above is shown only if it passed an independent check. If we weren't sure how a dialect says it, we left that dialect out rather than guess. The audio is an AI voice tuned to each dialect; we're replacing it with real speakers over time. How we check words.