Arabic
Arabic is a Semitic language spoken in Northern Africa and Western Asia, as well as by expatriate and religious communities around the world. It is related to Hebrew, Ethiopian Amharic, and a wide range of languages spoken in Africa.
Arabic has considerable variation in regional pronunciation and vocabulary. When speakers from different regions meet, they often try to speak Classical Arabic, which is not the first language of any modern communities.
The Arabic alphabet (or Abjad):
ا |
aleph | word final - makes vowel longer, e.g. mat --> man word initial - a, i, or u, depending on hamza position |
ب |
baa' | b as in "bat" |
ت |
taa' | t as in "tan" |
ث |
thaa' | th as in "thin" |
ج |
jiim | j as in "jam" |
ح |
Haa' | emphatic H with a strong breath of air |
خ |
khaa' | a hawking sound as if you're about to spit |
د |
daal | d as in "den" |
ذ |
dhaal | dh as in "then" |
ر |
raa' | r as in "rain" |
ز |
zay | z as in "zen" |
س |
siin | s as in "sun" |
ش |
shiin | sh as in "shun" |
ص |
Saad | emphatic S |
ض |
Daad | emphatic D |
ط |
Taa' | emphatic T |
ظ |
Zaa' | emphatic Z |
ع |
the 'ayn' | gutteral stop |
غ |
ghayn | gh as in the French 'r' (a growling sound like khaa' above) |
ف |
faa' | f as in "fan" |
ق |
qaaf | q pronounced as a k sound in the back of the throat |
ك |
kaaf | k as in "kane" |
ل |
laam | l as in "lane" |
م |
miim | m as in "mane" |
ن |
nuun | n as in "name" |
ه |
haa' | h as in "home" |
ؤ |
waaw | w as in "wane" |
ي |
yaa' | y as in "yes" |
ء |
the 'hamza' | a short stop/pause |
In addition to these stand-alone forms, the alphabet also has the 3 Harakaat (singular: Haraka)vowels, fatHa /a/, kasra /i/, and Damma /u/, which are written above and below the other characters when knowledge of a word's pronunciation is unclear.
Classical Arabic only has these three vowels, and although modern Arabic dialects often have the letters (o) and (e), the writing system has yet to reflect this. Generally, the written /aw/ is sometimes pronounced as [o], and the written /a/ is sometimes pronounced as [e].
Letter |
English |
English |
English |
||||
-َ |
fatHa |
بَ |
ba |
بَؤ |
baw |
بَي |
bay |
-ِ |
kasra |
بِ |
bi |
بِؤ |
biw |
بِي |
biy |
-ُ |
Damma |
بُ |
bu |
بُؤ |
buw |
ُبي |
buy |
Note that when there is no vowel, the sukuwn symbol / -ْ / is written in place of the vowel symbol.
Also note that Arabic vowels and diphthongs sound somewhat like this:
English |
English |
English |
|||
a |
a as in cat, or after emphatic consonants; ah as in calm |
aw |
ow as in cow |
ay |
rhymes with eye or sometimes day |
i |
i as in kit |
iw |
you |
iy |
ee as in fee |
u |
u as in put |
uw |
oo as in food |
uy |
we |