Meaning
In Moroccan Arabic, labas? is a routine greeting or check-in meaning roughly ‘Are you fine?’ or ‘Everything okay?’. Labas also appears in positive replies such as labas, lhamdulillah.
How it is used
Peace Corps Morocco teaching material places labas in its basic greetings unit alongside other routine ways of asking how someone is. It can be a question and can also begin a reassuring answer.
Examples
- “Labas?”
- “Labas, lhamdulillah.”
- “A quick labas? can function as an ordinary check that someone is well.”
Pronunciation
· labas
Tone and register
Friendly, routine and socially ordinary in everyday interaction.
Visitor guidance
Learn labas first for recognition and ordinary greeting contexts. Do not treat use of the formula as evidence of a speaker’s city, ethnicity, Amazigh or Arab identity, education, class, or level of formality in every setting.
Cultural context
Maperla treats labas as Moroccan Arabic everyday language rather than as city-specific slang. Darija varies across Morocco, and formula choice can also vary by speaker, region and relationship.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.