Arabic Letters & Sounds

Master Arabic pronunciation with interactive letter exercises

The Arabic Alphabet — الأبجدية العربية

Arabic is written right-to-left. It has 28 letters — all consonants. Short vowels are shown as diacritical marks above/below letters. Click any card to hear it pronounced.

ا
Alif
أب (father)
ب
Ba — b
بيت (house)
ت
Ta — t
تفاحة (apple)
ث
Tha — th
ثلج (snow)
ج
Jim — j
جبل (mountain)
ح
Ha — h (deep)
حليب (milk)
خ
Kha — kh
خبز (bread)
د
Dal — d
دراجة (bicycle)
ذ
Dhal — dh
ذرة (corn)
ر
Ra — r
ريح (wind)
ز
Zay — z
زهرة (flower)
س
Sin — s
سيارة (car)
ش
Shin — sh
شمس (sun)
ص
Sad — emphatic s
صباح (morning)
ض
Dad — emphatic d
ضعيف (weak)
ط
Ta — emphatic t
طائر (bird)
ظ
Dha — emphatic dh
ظهر (noon)
ع
Ain — ʿ
عم (uncle)
غ
Ghain — gh
غدًا (tomorrow)
ف
Fa — f
فاكهة (fruit)
ق
Qaf — q (deep k)
قطة (cat)
ك
Kaf — k
كتاب (book)
ل
Lam — l
لحم (meat)
م
Mim — m
مدرسة (school)
ن
Nun — n
نمر (tiger)
ه
Ha — h (light)
هو (he)
و
Waw — w / oo
واحد (one)
ي
Ya — y / ee
يوم (day)

Sun Letters vs Moon Letters — حروف شمسية وقمرية

When "al-" (the definite article الـ) is placed before a sun letter, the "l" assimilates to the following consonant (e.g. الشمس = ash-shams, not al-shams). Before moon letters, "al-" is pronounced fully (e.g. القمر = al-qamar).

☀️ Sun Letters (حروف شمسية)

ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن

Example: الشمس → ash-shams

🌙 Moon Letters (حروف قمرية)

ا ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق ك م ه و ي

Example: القمر → al-qamar

Practice Pronunciation

Mar-ha-ban
مرحبًا
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