بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

第一課
Lesson 1

阿拉伯字母
The Arabic letters
Name of the letter Transliteration Last Middle First Independent
alif a, u, i, : ـا ـاـ اـ ا
ba b ـب ـبـ بـ ب
ta t ـت ـتـ تـ ت
tha th ـث ـثـ ثـ ث
jim j, g ـج ـجـ جـ ج
ha h ـح ـحـ حـ ح
kha kh ـخ ـخـ خـ خ
dal d ـد ـدـ دـ د
dhal dh ـذ ـذـ ذـ ذ
ra r ـر ـرـ رـ ر
za z ـز ـزـ زـ ز
sin s ـس ـسـ سـ س
shin sh ـش ـشـ شـ ش
sad s ـص ـصـ صـ ص
da d ـض ـضـ ضـ ض
ta t ـط ـطـ طـ ط
dha dh ـظ ـظـ ظـ ظ
'ain 'a, 'u, 'i, ' ـع ـعـ عـ ع
ghain gh ـغ ـغـ غـ غ
fa f ـف ـفـ فـ ف
qaf q ـق ـقـ قـ ق
kaf k ـك ـكـ كـ ك
lam l ـل ـلـ لـ ل
mim m ـم ـمـ مـ م
nun n ـن ـنـ نـ ن
ha h ـه ـهـ هـ ه
wau w, u ـو ـوـ وـ و
ya y, i ـي ـيـ يـ ي
字母發音
Pronunciation of the letters
Letter Transliteration Description
ا a, u, i, : It may be pronounced like a as in British can't, or
like u as in tune, or
like i as in dim, or
a glottal stop at the end of a vowel, or
the long a sound as in father
ب b b as in bat
ت t t as in ten
ة h It is the folded ت and comes only at the end of a word. It is not pronounced, but makes the last syllable take -a
ث th th as in thin
ج j, g j as in jam, or sometimes g as in gallery
ح h A sound not found in English, but like the Hebrew ח as in חלב, vaguely like h as in have
خ kh A sound not found in English, but like the German ch as in Ich, or the Russian х as in хорошо, vaguely like k as in king
د d d as in do
ذ dh th as in this
ر r Pronounced like r as in ray but with phonological quality similar to ص
ز z z as in zebra
س s s as in sun
ش sh sh as in shine
ص s A sound not found in English, but vaguely like s as in psalm
ض d A sound not found in English. Pronounced like d as in den but with phonological quality similar to ص
ط t A sound not found in English. Pronounced like t as in ten but with phonological quality similar to ص
ظ dh A sound not found in English. Pronounced like th as in this but with phonological quality similar to ص
ع 'a, 'u, 'i, ' A sound not found in English, but like the Hebrew ע as in עכשיו, vaguely like a as in British can't, u as in tune, i as in dim, or a glottal stop at the end of a vowel
غ gh A sound not found in English, but like the French r as in rouge
ف f f as in fan
ق q A sound not found in English. Pronounced like k as in king but with phonological quality similar to ص, or like the Hebrew ק as in קפה
ك k k as in king
ل l l as in line
م m m as in mother
ن n n as in no
ه h h as in have
و w, u w as in were, or the long u sound as in tooth
ي y, i y as in yes, or the long i sound as in tease
阿拉伯書寫系統
The Arabic orthography

The Arabic orthography is generally made up of the letters listed above. Of course it has peculiarity of its own. We will tackle them one by one here.

The different letter forms

Notice that some letters will have three different forms, depending on the their positions in a word. The letters ا، د، ذ، ر، ز، و do not join to the following letter, but all the letters join to the letter before them.

Hamza, ء

ا، و، ي can be the hamza carriers. When they carry ء hamza, they will be written like

Last Middle First Independent
ـأ ـأـ أـ أ
ـإ ـإـ إـ إ
ـؤ ـؤـ ؤـ ؤ
ـئ ـئـ ئـ ئ
and are pronounced separately. The hamza functions like the diaeresis in "naïve," but it also separates the vowel it is over, or under, from the consonant before it. When such letters are transliterated, the diaeresis may be over the vowel as appropriate (ä, ü, ï). A colon (:) indicates a glottal stop at the end of a vowel.

Pronunciation Transliteration Meaning Example
lil   a   saf liläsaf sorry للأسف
al   is   laam alïslaam Islam الإسلام
as   ta:   ji   ra asta:jira (request to) borrow أستأجر
uu   laa   i   ka uulaaïka those أولئك

When ا alif with ء hamza over it comes at the end of a word, ء hamza will be written after the word.
Example: سماء samaa: "sky"

The vowel markers, consonant doubling marker, etc.

ـَ indicates the short a sound.
ـُ indicates the short u sound.
ـِ indicates the short i sound.
ـً indicates the -an sound and comes at the end of a word.
ـٌ indicates the -un sound and comes at the end of a word.
ـٍ indicates the -in sound and comes at the end of a word.
ـّ indicates doubling of a consonant. In Arabic the doubled consonants are pronounced with their full strenght.
ـْ indicates there is no vowel.

