Rule6: There are always other exceptions but you will figure them out.įor links to the Middle East, North Africa, Arab and regional information Rule 5: Taking the above notes & rules into consideration, all other syllables must begin with a constant followed by a vowelĪnd may or may not end with a constant e.g. the first constant will be the end of the first syllable and the second will be the begining of the next syllable A'mr (A'm-r), Abdallah (Ab-dal-lah), Fathi (Fat-hi). Rule 4: Two consecutive constants can not be in the same syllable e.g.
Rule 3: Where a name contains two consecutive vowels such as ee/oo/ou/ai/ia it is considered as a single long sounding letterĪnd part of a syllable begining with the preceeding constant e.g. Rule 2: Two vowels at the begining of the word are a syllable e.g. Rule 1: A vowel at the begining of a word is a syllable if followed by one constant only e.g. When reading a name it should be divided into syllables according to the following rules in conjuction with the notes above: Note 10: In some cases numbers replace letters. Sue not Soo, Joseph not Josef, Isabelle not Izabel, Maryam not Maryam. Note 9: A name of foreign origin used here may be written in that language rather than how it sounds in Arabic e.g. Morshed (Mor-shed), Khaled (Kha-led) otherwise if they are toīe pronounced separetly, rule 4 below applies. Note 8: sh, kh, th and gh are considered as one constant e.g. Note 7: "H" is always considered as a constant and is silent when placed at the end of a name. (Fad-ia or Fad-ya), (Mun-ia-ti or Mun-ya-ti). Note 6: "ia" and "ya" are interchangable and are considered as a syllable e.g. Note 5: When placed at the begining, "ai" and "ay" are interchangable they almost sound like "eye" e.g. Note 4: All the vowels with a hamza are considered as constants and the rules below apply e.g Fua~d or Fuoad (Fu-ad), Note 3: At the begining of a word, "alef" with damma is written as English "U" and is pronounced as in "Uno" to differentiate itįrom "ain" with damma which is written as English "O" or "O' " and is pronounced as in "own" e.g. Note 2: At the begining of a word, "alef" with kassra is written as English "I" and is pronounced as in "inn" to differentiate itįrom "ain" with kassra which is written as English "E" or "E' " and is pronounced as in "ego" e.g. Exception is if the mark is "skoon" or at the end where it may be marked by " ' " e.g. Omar (O-mar), andĪ double letter in the middle the first is considerd a constant and the second a vowel depending on the mark e.g. Note 1: "A", "E" and "O" when used for "ain" they are considered as vowels at the beging of a word e.g. The following will be used as standard through out my pages: Harrell, Mohammed Abu-TalibĪn Introduction to Koranic and Classical ArabicĪ New Arabic Grammar of the Written LanguageĪ Student Grammar of Modern Standard ArabicĪ Complete Beginner's Converstional Courseīy Nadira Auty, Clive Holes, Rachael Harris
Here is a selection of books, Cds and DVDs that will eventually cover various subjects related to Arabic Language and Dialects.Ĭlick on the book title for full details and reviews.īy Richard S. See Notes & Rules below for further clarification. They are:ġ-fat-ha: َ for the ah sound and is presented as "a" e.gĢ-damma: ُ for the oh sound and is presented as "o" or "u" e.g.ģ-kassra: ِ for the eh or ih sound and is presented as "e" or "i"Ĥ-shaddah: ّ which is presented as "double constant letter"ĥ-sukoon: ْ which is presented as "two consecutive constants" In Arabic, there are certain signs or marks that are added to the top or bottom of letters to give them certain sounds. As such, the names here are written in English in a way that when read in English they may sound as near as possible to the Arabic pronounciation.
The Arabic language is a phonetic one with an alphabet that contains few letters that are not found in other languages nor can be pronounced by a foreigner except with training and practice. This is not an expert analysis of this subject but it is one way of achieving the results for the writing and pronouncing of Arabic names. Writing & Pronouncing of Arabic names Writing & Pronouncing of Arabic names