Learn about "sun" and "moon letters"
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Intro |
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| Hi everybody! Nora here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher, where I’ll answer some of your most common Arabic questions. |
| The Question |
| The question for this lesson is: What are “sun” and “moon letters”? |
| Explanation |
| You might have noticed that sometimes you see Arabic words with an al- at the beginning. This al- changes a noun from indefinite to definite, just like the English "the." |
| But sometimes, even if it says al- in the text, it’s pronounced a-. In this lesson, we’ll discuss why this happens. |
| To understand this, we have to differentiate between 2 types of letters in Arabic: “Sun letters” and “Moon letters.” |
| Words that begin with “sun letters” make the al- before it, sound like an a-. Words that start in a “moon letter” allow the al- to be pronounced fully. |
| First let's take a look at “sun letters.” “Sun letters” are referred to as |
| ḥurūf šamsiyyah, حُروف شَمسِيَّة |
| because the letter sh ش at the beginning of the word shams, meaning "sun," is itself a “sun letter.” Having a “sun letter” after the definite al- will result in 2 things: |
| 1- losing the l sound in the al- |
| 2- doubling the initial “sun letter” itself. |
| “Sun letters” are: |
| ḏ / ذ |
| d / د |
| ḍ / ض |
| ṣ / ص |
| ṯ / ث |
| š / ش |
| s / س |
| t / ت |
| n / ن |
| l / ل |
| ṭ / ط |
| r / ر |
| z / ز |
| ẓ / ظ |
| Let's try to pronounce a word that starts with an al followed by a “sun letter.” |
| الشمس |
| a-ššams / “the sun” |
| الثالث |
| a-ṯṯaliṯ / “the third” |
| اللحم |
| a-llaḥm / “the meat” |
| Notice how the “sun letter” is doubled, and how the l sound is lost. |
| Now let's take a look at “moon letters.” “Moon letters” are referred to as ḥurūf qamariyyah, حُروف قَمَرِيَّة because the letter q ق in the beginning of the word qamar, meaning "moon," is itself a “moon letter.” |
| “Moon letters” allow the al- before them to be pronounced fully as al-. |
| Here are the “moon letters”: |
| q / ق |
| f / ف |
| ġ / غ |
| ʿ / ع |
| h / ه |
| ḫ / خ |
| ḥ / ح |
| ǧ / ج |
| ī / ي |
| b / ب |
| k / ك |
| m / م |
| ʾ / ء |
| ū / و |
| Let's try to pronounce some words that start with al- followed by a “moon letter.” |
| الماء |
| al-māʾ/ “the water” |
| الكلب |
| al-kalb /“the dog” |
| الورد |
| al-ward / “the flowers” |
| Notice how “moon letters” allow the al to be pronounced fully. |
Outro |
| I hope this was helpful. |
| If you have any more questions, please leave a comment below! |
| Bye! إلى اللقاء(ʾilā al-liqaāʾ) |
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