A Linguistic Approach to Arabic Pronunciation/ي's short= ـِ
ِـ>
makes the "ee" sound in "greet" or the "ih" sound in "kit".
The English Speaker's Guide
[edit | edit source]Ee
[edit | edit source]You know this sound already. Just say ي>. The difference is that ـِ >is pronounced much more quickly.
To understand this difference, say "I object!" Then say "My object!"
The significance of this exercise is that the verb in "I object!" has a short sound for the "o". The noun in " My object!" has a long sound for the "o". The difference between ـِ> and ي >is the same, respectively.
ـِ >is finicky. You'll need to hear the word out loud to know if the native speaker makes it an "ih" sound instead.
Ih
[edit | edit source]Sometimes, ـِ >takes on a "ih" sound, like "mit", "kit", "sip", or any other word with a short "i" sound.
ـِ >is finicky. You'll need to hear the word out loud to know if the native speaker makes it a short ي >sound instead.
The Linguist's Guide
[edit | edit source]This section will need help from a professional.
Additional Notes
[edit | edit source]This letter is written below any letter in the Arabic alphabet. It is not usually written in text.
Practice
[edit | edit source]Read the following out loud. Try to figure out what the English word would be. (For the purposes of this quiz, the ـِ should be pronounced as "ih" in "tip".)
Encouragement
[edit | edit source]Letter number two. That wasn't so bad, was it? You are well on track for learning Arabic sounds!
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