:party-blob: Yalla, let’s learn some Arabic :party-blob:

The letter ع is a tricky one because it is foreign to English and all European languages.

The letter’s name is عَين (عayn) which also means ‘eye’.

It is produced from the middle section of the throat by restricting the flow of air. You should be able to feel the muscles contract when you put your hand on your throat. In a way, it is the voiced counterpart of ح i.e. the vocal cords vibrate.

If you practice enough, you will be able to pronounce عarab, عumar(Omar) and عalii (Ali) correctly.

The ع is NOT a vowel.

 

Final Medial Initial Independent / Isolated
ـع ـعـ عـ ع

By looking at all the forms, is it clear which is the core and which is the tail?

What is going on with the medial and final shapes you ask? It’s written this way so we don’t take the pen off the paper, which is an important consideration when it comes to the Arabic script lol. See the spoiler 👇

spoiler

 

It’s commonly transliterated as 3 because it kinda looks like a mirrored ع.

 

Pronunciation Eng عَرَبي
3uud Oud عود
3aamil worker, laborer عامِل
wa3d / wu3uud promise(s) وَعد ، وُعود
ra3d / ru3uud thunder رَعد ، رُعود
juu3 hunger جوع
naw3 / ’anwaa3 type(s) نَوع، أَنواع
3arD / 3uruuD presentation, show, offer(s) عَرض ، عٌروض

You can also watch this video

 

Exercises

Use spoilers

ش + ع + ل + و = ؟

1) ثعلو

2) شعلو

3) شملو

 

م + و + ع + ج = ؟

1) ممعج

2) موعج

3) مرعج

 

Q3 Which one means door?

1) باب

2) توت

3) بَيت

 

Q3 Which one means animal?

1) روحي

2) حَيَوان

3) حَياتي

 

Previous Lessons

1st

2nd

3rd