The Definite Article In Arabic (al-)

Unlike English, where “the” is a separate word, in Arabic, you attach a small prefix to the beginning of a noun.

This prefix is al- (الـ).

Think of it like sticking “the” onto the front of the word.

For example:

• kitāb (كِتَاب) means “a book”
• al-kitāb (الْكِتَاب) means “the book”

• bāb (بَاب) means “a door”
• al-bāb (الْبَاب) means “the door”

Easy, right?

This applies to Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and spoken dialects (though in some dialects, it sounds more like il- or l-, rather than al- -> see below).

الْكِتَاب

al-kitāb

The book

الْبَاب

al-bāb

The door

But don’t forget the sun and moon letters

Huh?

Here’s the main thing you need to learn about al-:

How you pronounce it changes depending on the first letter of the noun it’s attached to.

Arabic letters are divided into two groups for this rule:

• Sun Letters (حُرُوف شَمْسِيَّة - ḥurūf shamsiyyah) and
• Moon Letters (حُرُوف قَمَرِيَّة - ḥurūf qamariyyah).

Moon letters (حُرُوف قَمَرِيَّة - ḥurūf qamariyyah)

These are the straightforward ones.

When al- comes before a word starting with a Moon Letter, you pronounce the L sound clearly.

Think of the word “moon” in Arabic: qamar (قَمَر). When you add al-, it becomes al-qamar (الْقَمَر).

You hear the “L” sound.

Examples with Moon Letters:

الْأَب

al-ʼab

The father

الْبَيْت

al-bayt

The house

الْقَمَر

al-qamar

The moon

الْوَلَد

al-walad

The boy

Sun letters (حُرُوف شَمْسِيَّة - ḥurūf shamsiyyah)

These letters have a special rule.

When al- comes before a word starting with a Sun Letter, the L sound disappears.

Instead, you double the sound of the Sun Letter itself.

Think of the word “sun” in Arabic: shams (شَمْس).

When you add al-, you write الْشَّمْس but you pronounce it ash-shams (NOT al-shams).

Notice the “L” sound is gone, and the “sh” sound is stressed or doubled.

Examples with Sun Letters:

الطَّالِب

aṭ-ṭālib

The student (m)

الشَّمْس

ash-shams

The sun

الرَّجُل

ar-rajul

The man

اللُّغَة

al-lughah

The language

Why does this rule exist?

The reason why this happens is that it’s more natural to say.

Try saying al-shams and then ash-shams. You’ll notice that with al-shams, it feels like your tongue is tripping over itself trying to say it. It interrupts the natural flow.

But ash-shams flows smoothly. 😊

Just focus on learning the Sun letters, practising words combined with the article, and it’ll start to come naturally when you speak.

You’ll pick this up as you hear and use more Arabic.

Definite articles in Arabic dialects

The al- (الـ) prefix is standard across MSA and most dialects. The Sun and Moon letter rules generally apply everywhere too.

However, you might hear slight pronunciation differences:

• Egyptian Arabic: Often pronounces the vowel in al- like an “i” sound, especially after a word ending in a vowel, making it sound more like il-. For example, fīl-bayt (فِي الْبَيْت - in the house) might sound like fil-beit.
• Levantine Arabic (Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Jordanian): Similar to Egyptian, the vowel can sometimes sound like il- or even just l- depending on the context.
• Maghrebi Arabic (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian): Can sometimes drop the vowel entirely, especially in rapid speech, leading to just an l- sound attached, like l-kitāb instead of al-kitāb.

But even with these small variations, the basic concept of attaching al- (or a variation) and applying Sun/Moon letter rules remains the core idea. If you learn the MSA al- and the Sun/Moon rules, everyone will understand you.

To clarify, to make a noun definite (“the”):

1. Add al- (الـ) to the beginning.
2. Check the first letter of the noun.
3. If it’s a Moon Letter, pronounce the L: al-qamar (الْقَمَر).
4. If it’s a Sun Letter, skip the L and double the Sun Letter: ash-shams (الشَّمْس).

That’s all there is to learning definite articles in Arabic.

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