The Arabic language is a phonetic one with an alphabet that contains few letters that are not found in other languages nor can be pronounced by a foreigner except with training and practice. Here is a very brief guide of the arabic alphabet and it's pronunciation.
In Arabic, there are certain signs or marks that are added to
the top or bottom of letters to give them certain sounds. They
are:
1-fat-ha for the ah sound and is presented as "a" e.g
Hamad
2-damma for the oh sound and is presented as "o" or
"u" e.g. Dunia or Sobhi
3-kassra for the eh or ih sound and is presented as "e"
or "i" e.g. Adel or Jihad
4-shaddah which is presented as "double constant letter"
e.g. Waddah'
5-sukoon which is presented as "two consecutive constants"
e.g. Bahjat or Yusra
Letters Arabic to English
Arabic Alphabet |
In English written as |
sounds as in | example |
alef Aleph with hamza and fat-ha Aleph with hamza and damma Aleph with hamza and kasra |
a a u i |
ram |
Mazen |
ba  |
b ba bu be/bi |
tab bat bush bet/bit |
Abd Basem Burhan Jaber/Bilal |
ta  |
t ta tu te/ti |
bat tab tush ten/tip |
Fat_hi Tayseer Tunis Rateb/Ibtisam |
tha  |
th tha thu the/thi |
breath thanks theft/think |
Othman Thabet Thuraya Nawather |
jeem  |
j ja jo/ju je/ji |
taj ajar job/jude jet/jin |
Areej Jamal Jomana/Juma' Majed/Jihad |
ha  |
h'/h ha hu he/hi |
hand humos hen/him |
Inshirah' Hamad Husain Helweh/Hilal |
kha  |
kh kha khu khe/khi |
loch ness |
Akhras Khaled Khulood Khitam/khemeh |
dal  |
d da du de/di |
good dad dude den/din |
Ahmad Dana Dunia Adel/Izdihar |
thal  |
th tha thu the/thi |
breathe that then/this |
latheeth thahab thurah Munther |
ra  |
r ra ro/ru re/ri |
jar ran Rome/rude red/rim |
Mansoor Randa Roma/Rubhi Fares/Rida |
zain  |
z za zu ze/zi |
blitz zap Zulu zen/zip |
Azhar Yazan Zuhair Mazen |
seen  |
s sa su se/si |
mass sad suit send/sip |
Asma Samer Sumaya Yousef/Basima |
sheen  |
sh sha shu she/shi |
crash shall sure shell/ship |
Ayesh Shamel Shukri Rashed/Inshirah' |
sad  |
s sa so se/si |
heavy seen sudden soda send/sip |
Mostafa Wisal Sodqi Naser |
dad  |
d da do de/di |
heavy dal dark dose depth |
ard Nidal Dome Fadel/Dirar |
tah  |
t ta to te/ti |
heavy ta task tore |
Fatmeh Mostafa Taleb |
thah  |
th/z tha/za tho/zo the/ze/thi/zi |
heavy thal those |
Nathmiyeh Hafeetha/Nizam |
ain  |
a/a' a/a'/ya o/o' e/ee/e' |
ago Over Eve/eel |
Moa'taz/Sa'd/Taye' Adel/Sua'd Omar Emad/E'sam/Saeed/Ismae'l |
ghain  |
gh gha gho ghe/ghi |
Ghana |
Taghreed Ghassan Ghosh Ragheb |
fa  |
f fa fu/fo fe/fi |
stuff far full/fore fed/fin |
Atef Fadel Fuad/Fozi falafel/Firyal |
qaf  |
q qa qu qe/qi |
heavy k Qatar quote |
Rafeeq Qadri Qura~n Saqer |
kaf  |
k ka ku ke/ki |
Mark karate Ku-Klax clan Kent/kiss |
Malak Kareem Kurdiyeh Baker/Kifah' |
lam  |
l la lo/lu le/li |
fill lamb lock/Lucy lent/list |
Amal Lateef Lora/Lubna Khaled/A'dliyeh |
meem  |
m ma mo or mu me/mi |
sum mark more/move men/mist |
Haytham Mazen Mona/Muna Fatmeh/Mithqal |
noon |
n na nu ne/ni |
ran nasty noon next/nip |
Wijdan Naser Nuha Amneh/Nizam |
waw  |
w wa o/oo/ou/wou we/wi |
down Washington John/cool/pour/would went/wist |
Sawsan Fadwa Joseph/Mansoor/Yaqoub/Wo-o'ud Helweh/Wijdan |
hah  |
h ha hu he/hi |
blah hand hoot hen/him |
Majida or Majidah Hala Huda Maher/Hiba |
Ta Marbouta (at end of word) |
ta | as hah or ta above | |
ya  |
i/y/ee/ai ya/ia yu ye |
yahoo yuo yet |
Fadi/Aiman/Reem/Mai Yahia/Hadaya Yusra Fawziyeh |
hamza  |
~ a/a~ u/u~ e/e~ |
ago end |
Ala~ Fuad/Lua~i or Luai Nael or Nae~l |
Recommended reading:
