The Arabic Alphabet: Consonants (2024)

NameIsolatedInitialMedialFinalTransliterationSoundPronunciation'alifاـا' / ālong unrounded low central back vowel'a' as in 'father'Bā'ببــبــبbvoiced bilabial stop'b' as in 'bed'Tā'تتــتــتtvoiced aspirated stop't' as in 'tent'Thā'ثثــثــثthvoiceless interdental fricative'th' as in 'think'Jīmججــجــجjvoiced palatal affricate'j' as in 'jam'Ḥā'ححــحــحḥvoiceless pharyngeal constricted fricativeonly in Arabic; a constricted English 'h'Khā'خخــخــخkhvoiceless velar fricative'ch' as in German 'Bach'Dālدـدdvoiced dental stop'd' as in 'deer' (approx.)Dhālذـذdhvoiced interdental fricative'th' as in 'there'Rā'رـرrvoiced dental trill'r' as in 'run' (approx.)Zāyزـزzvoiced dental sibilant'z' as in 'zoo' (approx.)Sīnسســســسsvoiceless dental sibilant's' as in 'sit'Shīnششــشــشshvoiceless palatal sibilant'sh' as in 'shut'Ṣādصصــصــصṣvoiceless post-dental sibilant emphaticthe counterpart of Sῑn; all the 'emphatics' are pronounced with the back of the tongue slightly raisedḌādضضــضــضḍvoiced post-dental emphatic stopthe counterpart of DālṬā'ططــطــطṭvoiceless post-dental emphatic stopthe counterpart of Tā'Ẓā'ظظــظــظẓvoiced post-interdental emphatic fricativethe counterpart of Dhāl^caynععــعــع^cvoiced pharyngeal fricativepurely Arabic -- a constriction of the throat and an expulsion of the breath with the vocal cords vibratingGhaynغغــغــغghvoiced uvular fricativeclose to a French 'r' as in 'Paris' -- like a gentle garglingFā'ففــفــفflabio-dental voiceless fricative'f' as in 'free'Qāfققــقــقqvoiceless unaspirated uvular stop'k' in the back of the throat; compare 'cough' with 'calf'Kāfككــكــكkvoiceless aspirated palatal or velar stop'k' as in 'king'Lāmللــلــلlvoiced dental lateral'l' as in 'lift'Mīmممــمــمmvoiced bilabial nasal'm' as in 'moon'Nūnننــنــنnvoiced dental nasal'n' as in 'net'Hā'ههــهــهhvoiceless glottal fricative'h' as in 'house'Wāwوـوwvoiced bilabial glide'w' as in 'wonder'Yā'ييــيــيyvoiced palatal glide'y' as in 'yellow'Hamzaء'voiceless glottal stopnot a phoneme in English but found in some exclamations -- e.g. 'oh-oh'