Letter Sounds & Phonics

This lesson gets you familiar and comfortable with the unique phonics of Arabic.

Going through a few rounds of phonics helps teachers find the sounds students need help with and we focus on building that new sound. It's a fun introductory exercise to help them figure out how to control their tongue and throat in new ways. We don't labour the point here, as long as they are close enough it's a pass.

Group Key

Easy ◥

In this group are all the letters that are more or less exactly pronounced as their English counterparts.

Medium ◥

These letters are still somewhat similar to English sounds, but slightly more difficult to pronounce.

Difficult ◥

These Arabic letters can prove tough to pronounce for most non-Arabs, not just English speakers. Take it easy and accept attempts that are close enough.

Letters by difficulty

Follow this order in teaching the letters. Remember, the goal is not to teach the alphabet, rather, the goal is to get them familiar with the sounds. That is why we have reorganised the letters to create a list sorted from easiest to hardest.

This table is best viewed on a computer

Arabic	English	Sound
ا	Alif	a: This sound is like the “a” in “mad” ◥
ب	Baa	b: This sound is the same as the “b” in “bread” ◥
ت	Taa	t: This sound is the same as the “t” in “tea” ◥
ث	Thaa	th: This sound is like the “th” in “three” ◥
ج	Jeem	dj: This sound is the same as the “j” sound in “John” ◥
د	Dal	d: This sound is the same as the “d” in “door” ◥
ذ	Thaal	dh: This sound is like the “th” in “there” ◥
ز	Zaa	z: This sound is the same as the “z” in “zoo” ◥
س	Seen	s: This sound is the same as the “s” in “serpent” ◥
ش	Sheen	sh: This sound is the same as the “sh” in “shine” ◥
ف	Fa	f: This sound is the same as the “f” in “ferry” ◥
ك	Kaaf	k: This sound is the same as the “k” in “kilo” ◥
ل	Laam	l: This sound is the same as the “l” in “look” ◥
م	Meem	m: the same as our "m" in "mouse" ◥
ن	Noon	n: This sound is the same as the “n” in “nose” ◥
ه	Ha	h: the same as our "h" in "hurricane" ◥
و	Waw	w: the same as our "w" in "water" ◥
ي	Ya	y: the same as our "y" in "year" ◥
ح	Haa	H: similar to the English "h", but stronger and from the throat, like when smelling your breath ◥
ر	Raa	r: similar to the English "r" sound in "race" but with the tongue towards the front and almost, but not, rolled like the Spanish "r" ◥
ص	Saad	S: similar to the English letter "s", but more emphatic with the build up of pressure ◥
ض	Ddaad	D: similar to the English letter "d" but more emphatic with the build up of pressure and deeping of the voice ◥
ط	Ta	T: similar to the English letter "t", but more emphatic with the build up of pressure ◥
ظ	THa	THa: similar to the English sound "th" in "there", but more emphatic with the build up of pressure and deeping of the voice (like "dh" in "dhuhr") ◥
خ	Kha	kh: like the "ch" in the scottish "loch" and similar to the sound of bring something out of your throat ◥
ع	Ain	aa: like the "aaa" sound you make when a doctor checks your throat and asks you to open wide. Widen your throat. ◥
غ	Ghayn	gh: same as "aa" but this time try close your throat instead. It's a similar sound to gargling mouthwash ◥
ق	Qaf	q: like the "qa" sound a seagull makes ◥

Vowel Sounds

Now, we look at how letters are modified by vowels. There are three main vowels: a, e, u, therefore each letter in the alphabet has three main variations.*

In simple, they are added to the end of the base sound of the letter. For example the letter for b(ب) turns in to Ba, Be, Bu when the vowels a, e, u are added to them respectively. It's a very simple and logical language - in Arabic, letters and words always sound exactly how they are written (unlike English's read vs. reed & read vs. red...)

*In reality there are more vowels, modifiers and variations, which are all still easy to learn, but for the purposes of these 'basics' lessons, we only need these three: a, e, u.

Practice with a teacher

The following table should be used as a quick exercise to explore all the sounds. As a reminder, don't get too hung up on perfect pronunciation, if it's close enough, it's good enough.

This table is best viewed on a computer. On mobile you may need to scroll sideways to view all four columns.

Base	Fat'ha (+a like ba)	Kas'ra (+e like be)	Dam'ma (+u like bu)
a	اَ	اِ	اُ
b	بَ	بِ	بُ
t	تَ	تِ	تُ
th	ثَ	ثِ	ثُ
g	جَ	جِ	جُ
H	حَ	حِ	حُ
kh	خَ	خِ	خُ
d	دَ	دِ	دُ
th	ذَ	ذِ	ذُ
r	رَ	رِ	رُ
z	زَ	زِ	زُ
s	سَ	سِ	سُ
sh	شَ	شِ	شُ
S	صَ	صِ	صُ
Dd	ضَ	ضِ	ضُ
T	طَ	طِ	طُ
TH	ظَ	ظِ	ظُ
Aa	عَ	عِ	عُ
Gh	غَ	غِ	غُ
f	فَ	فِ	فُ
q	قَ	قِ	قُ
k	كَ	كِ	كُ
l	لَ	لِ	لُ
m	مَ	مِ	مُ
n	نَ	نِ	نُ
h	هَ	هِ	هُ
w	وَ	وِ	وُ
y	يَ	يِ	يُ