Archive for 'Pronunciation'
How to pronounce the letter “ق” when SPEAKING Arabic Posted by yasmine on Dec 12, 2018
So, you’ve learned to read in Arabic and you’ve practiced how to pronounce the “ق” which is a “Q” sound in the back of your throat. Then, you hear Arabic speakers talk and realize that sometimes the letter “ق” is being replaced with another sound. Why is this so? Before reading this post, did you…
Egyptian Dialect vs. MSA Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Oct 31, 2018
In this post, we will listen to a recent song by a spectacular Egyptian singer, Sherine Abdel-Wahab. Using the lyrics of this song, we will examine some of the actual linguistic differences between Egyptian dialect and Modern Standard Arabic. The song is called is called حُبُه جَنَّة ‘his love is heaven’, and it is taken…
Basic Arabic: The Noun and Its Forms Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Sep 27, 2018
A word in Arabic can be a noun اِسْم, a verb فِعْل, or a particle حَرْف. The Noun الاِسْم al-ism stands for something that can be concrete or abstract. It can be indefinite or definite; singular, dual, or plural; masculine or feminine. In a sentence, it functions as a subject (of verbal and nominal sentences)…
Basic Arabic: Diacritical Marks Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Sep 25, 2018
In an earlier post, you learned that short vowels الحَرَكَات القَصِيْرَة in Arabic are not represented by letters; rather, they are diacritical marks that are placed over or below regular consonant letters. These short vowels are the fatHah الفَتْحَة, the kasrah الكَسْرَة, and the DHammah الضَّمَّة. In addition, there are two other essential marks: the…
Basic Arabic: The Alphabet Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Sep 20, 2018
الأَبْجَدِيَّة العَرَبِيَّة al-abjadiiyah al-‘arabiiyah, i.e. the Arabic Alphabetical System, includes twenty-eight letters. In addition to the alif ا and the alif al-madd آ, they are thirty. Nearly all these letters are consonants. Vowels are two types: long and short. Long vowels are represented by letters, while the short ones are represented by diacritical marks. Each…
Some Insights into Arabic Verb Usage (1) Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Sep 11, 2018
Certain rules of Arabic verb conjunction, formation, meaning, and pronunciation are oftentimes overlooked because they are minute and needs a meticulous learner or instructor to discover and/or pay attention to. Knowing these niceties lead to more accurate language use and speedier language learning overall. This post gives a list of rules and illustrations that concern…
Assimilation in Arabic Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Jul 12, 2018
In natural speech, it is always difficult to utter a sound twice in a row, as in عَلْلَم which becomes عَلَّم. It is also relatively difficult to produce two sounds from the same area of articulation consecutively, as in مِنْ رَأْسِكَ which is pronounced as مِرَّأْسِكَ. Therefore, we recourse to assimilation. In Arabic, assimilation الإِدْغَام…