Arabic letters pronunciation in English
Most of the 28 Arabic letters sound like an English letter. About a dozen do not, and those are the ones that change a word when you get them wrong. This page gives every letter with the English sound closest to it and a common word, then one real line of Modern Standard Arabic for each hard letter, from videos made for learners, ready to hear, record and compare. Free, no account.
Try a hard letter now
ع ʿayn
تعلمتها من أهلي.
“I learned it from my family.”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
1:30–1:32 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
The ع of تعلمتها sits between two vowels: squeeze it, do not skip it. The ه of أهلي is a plain h.
The Arabic alphabet chart, with English sounds
Arabic is written right to left, and short vowels are usually not written. The English sounds are the closest ones, not exact: the letters marked “heavy” and the throat letters have no English twin.
| Letter | Sounds like | Word |
|---|---|---|
| ا alif | a long “aa” as in “father”, or the seat of a hamza | باب door |
| ب bāʾ | b | بيت house |
| ت tāʾ | t, with the tongue on the teeth | تفاح apples |
| ث thāʾ | th as in “think” | ثلاثة three |
| ج jīm | j as in “jam” | جميل beautiful |
| ح ḥāʾ | a strong, breathy h from the throat | حليب milk |
| خ khāʾ | ch as in Scottish “loch” | خبز bread |
| د dāl | d, with the tongue on the teeth | درس lesson |
| ذ dhāl | th as in “this” | ذهب gold |
| ر rāʾ | a tapped or rolled r, as in Spanish | رجل man |
| ز zāy | z | زيت oil |
| س sīn | s | سمك fish |
| ش shīn | sh | شمس sun |
| ص ṣād | a heavy s: back of the tongue raised | صباح morning |
| ض ḍād | a heavy d | ضوء light |
| ط ṭāʾ | a heavy t | طالب student |
| ظ ẓāʾ | a heavy th as in “this” | ظهر noon |
| ع ʿayn | a voiced squeeze deep in the throat; no English sound | عين eye |
| غ ghayn | a gargled sound, close to a French r | غرفة room |
| ف fāʾ | f | فيل elephant |
| ق qāf | a k made further back, at the soft back of the mouth | قلب heart |
| ك kāf | k | كتاب book |
| ل lām | l | ليل night |
| م mīm | m | ماء water |
| ن nūn | n | نور light |
| ه hāʾ | h as in “hat”, also at the end of a word | هذا this |
| و wāw | w, or a long “oo” | ولد boy |
| ي yāʾ | y, or a long “ee” | يد hand |
Two more signs you will meet: the hamza ء, a short stop in the throat like the break in “uh-oh”, and ة (tāʾ marbūṭa) at the end of a word, said “a” at the end of a sentence and “at” before another word.
The hardest Arabic letters to pronounce, with a real line each
Say the line after the speaker, then listen to your take in Compare for that one letter.
ح ḥāʾ
أنت تعرف السباحة؟
“Do you know how to swim?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
6:35–6:38 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
السباحة has ح: breathe it out hard from the throat. تعرف adds an ع.
خ khāʾ
أليست هذه الأنهار خطيرة؟
“Aren’t these rivers dangerous?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
6:18–6:21 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
خطيرة opens with خ, the “ch” of “loch”, then the heavy ط.
غ ghayn
وكم لغة تعرف؟
“And how many languages do you know?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
1:15–1:17 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
لغة: the غ is gargled at the back of the mouth, close to a French r.
ق qāf
هل تسكن في مركز المدينة أو في القرية؟
“Do you live in the city centre or in the village?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
1:17–1:22 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation for beginners
مركز has a plain ك and القرية a ق: hear how much further back the second one is.
ص ṣād
وحصة واحدة كم دقيقة؟
“And how many minutes is one lesson?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
8:41–8:45 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
حصة has the heavy ص right after ح; دقيقة has a ق.
