Arabic

Reading back to front
Did you know that Arabic is written right to left? (See? Right to left! How cool is that?)

This means that when you pick up a book or magazine written in Arabic, you should start reading from the back cover — which, of course, is the front!

Aah!!
When Arabic is written using English letters, sometimes there’ll be two vowels in a row. This doesn’t mean that there are two vowels in Arabic, but rather that there is one loooong vowel. Yes, Arabic has both short and long vowels! You’ll be learning more about this soon.

Oh, duh
When you see a tiny forward slash above a letter, it means this letter has a short ah sound right after it. We’ll talk more about this later.

Wow, yeah!
Sometimes و = uu (long vowel) and other times و = w. BUT Same with the letter ي: sometimes ي = ii (long vowel) and sometimes ي = y. BUT The key is other vowels! If there is a vowel right before or right after و or ي, then they become w and y. Otherwise, they’re just the long vowels uu and ii.

Mighty Morphing Power Letters
In English, letters can change shape, like if they’re uppercase or lowercase. Letters in Arabic change shape, too, based on where they are in comparison to other letters. Look at the shapes of ب b: Letters can have up to four shapes, though some have fewer than that.

In the beginning...
In the last skill, you learned to recognize some letters (like ب and ج) by themselves and at the beginning of a word. Here’s how ب looks in other positions: And here’s how ج looks: Exciting!

Letters vs. words
Arabic has 28 letters and several smaller markings (like short vowels) and you’ll be learning all of them in this course! So you need lots of practice with letters at first.

That’s why you’ll go through several lessons on the alphabet and then you’ll get to one with new vocabulary. But don’t worry, there will be more and more vocab as you progress in the course!

The Beautiful Camel
Did you know that vowels in Arabic can be short or long, and that using the wrong one might change the meaning of the word? At first, it’ll probably be tricky for you to hear the difference between short and long vowels. It’ll come with practice!

I Have House
Notice that there is no word in Arabic that means a or an. This isn’t the case for the word the, though...We’ll talk about the later.

Descriptions 1
In English, when you want to describe a noun with an adjective (like “a pretty house” or “a big door”), you put the adjective (pretty, big) before the noun (house, door).

Have you noticed how it’s the opposite in Arabic?

Descriptions 2
Duo amazing!

That’s what you’re literally saying in Arabic when you want to say “Duo is amazing!”

That is because most of the time, the words am, is and are simply aren’t expressed in Arabic. This fun, right?

Uh-oh
You already know that the letter ا makes a long  aaaaah  sound. But it can also do other things!

For example, it can “carry” the tiny letter ء. This letter (called “hamza”) is pronounced like the sound you make between “uh” and “oh” when you say, “uh-oh!”

Words that sound like they start with a vowel in Arabic usually start with hamza first, then the vowel.

Notice that ء can appear in different spots, depending on the vowel it’s written with.

Above the ا Below the ا

What’s the Deal With the 2?
In English, there is no letter that corresponds to ء. Since ء looks like a reversed 2, we write it in English letters using the number 2. Check out these examples from the course: We owe this innovation to the texting culture. Because the texting technology was originally based on the English alphabet, Arabic speakers got used to texting in Arabic using English letters. Since there’s no good English letter equivalent of ء, they started using 2.

Th
Read these words out loud: Do you notice that the sound of th is different for the words on the left side than it is for the words on the right side?

In Arabic, those two th sounds are actually different letters!

سيث (siith) “Seth” is like the “th” in “three.” We write ث as th in English letters.

ذَكِيّ (dhakiyy) “smart” is like the “th” in “the.” We write ذ as dh in English letters.

Zero vowels
There is a marking in Arabic that tells you when there is no vowel. It looks like a tiny zero:

كَبُر = kabur كَبْر = kabr

See the small zero there in kabr? It’s telling you this word is pronounced kabr. Here are some other examples:

مَسَك = masak مَسْك = mask

جَبَر = jabar جَبْر = jabr

This is at you! (aka you got this)
In English, when you want to talk about things you have or possess, you just say I have a pen. In Arabic, you say this a little differently.

Countries 2
You’ve already learned that when you see أ / إ at the beginning of a word, it’s just pronounced ء. The ا stays silent.

But what about when it’s in the middle or at the end of a word? You might see ء either on the line or on top of other letters. Don’t worry about learning the rules for which happens when — just know that these forms exist and learn how they sound.

ع = 3
Today, you’ll hear a sound that we don’t have in English: ع !

Pronouncing ع can be a bit tricky at first. Some people compare its sound to the sound you make when you yawn, some say it’s the sound you make when you hurt yourself and it hurts real bad — some even say it sounds like a duck.

You can try this: get close to a mirror, open your mouth wide and fog up the mirror with your breath. You should feel how tight your throat gets when you do this. Now, while doing this, say the vowel a as in cat. That’s about the right sound.

Because this letter, when it’s not connected to another letter, looks like a reversed 3, we’ll write it as a 3 in English letters. For example, we write the word عَرَبِيّ as 3arabiyy.

