 ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬

Arabic for non-Arabic Speakers Course

Sounds Keys:

Most of the sounds of Arabic are similar o the sounds of English. Only six or seven might
be unfamiliar to English speakers or any other language speakers. Arabic has its own alphabet
of 28 letters, and is usually written from right to left in its own scripts.

During the course, Arabic sounds are represented by English letters, and written from
left to right. Some English capital letters are use to represent certain Arabic sounds different
from those represented by small letters

The sounds of Arabic are divided into vowels and consonants. Vowels are either short
or long:

Short vowels Long vowels

a as in about, postman aa as in hand

i as in bit, his ee as in feed

u as in put ou as in dome

oo as in room

ei As in name

.Consonants:

The following Arabic consonants are similar to English ones. Please note that there are v and
p sounds in Arabic.

b as in book sh as in shine w as in well

d as in day g as in germs l as in look

f as in fun h as in home m as in man

r as in room k as in king n as in noon

s as in say t as in ten y as in yes

th as in that θ as in three z as in zero

The Arabic consonants represented by the capital letters S, D, T, Z are vocal versions of s, d,
t, z. You need to open your mouth as if you are saying ahh and make the sound at the back of
your mouth:

S as in Sabaah = morning T as in Tayib = O.K

D as in beiD = eggs Z as in Duhr = noon

ε as in εindee = I have Q as in Qahwa = coffee

  ‫ ا‬‫ ا‬

Arabic for non-Arabic Speakers Course

Task: Work in pairs and try to pronounce the following words. You don’t have to know the
meaning of the words.

No. Arabic word Pronunciation Note

1. ‫ﺑﺎب‬ baab

2. ‫أﻧﺎ‬ ana

3. ‫ھﻮ‬ huwa

4. ‫ﻋﺎﻣﻞ‬ εamil
5. ‫ﺳﺎﻋﺔ‬ saaε h

6. ‫ﯾﻮم‬ yawm

7. ‫ﺷﮭﺮ‬ shahr

8. ‫ﻻ‬ laa

9. ‫ﻧﻌﻢ‬ naε m

10. ‫واﺣﺪ‬ wahid

11. ‫ﺷﺮﻛﺔ‬ sharika

12. ‫ﻣﻄﺎر‬ maTaar

13. ‫اﻟﺴﻼم‬ al salaam

14. ‫ﺷﻜﺮا‬ shukran

15. ‫ﻣﻜﺘﺐ‬ maktab

16. ‫ﺑﺤﺮ‬ bahar

17. ‫ﯾﺄﻛﻞ‬ yakul

18. ‫ ﺑﺎص‬- ‫ﺣﺎﻓﻠﺔ‬ baaS

19. ‫ﺳﯿﺎرة‬ sayyara

20. ‫ﺣﻠﯿﺐ‬ haleeb

21. ‫ﻃﺎوﻟﺔ‬ tawila

22. ‫ﺳﻤﻚ‬ samak

23. ‫ﺷﺎي‬ shay

24. ‫ﻗﻠﻢ‬ Qalam