Lesson 1

The Arabic letters

Name of the letter

Transliteration

Last

Middle

First

Independent

alif

a, u, i, :

ba

ta

tha

th

jim

j, g

ha

kha

kh

dal

dhal

dh

ra

za

sin

shin

sh

sad

da

ta

dha

dh

'ain

'a, 'u, 'i, '

ghain

gh

fa

qaf

kaf

lam

mim

nun

ha

wau

w, u

ya

y, i

Pronunciation of the letters

Letter

Transliteration

Description

a, u, i, :

b as in bat

t as in ten

It is the folded and comes only at the end of a word. It is

not pronounced, but makes the last syllable take -a

th

th as in thin

j, g

j as in jam, or sometimes g as in gallery

kh

A sound not found in English, but like the German ch as in

Ich, or the Russian as in , vaguely like k as in king

d as in do

dh

th as in this

It may be pronounced like a as in British can't, or

like u as in tune, or
like i as in dim, or
a glottal stop at the end of a vowel, or
the long a sound as in father

A sound not found in English, but like the Hebrew as in

, vaguely like h as in have

Pronounced like r as in ray but with phonological quality

similar to

z as in zebra

s as in sun

sh

sh as in shine

A sound not found in English, but vaguely like s as in psalm

A sound not found in English. Pronounced like d as in den but

dh

'a, 'u, 'i, '

with phonological quality similar to

A sound not found in English. Pronounced like t as in ten but
with phonological quality similar to
A sound not found in English. Pronounced like th as in this
but with phonological quality similar to
A sound not found in English, but like the Hebrew as in

, vaguely like a as in British can't, u as in tune, i as

in dim, or a glottal stop at the end of a vowel

gh

f as in fan

A sound not found in English. Pronounced like k as in king

A sound not found in English, but like the French r as in rouge

but with phonological quality similar to , or like the

Hebrew as in

k as in king

l as in line

m as in mother

n as in no

h as in have

w, u

w as in were, or the long u sound as in tooth

y, i

y as in yes, or the long i sound as in tease

The Arabic orthography

The Arabic orthography is generally made up of the letters listed above. Of course it has peculiarity of its
own. We will tackle them one by one here.

The different letter forms

Notice that some letters will have three different forms, depending on the their positions in a word. The
letters
them.

do not join to the following letter, but all the letters join to the letter before

Hamza,

can be the hamza carriers. When they carry hamza, they will be written like
Last

Middle

First

Independent

and are pronounced separately. The hamza functions like the diaeresis in "nave," but it also separates the
vowel it is over, or under, from the consonant before it. When such letters are transliterated, the diaeresis
may be over the vowel as appropriate (, , ). A colon (:) indicates a glottal stop at the end of a vowel.
Pronunciation Transliteration

Meaning

Example

lil a saf

lilsaf

sorry

al is laam

alslaam

Islam

as ta: ji ra

asta:jira

(request to)
borrow

uu laa i ka

uulaaka

those

When alif with hamza over it comes at the end of a word, hamza will be written after the word.
Example: samaa: "sky"

The vowel markers, consonant doubling marker, etc.

indicates the short a sound.

indicates the short u sound.

 indicates the short i sound.

indicates the -an sound and comes at the end of a word.
indicates the -un sound and comes at the end of a word.
indicates the -in sound and comes at the end of a word.
indicates doubling of a consonant. In Arabic the doubled consonants are pronounced with their full
strenght.

indicates there is no vowel.

Examples:

is pronounced ha hu hi
is pronounced jan
is pronounced dun
is pronounced tin

is pronounced mak kah

is pronounced suk ran

Except for the consonant doubling marker, other markers are generally not shown in books and
newspapers, except in primary school text books.

The long vowels and diphthongs

The long a vowel is indicated by
Example: rabbunaa "our lord."
The long u vowel is indicated by
Example: kiiluu "kilograms."
The long i vowel is indicated by
Example: kiiluu "kilograms."
The diphthong au is indicated by
Example: saum "fasting."

The diphthong ai is indicated by

Example:
saiyarah "car."

The letter alif,

Sometimes alif is not pronounced and is used to distinguish words with otherwise the same spellings.

Example: ana "I."

If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced anaa.
Sometimes alif is not written, but a word is pronounced as if alif is there.
Example: haadha "this."
This is an interesting example showing that the invisible alif is pronounced but the visible alif is not
pronounced.
If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced hadhaa.
Since the Arabs do not like consonant clusters at the beginning of a word, when two consonants thus come
together without an intervening vowel, alif is written before the word and is generally pronounced i, but
it is elided when there is a word it can link to before it.
Examples:

ism "name," but

bismi-llaahi-rrahmaani-rrahiim "By the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful."
When alif is written after lam they will join together.
Example: ( i.e. + + + + + + ) alslaam "Islam."

The letter ya,

Sometimes ya is pronounced as a long a sound, and in this case it is written without the two dots below
( )in the lessons.
Example: ilaa "to."
If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced ilii.

The definite article,

It is used much the same way as the English definite article "the." alif of the definite article is elided
when it is linked to the word before it.
Examples:

alfasl "the classroom."

ila-lfasl (pronounced i lal fasl) "to the classroom."
The sun and moon letters

The Arabic letters are divided into two categories. One category is the "sun letters,"

and the other is the "moon letters,"

.
The sun letters are
You can see that they are sibilant and dental sounds. All others are moon letters.
If the first letter after the definite article is a sun letter, lam in the definite article is elided and the sun
letter doubled.
Examples:

ashshams (pronounced ash shams) "the sun."

attaalib (pronounced at taa lib) "the student."
If the first letter after the definite article is a moon letter, the lam in the definite article is not elided and the
moon letter is not doubled.
Examples:

alqamar (pronounced al qa mar) "the moon."

alfasl (pronounced al fasl) "the classroom."
The way to read and speak Arabic
The last vowel is pronounced if there is a word following it. At the end of a sentence, or before a pause, or
in single word pronounciation, the last vowel, as well as -un or -in, is not pronounced. Exception to this
rule is -an. Long vowels of the prepositions will be pronounced short and linked to the next word. A
hyphen (-) is used to separate two words that are pronounced as if they are a single word.
Examples:
Example
Transliteration
Meaning
Description

fii

in

assuuq

the market

It is shortened to fi when linked to the

next word.
Since sin, , is a sun letter, it is
doubled after the definite article. lam
of the definite article is elided. The last
vowel -u is the subject marker but not
pronounced, and after preposition it will
change to -i.

fi-ssuuq

assuuqu kabiir

in the market

Notice that the whole definite article is

elided, but the sun letter after the
definite article still has to be doubled.

the market is big

The last vowel -u in assuuq is

now pronounced, since there is a word
following it. The adjective kabiir
has the unpronounced -un at the end of
this sentence.

almadrasah

the school

Since mim, , is a moon letter, it is not

doubled after the definite article, and the
definite article is not elided. The folded
ta, , is not pronounced when no word
follows it.

almadrasatu
jadiidah

the school is new

Here the folded ta, , is pronounced t

and takes the subject marker -u, thus
pronounced tu. The adjective
jadiid takes the feminine marker to
agree with the feminine noun .

In the lessons all ending vowels (-a, -u, -i) and the endings -an, -un, -in are transliterated in full. So care
must be taken when reading the passages aloud.
However detailed the description may look, I cannot guaratee that there is nothing missing, and that
everything is explained clearly. The lessons certainly help.
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