Arabic Replies for Greetings, Thanks, and Good Wishes

Receiving a message in Arabic and not knowing what to send back is a more common problem than not knowing how to start one. Arabic replies are largely fixed — there is a usual answer to each greeting, and using it is the easy, expected thing.

Here they are, grouped by what you have just been sent.

Replying to the salam

The rule of thumb is simple: reply at least as fully as you were greeted. The answer mirrors the greeting and puts وعليكم first.

If they wrote	Reply with
السلام عليكم	وعليكم السلام
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله	وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته	وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته

Answering a short greeting with a fuller reply is warm and completely normal. Answering a full greeting with a bare وعليكم السلام is fine too — etiquette encourages matching or exceeding, and most people simply mirror.

Replying to a time-of-day greeting

These swap the second word rather than repeating it:

If they wrote	Reply with
صباح الخير	صباح النور
مساء الخير	مساء النور

With someone you know well, the morning greeting has warmer answers — صباح الورد and صباح الفل. They are affectionate rather than formal, and they are a pleasant thing to send back to family or a close friend.

Replying to thanks

If they wrote	Reply with	Sense
شكراً	عفواً	You’re welcome
شكراً جزيلاً	عفواً	The same answer serves
شكراً	على الرحب والسعة	A warmer “you are most welcome”
شكراً	لا شكر على واجب	”No thanks needed” — for something you were glad to do

عفواً is the everyday answer and always works. The other two are warmer: لا شكر على واجب in particular gently waves the thanks away, and suits being thanked for something small or something you would have done anyway.

Replying to congratulations

If they wrote	Reply with
مبروك	بارك الله فيك
ألف مبروك	بارك الله فيك

بارك الله فيك — barak Allah fik — blesses the person congratulating you, which is why it works as a reply to almost any good wish rather than only to congratulations.

Replying to Eid and Ramadan wishes

If they wrote	Reply with
عيد مبارك	عيدكم مبارك
عيد مبارك	تقبل الله منا ومنكم
كل عام وأنتم بخير	وأنتم بخير وسعادة

عيدكم مبارك returns the greeting to them. تقبل الله منا ومنكم — “may God accept from us and from you” — is widely exchanged around Eid and works both as a greeting and as a reply.

For Ramadan wishes, returning the same wish is normal and unremarkable — رمضان مبارك answered with رمضان مبارك.

When you are not sure

Three answers cover a great deal of ground:

• وعليكم السلام for anything that started with a salam.
• بارك الله فيك for any good wish or blessing sent your way.
• شكراً — thanking someone for their message is never wrong.

Phrases and customs vary by region and community, so choose wording that feels right for your context. If you are replying to a specific person, following what they used is the most reliable guide there is.

Finding a reply quickly

Each phrase page in the phrase library lists its common replies, so if you can find the phrase you were sent, the answer is on the same page. Searching by meaning works well here — you can look up thank you and read the replies without knowing how شكراً is spelled.

From the keyboard, insert the reply from Insert Greetings & Phrases and send it. Star the three above and they will be one click away.

Next step

Open the phrase library and look up the greeting you were last sent — its page has the reply and explains why that reply is the one used. To go the other way, Arabic greetings covers opening a message.