Yaa dude!
In Arabic, you use the word يا (yaa) before addressing someone. You can think of it as an attention getter, kind of like “hey!” but not as informal.

أَهْلاً يا عُمَر!

Hello, Omar.

شُكْراً يا كَري!

Thank you, Carrie.

He is to she what 2anta is to 2anti
In English, when you’re talking about someone, you have to specify their gender with either “he” or “she.” In Arabic, you also specify gender when talking to someone directly.

Descriptions 3
In Arabic, all nouns and adjectives are either masculine or feminine, even when they don’t refer to people. Feminine nouns and adjectives usually end with the letter ة. This letter sounds like a short a and it can only be found at the end of words.

If an adjective describes a noun, it has to agree with the noun: this means that if the noun is masculine, the adjective is masculine, but if the noun is feminine, then the adjective is feminine.

ghhhhhh
Have you ever gargled? If so, you probably already know how to make the sound of the letter غ. Put some water in your mouth, throw your head back and gargle away! That’s your Arabic homework.

In English, we’ll write غ as gh.

ا = ى

At the end of a word, ا may appear in a different shape: ى. The two alifs (ا and ى) are not interchangeable, so you’ll need to memorize which is used where.

on, on top of = (3alaa) عَلى

Standard Arabic = (al-3arabiyya l-fuSHaa) اَلْعَرَبِيّة الْفُصْحى

Great Britain = (bariiTaanyaa l-kubraa) بَريطانْيا الْكُبْرى

Yes or no?
Have you noticed that questions that start with a question word in English (what, who, why, how, when, etc.) cannot be answered by yes or no, while questions that start with a verb (are you, did we, can she, will they, has he, etc.) require an answer with yes or no?

Why did the duck cross the road?

-Yes ❌

-No ❌

-To prove he wasn’t a chicken! ✅

Did Adam have a belly-button?

-Yes ✅

-No ✅

-At 3PM. ❌

-Because she was smart. ❌

-Through telepathic mind control. ❌

Well, in Arabic, yes/no questions begin with the word هَل (hal). هَل doesn’t have a translation in English — it just means, “hey, I’m a yes/no question!” هَل you ready for this?

Ha!
Arabic has so many cool sounds! Like the ح, for example. This is the sound it makes when you get close to a window, open your mouth wide and fog up the window. Try it at home!

Don’t get this new sound mixed up with the other h (ﻫ / ه), the one that sounds like the first letter in the word ‘house’ in English. See if you can hear the difference between the two in today’s exercises. And don’t get discouraged if it’s tricky at first! You’ll get there!

The university is a girl??
Remember that when an adjective describes a noun, it has to match the gender of the noun — a masculine adjective with a masculine noun, and a feminine adjective with a feminine noun. This is true for all nouns, even those that don’t refer to people!

My uncle is dear
Another cool, new Arabic sound is خ. To make this sound, you need to gargle with water but without the singing. Try to whisper the vowel a as you gargle and you should be making the right sound.

We write خ as kh with English letters.

This is not the same as غ (gh), which is the sound you make when you gargle normally, without whispering.

expensive, dear = (ghaalii) غالي

my mother’s brother = (khaalii) خالي

The
To say the house instead of a house in Arabic, just put the two letters اَلْ (al-) in front of the word بَيْت. You can do this with any noun in Arabic!

Mr T
Ready for a cool new sound? Let’s call it Mr. T. This is a bigger, stronger version of regular t. It’s the sound of the letter ط in Arabic and we write it as capital T in English letters.

How does Mr. T sound different from regular t?

t + a = ta, close to standard American English “tap”

T + a = Ta, close to standard American English “taco”

Listen to the vowels — a vowel that comes after Mr. T sounds farther in the back of the mouth, while one that comes after t sounds closer to the front of the mouth. Some words may sound similar, but if one of them contains regular t and the other Mr. T, they are different words!

to repent = (taab) تاب

to be good, pleasant = (Taab) طاب

Gender is complicated
You’ve seen ة at the end of all feminine nouns so far. However, there are a few nouns that look a little different! These include:

mother = (2umm) أُمّ

sister = (2ukht) أُخْت

daughter / girl = (bint) بِنْت

Oh my!
If you want to say something like This is my house in Arabic, you need to add an extra little ending onto the thing that is mine. You just add ي at the end of the noun. Now it’s yours! Be careful, though — this only works for words that don’t end in ة.

q, not qu
Another distinct Arabic sound is ق. It’s kind of like the sound k in English, except much deeper in the throat. Practice it and you’ll totally get it!

We write ق as q with English letters.

Iraq = (al-3iraaq) اَلْعِراق

-ak and -ik
Remember how, in order to say my house you just add ي at the end of house? ? Well, to say your house or your son you add ـَك (-ak) when talking to a man and ـِك (-ik) when talking to a woman.

son = (ibn) اِبْن

your son (to a man) = (ibnak) اِبْنَك

your son (to a woman) = (ibnik) اِبْنِك

Mr. T’s little brothers
You already know the difference between regular t and Mr. T — the vowels around Mr. T sound tougher, more serious and grave than they do around regular t. There are actually three more pairs like ط / ت in Arabic.

