Lesson 2 — “The”, and “that over there”
Point at something further away, and say "the house" instead of "a house". This lesson holds the single biggest pronunciation trap in Arabic — and it is one you can hear but not see.
How it works
الْ is "the", and it never changes its spelling
بَيْتٌ is "a house"; الْبَيْتُ is "the house". Two things happen at once: الْ is added at the front, and the tanwīn at the end drops from -un to -u. A word cannot be both "a" and "the", so it cannot carry both.
Half the time the ل is silent — and this is the trap
The fourteen "sun letters" swallow the ل and double the letter after it. الشَّمْسُ is written al-shams but SAID ash-shamsu. The fourteen "moon letters" leave it alone: الْقَمَرُ is said al-qamaru, exactly as written. You cannot see this in the spelling — the transliteration column below is the only place it shows, which is the reason this course carries one at all.
Which letters are which, without memorising a list
Say the letter aloud with الْ in front. If your tongue touches the ridge behind your teeth for both the ل and the next letter, they merge — that is a sun letter (ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن). The rest are moon letters. Most learners get this by ear long before they get it by list.
ذَٰلِكَ is "that" — further away than هَذَا
هَذَا for what is near you, ذَٰلِكَ for what is over there. The feminine of ذَٰلِكَ is تِلْكَ. The same rule as lesson 1: no verb "to be" — ذَٰلِكَ مَسْجِدٌ is "that is a mosque."
Words
Sentences
Saying it to someone
Grammar you cannot use in a conversation is not yet Arabic. These are the lines that turn the words above into an exchange.
Practise
- Say ten things around you twice — once with الْ and once without: بَيْتٌ / الْبَيْتُ.
- Go down the vocabulary list aloud and listen for the ل. If you cannot hear it, it is a sun letter.
- Point at something across the room and say ذَٰلِكَ…, then at something in your hand and say هَذَا…
Transliteration uses ḥ ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ for the emphatic letters, ʿ for ʿayn, ʾ for hamzah, and ā ī ū for long vowels. Read the Arabic, not the transliteration — the transliteration is a crutch to be dropped as early as you can.