ض ḍād
أحضرت لي أمي بعض الماء
“My mother brought me some water.”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
2:25–2:29 · Arabic comprehensible, “Under my bed”
أحضرت goes from ح straight into the heavy ض, the letter Arabic is named after (“the language of ḍād”).
ط ṭāʾ
طيب بعد المدرسة، كيف يكون يومك عادة؟
“OK, after school, what is your day usually like?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
9:19–9:22 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
طيب starts with the heavy ط: the vowel after it sounds darker than after ت.
ظ ẓāʾ
ألقت أمي نظرة و سحبت النمر من تحت السرير
“My mother took a look and pulled the tiger out from under the bed.”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
1:52–1:58 · Arabic comprehensible, “Under my bed”
نظرة has ظ, the heavy twin of ذ; ألقت has a ق.
ث thāʾ
إن أزرارها تلمع مثل عيني النمر
“Its buttons shine like a tiger’s eyes.”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
2:10–2:16 · Arabic comprehensible, “Under my bed”
مثل has ث, the “th” of “think”: tongue between the teeth, not an s.
ذ dhāl
ومتى كان ذلك هل تذكر؟
“And when was that, do you remember?”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
2:03–2:06 · Learn Arabic with Khasu, a conversation with a child
Two ذ, in ذلك and تذكر: the “th” of “this”, not a z.
ر rāʾ
صرخ الفأر وهو يهرب من القطة
“The mouse screamed as it ran from the cat.”
Listen and record · Type what you hear
3:19–3:24 · Arabic comprehensible, “The story of mice”
Three ر: tap the tongue once behind the teeth, as in Spanish “pero”.
The seven heavy letters
Arabic teachers group seven letters as heavy: خ ص ض غ ط ق ظ. For each one the back of the tongue rises toward the roof of the mouth, so the vowels next to it sound fuller and darker: the a of صباح is closer to the “a” of “father” than the a of سباحة. Four of them have a light twin: س and ص, د and ض, ت and ط, ذ and ظ. Say each pair one after the other until you hear the difference.
What Sada checks, and what it does not
Compare shows which of your words Sada recognised against the captions, and your timing. It does not grade individual sounds, so it cannot tell you whether a letter was right: its speech model guesses words from context, and a word can come across even when one letter in it was off. Judge each letter by ear, beside the speaker. Sada counts a word with or without vowel marks.
This page is about speaking Arabic. It does not teach the rules for reciting the Quran.
Keep going
Eleven more lines, with an everyday conversation: Arabic shadowing for Modern Standard Arabic. Indonesian speakers: percakapan bahasa Arab sehari-hari. Other languages: shadowing in Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and more.
Questions people ask
How do you pronounce Arabic letters in English?
About fifteen letters sound like English ones (b, t, j, d, z, s, sh, f, k, l, m, n, h, w, y), and ر is a tapped r as in Spanish. Two have the English th sounds (ث as in think, ذ as in this). The rest, ح خ ع غ ق ص ض ط ظ, have no English twin and are best learned by copying a speaker.
Which Arabic letters are the hardest to pronounce?
For English speakers, usually ع and ح from the throat, ق at the back of the mouth, غ and خ, and the heavy letters ص ض ط ظ. Each one changes the word if you swap it for an English sound: قلب (heart) is not كلب (dog).
What are the 7 heavy letters in Arabic?
خ ص ض غ ط ق ظ. The back of the tongue rises for each of them, so the vowels around them sound darker and fuller.
How many letters are in the Arabic alphabet?
28, plus the hamza (ء), a stop in the throat, and the tāʾ marbūṭa (ة) at the end of many words.
Practise again tomorrow? Get one short sentence a day, ready to record in one tap.
You don't need to speak fast.
A slow line to begin with: listen to how “don’t need to” runs together, then say it at the speaker’s pace.
Free · One email a day · Unsubscribe anytime. Confirm your email to start. We keep only your email, language, time zone and where you signed up.