Another pair is ذ (dh) and ظ (DH) These two letters are similar, but the vowels around DH are further back in the mouth.

warner, herald = (nadhiir) نَذير

equal = (naDHiir) نَظير

ت <- ة ##

If you want to say that a city is my city or your city, something funky happens. Remember, مَدينة (city) ends in ة. You make that ة into ـَت (-at) (!!), and then you add the “my” or “your” endings you already know.

This doesn’t apply just to “city” but to all nouns that end in ة.

What’s whose?
As you know, each Arabic noun is either masculine or feminine, and adjectives have to match that gender.

This gender never changes! Since بَيْت is masculine, it remains masculine, even if the person who owns it is a woman. The same is true for feminine nouns. A house will always be جَميل and a city will always be جَميلة, regardless of whose it is!

ض / د
The new letter ض (Daad) is so important to the Arabic language that Arabs sometimes refer to themselves as أهل الضاد “people of the Daad.” We write it capital D with English letters.

ض is the last of Mr. T’s little brothers. It makes the same sound as د except the vowels around ض are more serious and grave. Here again, it will take practice to distinguish the two, but it’s important that you try!

Mr. T's family
You’ve now met all of Mr. T’s relatives. Some resources refer to them as “emphatics.” Here they all are with their non-emphatic equivalents. Remember the letters in the left columns sound like those in the right columns except further back in the mouth.

Have at you!
You probably remember that in order to say “Judy has” in Arabic, you use the word عِنْد “at/to” followed by “Judy.” What about “I have” and “you have”? Well, you also use عِنْد. Instead of someone’s name, you add a short ending to عِنْد — the same endings as when you say “my house” or “your house.”

I got nothin'
To say “do not have / does not have” with the word you know for possession (عِنْد), all you need to do is add the word لَيْسَ (laysa) in front of it!

The blue (wo)man (adjective) group
So far, every time you’ve seen an adjective describe a feminine noun, this adjective has ended with the letter ة.

مَدينة سورِيّة = a Syrian city اِمْرَأة ذَكِيّة = a smart woman

But some adjectives (especially adjectives that describe color) take a different form in the feminine. It’s easiest to learn those special feminine adjectives together with the masculine: practice saying “2azraq / zarqaa2” أَزْرَق / زَرْقاء and repeat it until you’re blue in the face!

ص / س
The new letter ص (written capital S with English letters) is another of Mr. T’s little brothers. It contrasts with س in the same way ط contrasts with ت : mostly with vowel sounds that are further in the back of the mouth.

Sam = (saam) سام

to fast = (Saam) صام

Sword or dagger?
One more alif! While regular alif looks more like a sword, dagger alif is a tiny vertical line that sits above a letter, more like a dagger. It only appears in a few really old words in Arabic and it sounds exactly like ا.

this (masculine) = (haadhaa) هٰذا

but, however = (laakinn) لٰكِنّ

God = (allaah) اَلله

Sneaky Al
You know اَلْ means “the.” However, you may have noticed it’s used differently in Arabic than “the” is in English. For example, look at these sentences:

This is a house = (haadhaa bayt) هٰذا بَيْت

This is a city = (haadhihi madiina) هٰذِهِ مَدينة

BUT

this house = (haadha l-bayt) هٰذا اَلْبَيْت

this city = (haadhihi l-madiina) هٰذِهِ اَلْمَدينة

The ONLY difference between “this house” and “This is a house” is اَلْ ! Sneaky, sneaky Al.

There, there
The word هُناك (hunaak) means both “there” and “there is/there are.” So how will you know the difference? It’s easy: word order! When هُناك comes first in a sentence, it means “there is/there are.”

There is no spoon
To say “there is no” or “there are no,” simply add the negator لَيْسَ in front of هُناك.

House of Bob
In English, if Bob has a house, you call it “Bob’s house.”

Possessor + ’s + what they possess

In Arabic, a very common way to express the same thing is called iDaafa. In iDaafa, the order is reversed.

The thing they possess + possessor If it helps, you can think of it as “the house of Bob” instead of “Bob’s house.”

Notice how in Arabic, the thing that is possessed never ever gets اَلْ even if the meaning in English is “the house” or “the dog.” It’s just the bare word!

What the ة ?!!
The letter ة is a tricky one. First, it only ever shows up at the end of words. Second, you probably remember that it turns into ـَت (-at) before “my,” “your,” etc. Here is something else that makes ة tricky: when the first word of an iDaafa (aka the thing that’s possessed) ends in ة, like in مَدينة بوب “the city of Bob” or “Bob’s city,” the spelling of ة doesn’t change but its pronunciation does. Instead of a, it is pronounced -at.

As in all iDaafas, the first word can’t have اَلْ “the” on it. It’s just the bare noun.

His and hers
You already know how to say “my” and “your.” But what about “his” or “her”?

For “his,” just add (-hu) ﻪُ at the end of the word. And for “her,” add (-haa) ها instead. It’s that simple. Remember that if the noun ends with ة, it turns into ـَت (-at) before “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” etc.