Ordering coffee in Riyadh without switching to English

Coffee is the easiest daily win in Saudi Arabic. The exchange is short, it is predictable, and you will have it every single day - which means you get to practise the same twelve words until they are automatic.

The pattern

Almost every order fits this shape:

أبغى ... لو سمحت — abgha ... law samaht — I would like ..., please

abgha is the Saudi I want. It is direct without being rude, and it will open roughly a third of the sentences you ever say here. law samaht softens it to a request.

Drop a drink in the middle:

• قهوة سعودية — gahwa sa'oodiyyah — Saudi coffee
• قهوة عربية — gahwa 'arabiyyah — the same thing, said differently
• لاتيه — lateh — latte
• أمريكانو — amrikano — americano
• شاي — shay — tea

Note the g in gahwa. The letter is qaf, and in Najdi it is pronounced like a hard English g. Say qahwa and you will be understood, but you will sound like you learned it in a classroom.

What comes back

سخن ولا بارد؟ — sukhn walla barid? — hot or cold? كبير ولا صغير؟ — kabeer walla sagheer? — large or small? سكر؟ — sukkar? — sugar?

walla is the workhorse or. Once you hear it, you know a choice is being offered even if you missed the nouns either side of it.

Answer with one word. Sukhn. Kabeer. Bidoon sukkar — without sugar. Nobody is expecting a sentence.

Paying

كم؟ — kam? — how much

Then, when you hand over the money or take the cup:

الله يعطيك العافية — allah ya'teek al-'afyah — may God give you strength

This is the phrase to reach for instead of shukran. It is warmer, it is what people actually say to someone who has just done something for them, and it will get you a smile roughly every time.

The other kind of coffee

Everything above is a cafe. Saudi coffee served in someone's home is a different thing with its own rules, and this is where guests get caught.

It arrives in a small handleless cup, poured about a third full. Take it with your right hand. When you have had enough - usually after two or three - shake the cup gently from side to side as you hand it back. Say bas, allah ya'teek al-'afyah or kifayah, enough.

If you simply hand the cup back still, it will be refilled. Politely. Repeatedly. Nobody will tell you why, because everyone assumes you know.

That small wrist shake is the single most useful piece of Saudi etiquette a newcomer can learn, and no phrasebook has it.

If you want the rest of the daily exchanges in the same shape - the sentence, the likely reply, and the audio to hear both - that is what the book is.