The chart below explains how Wikipedia represents Modern Standard Arabic pronunciations with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Wikipedia also has specific charts for Egyptian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, and Tunisian Arabic. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-ar}}, {{IPAc-ar}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Wikipedia transcriptions for Arabic may be either more general and abstract (phonemic), using only the symbols in the IPA column, or more detailed and precise (phonetic), using the symbols explained in the notes.

See Arabic phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Modern Standard Arabic, and varieties of Arabic for regional variation.

IPA English
approximation
Arabic
letter/symbol
Usual
romanization
Letter

name

A–B
a[lower-alpha 1] cat in British English, only approx. in American English َ a, á, e فَتْحَة (fatḥah)
[lower-alpha 2] No exact, longer far ـَا(ى at word end) ā, â, aa, a أَلِف (ʾalif)

الف مقصورة (ʾalif maqṣūrah)

aj[lower-alpha 3] /a/+/j/, my ْـَي ay, ai, ey, ei يَاء (yāʾ)
aw[lower-alpha 4] /a/+/w/, noun ْـَو aw, au وَاو (wāw)
b bee ب b بَاء (bāʾ)
D
d dash د d دَال (dāl)
[lower-alpha 5] emphatic and pharyngealized /d/, no equivalent ض ḍ, dh ضَاد (ḍād)
jam ج[lower-alpha 6] j, ǧ, dj, g جِيم (jīm)
ð these ذ dh, ḏ ذَال (dhāl)
ðˤ[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 7] emphatic and pharyngealized Template:IPAblink ظ ظَاء (ẓāʾ)
F–H
f father ف f فَاء (fāʾ)
h hi ه h هَاء (hāʾ)
ħ hello, but pharyngeal ح حَاء (ḥāʾ)
I–K
i[lower-alpha 8] miss ِ i, e كَسْرَة (kasrah)
[lower-alpha 9] machine ـِي ī, ee, i يَاء (yāʾ)
j yes ي y يَاء (yāʾ)
k skin ك k كَاف (kāf)
L–N
l lease (Received Pronunciation) ل l لَام (lām)
ɫ[lower-alpha 10] tool
m me م m مِيم (mīm)
n no ن n نُون (nūn)
q like cat, but further down to the uvula (uvular). ق q, g, ' قَاف (qāf)
r "tapped" or "trilled" r;
Spanish perro
ر r رَاء (rāʾ)
s see س s سِين (sīn)
[lower-alpha 5] emphatic and pharyngealized /s/, no equivalent ص صَاد (ṣād)
ʃ she ش sh, š, ch شِين (shīn)
T–W
t stick ت
(sometimes ة)
t تَاء (tāʾ)

تاء مربوطة (tāʾ marbūṭah)

[lower-alpha 5] emphatic and pharyngealized /t/, no equivalent ط طَاء (ṭāʾ)
θ think ث th, ṯ ثَاء (thāʾ)
u[lower-alpha 11] cook ُ u, o, ou ضَمَّة (ḍammah)
[lower-alpha 12] boot ـُو ū, oo, ou, u وَاو (wāw)
w we و w وَاو (wāw)
X–Z
x Scots loch,
Spanish jota,
German Bach
خ kh, ḫ, ḵ خَاء (khāʾ)
ɣ Spanish fuego غ gh, ġ, ḡ غَيْن (ghayn)
z zoo ز z زَاي (zāy)
Other
ʔ The pause in uh-oh!;
Cockney butter; glottal stop
ء ʾ ' هَمْزة (hamzah)
ʕ no equivalent
(voiced pharyngeal fricative or voiced creaky-voiced pharyngeal approximant)
ع ʿ ' ` عَيْن (ʿayn)
θ see under T—W
ˈ [ˈkiːwi] كِيوِي ('kiwi') Means that the following syllable is stressed: /ˈʕarabiː/ عربي ('Arab').
ː [kiːs] كِيس ('sack') Means that the preceding vowel is long
[ˈdˤɑħ.ħæ] ضَحّى ('[he] sacrificed'),
[mʊˈdær.rɪsæ] مُدَرِّسَة ('teacher [f.]'),
[ræs.ˈsæːmæ] رَسَّامَة ('paintress'),
[kæð.ˈðæːb] كَذَّاب ('liar [m.]')
A geminated consonant never belongs to one syllable and is often broken with a stress.

Notes

mudé
  1. Allophones of /a/ include Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink; and Template:IPAblink elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197).
  2. Allophones of /aː/ include Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink; and Template:IPAblink elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197).
  3. In colloquial pronunciation, /aj/ may be realized as Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink~[ej] (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595; Kaye 1997, p. 198).
  4. In colloquial pronunciation, /aw/ may be realized as Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink~[ow] may occur (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595; Kaye 1997, p. 198).
  5. 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 Emphatic consonants may be either pharyngealized or velarized and are accompanied with labialization (Al-Ani 2008, p. 599; Kaye 1997, p. 193–194).
  6. The letter ج represents Template:IPAblink in Egypt and Template:IPAblink in the Levant and the Maghreb (Al-Ani 2008, p. 598; Gairdner 1925, p. 23).
  7. The letter ظ represents either Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink, depending on the speaker's dialect (Al-Ani 2008, p. 601).
  8. Allophones of /i/ include Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words. /ɪ/ completely becomes /e/ in some other particular dialects.
  9. Allophones of /iː/ include Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197).
  10. [ɫ] occurs only in the word Allah: [ɑɫˈɫɑh] (Al-Ani 2008, p. 600; Kaye 1997, p. 196; Kaye 2009, p. 564).
  11. Allophones of /u/ include Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words. /u/ completely becomes /o/ in some other particular dialects.
  12. Allophones of /uː/ include Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink (Al-Ani 2008, p. 595, 600; Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999, p. 52–53; Kaye 1997, p. 193, 197).

References

mudé
  • Al-Ani, Salman H. (2008). "Phonetics". Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics. Vol. III. Brill. pp. 593–603. ISBN 978-90-04-14973-1.
  • Gairdner, W. H. T. (1925). The Phonetics of Arabic. Oxford University Press.
  • Kaye, Alan S. (1997). "Arabic phonology". Phonologies of Asia and Africa. Vol. I. pp. 187–204.
  • Kaye, Alan S. (2009). "Arabic". In Comrie, Bernard (ed.). The World's Major Languages (PDF) (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. pp. 560–577. ISBN 978-0-415-35339-7.
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
  • Mitchell, T. F. (1990). Pronouncing Arabic. Vol. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815151-9.
  • Thelwall, Robin; Sa'adeddin, M. Akram (1999). "Arabic". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 51–54.