Egyptian Arabic: The Hard Sounds
Practice the Arabic consonants that don't exist in English, plus the Franco-Arabic texting code.
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Questions Covered in This Set
12 cards to master
What number represents ع in Franco-Arabic texting?
3 — e.g. 3arabi (Arabic), ma3lesh (never mind)
What number represents ح?
7 — e.g. 7abibi (my dear), saba7 (morning)
How do you produce ح (7)?
A breathy, 'hot' h made low in the throat — like fogging up glasses while tightening your throat as if lifting something heavy. Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.
How does ع (3) differ from ح (7)?
Same place of articulation (deep in the pharynx) but ع is voiced — a strangled, pressured 'aaa' grunt.
How is خ (kh / 5) pronounced?
Like the ch in German 'Bach' or Scottish 'loch' — a raspy scrape at the back of the roof of the mouth. E.g. 5alas (enough).
How is غ (gh) pronounced?
The voiced twin of خ — like the French r in 'Paris', a soft gargle. E.g. ghali (expensive), shughl (work).
How do Cairenes usually pronounce ق?
As a glottal stop (2), the catch in 'uh-oh': qahwa → 2ahwa (coffee), qalb → 2alb (heart).
What does ج sound like in Egyptian Arabic?
A simple hard English 'g' (as in 'go'), not the 'j' of Standard Arabic.
What physically makes the emphatics ص ض ط ظ 'heavy'?
You flatten and pull the body of the tongue back toward the throat, which darkens the surrounding vowels (from 'cat' toward 'father/saw').
Minimal pair: seif vs Seif
seif (س) = sword, bright vowel; Seif (ص) = summer, dark vowel.
Minimal pair: tin vs Tin
tin (ت) = figs; Tin (ط) = mud/clay.
What does '3ayez' mean?
'I want' — one of the most useful words in Egyptian Arabic.