Examples:
هَهُهِ is pronounced ha hu hi
جًا is pronounced jan
دٌ is pronounced dun
تٍ is pronounced tin
مَـكـَّـة is pronounced mak kah
سُـكـْـرًا is pronounced suk ran

Except for the consonant doubling marker, other markers are generally not shown in books and newspapers, except in primary school text books.

The long vowels and diphthongs

The long a vowel is indicated by ا
Example: ربّـنا rabbunaa "our lord."
The long u vowel is indicated by و
Example: كيلو kiiluu "kilograms."
The long i vowel is indicated by ي
Example: كيلو kiiluu "kilograms."
The diphthong au is indicated by ـَو
Example: صـَـوْم saum "fasting."
The diphthong ai is indicated by ـَي
Example: سـَـيـَّـارَة saiyarah "car."

The letter alif, ا

Sometimes ا alif is not pronounced and is used to distinguish words with otherwise the same spellings.
Example: أنا ana "I."
If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced anaa.

Sometimes ا alif is not written, but a word is pronounced as if ا alif is there.
Example: هذا haadha "this."
This is an interesting example showing that the invisible alif is pronounced but the visible alif is not pronounced.
If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced hadhaa.

Since the Arabs do not like consonant clusters at the beginning of a word, when two consonants thus come together without an intervening vowel, ا alif is written before the word and is generally pronounced i, but it is elided when there is a word it can link to before it.
Examples:
اسم ism "name," but
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم bismi-llaahi-rrahmaani-rrahiim "By the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful."

When ا alif is written after ل lam they will join together.
Example: الإسلام (i.e. ا + ل + إ + س + ل + ا + م ) alïslaam "Islam."

The letter ya, ي

Sometimes ي ya is pronounced as a long a sound, and in this case it is written without the two dots below (ى) in the lessons.
Example: إلى ilaa "to."
If the word is pronounced the way it is written, it should be pronounced ilii.

The definite article, ال

It is used much the same way as the English definite article "the." ا alif of the definite article is elided when it is linked to the word before it.
Examples:
الفصل alfasl "the classroom."
إلى الفصل ila-lfasl (pronounced i lal fasl) "to the classroom."

The sun and moon letters

The Arabic letters are divided into two categories. One category is the "sun letters," حُرُوفُ الشَـمْـس, and the other is the "moon letters," حُرُوفُ القـَـمَـر.
The sun letters are ت، ث، د، ذ، ر، ز، س، ش، ص، ض، ط، ظ، ل، ن
You can see that they are sibilant and dental sounds. All others are moon letters.

If the first letter after the definite article is a sun letter, ل lam in the definite article is elided and the sun letter doubled.
Examples:
الشمس ashshams (pronounced ash shams) "the sun."
الطالب attaalib (pronounced at taa lib) "the student."

If the first letter after the definite article is a moon letter, the lam in the definite article is not elided and the moon letter is not doubled.
Examples:
القمر alqamar (pronounced al qa mar) "the moon."
الفصل alfasl (pronounced al fasl) "the classroom."

The way to read and speak Arabic

The last vowel is pronounced if there is a word following it. At the end of a sentence, or before a pause, or in single word pronounciation, the last vowel, as well as -un or -in, is not pronounced. Exception to this rule is -an. Long vowels of the prepositions will be pronounced short and linked to the next word. A hyphen (-) is used to separate two words that are pronounced as if they are a single word.
Examples:
Example Transliteration Meaning Description
في fii in It is shortened to fi when linked to the next word.
السوق assuuq the market Since sin, س, is a sun letter, it is doubled after the definite article. ل lam of the definite article is elided. The last vowel -u is the subject marker but not pronounced, and after preposition it will change to -i.
في السوق fi-ssuuq in the market Notice that the whole definite article is elided, but the sun letter س after the definite article still has to be doubled.
السوق كبير assuuqu kabiir the market is big The last vowel -u in السوق assuuq is now pronounced, since there is a word following it. The adjective كبير kabiir has the unpronounced -un at the end of this sentence.
المدرسة almadrasah the school Since mim, م, is a moon letter, it is not doubled after the definite article, and the definite article is not elided. The folded ta, ة, is not pronounced when no word follows it.
المدرسة جديدة almadrasatu jadiidah the school is new Here the folded ta, ة, is pronounced t and takes the subject marker -u, thus pronounced tu. The adjective جديد jadiid takes the feminine marker ة to agree with the feminine noun المدرسة.

In the lessons all ending vowels (-a, -u, -i) and the endings -an, -un, -in are transliterated in full. So care must be taken when reading the passages aloud.
However detailed the description may look, I cannot guaratee that there is nothing missing, and that everything is explained clearly. The lessons certainly help.
目錄 Table of content | 第二課 Lesson 2

最後更新日期：2001年11月1日