Hover (or tap) a tile to see the letter's name and sound.
Where your tongue goes, compared with American English. The arch is the roof of your mouth — lips on the left, throat on the right. Numbers match the cards below.
Good news: most of the alphabet sits exactly where English puts it — ب b, م m, ف f, و w, ك k, ل l, ن n, س s, ز z, ش sh, ي y, ه h all work like their English twins. The cards below cover what moves.
1ث ذBetween the teeth
Tongue: tip rests lightly between the top and bottom front teeth.
vs English: identical — ث is think, ذ is this. Nothing to relearn.
Bonus: Levantine speech mostly turns these into t/s and d/z anyway (talāte, hāda) — so you get them nearly for free.
2ت دBack of the top teeth
Tongue: tip touches the back of the top front teeth — not the gum ridge behind them.
vs English: English t/d land higher, on the ridge, and English t starts words with a puff of air. Arabic ت is more forward and puff-free. (س ز ل ن also sit a touch more forward — a nicety, not a must.)
Try it: hold a finger in front of your lips. "Tea" should puff on it; تين (tīn) shouldn't.
3رRāʾ — the tap
Tongue: yes, exactly the Spanish r in "Roberto" — the tip flicks once against the ridge just behind the top teeth.
vs English: American r bunches the tongue in the middle of the mouth and never touches anything — the opposite gesture, and the #1 habit to unlearn.
Try it: say "budder" or "ladder" fast — the consonant in the middle is already the Arabic tap. A full rolled trill only appears when the letter doubles: مرّة (marra).
4ش ج يThe palate
Tongue: blade near the hard palate — same as English sh / j / y.
vs English: no change. In Amman ج often softens toward the "s" in measure — either way is understood.
5كKāf — plain k
Tongue: back of the tongue on the soft palate — English k in "keep".
vs English: identical. Its whole job is to not be ق — keep it forward and light.
6ق خ غThe uvula
Tongue: the very back of the tongue reaches up to the uvula (the dangly bit) — one step deeper than k. ق is a k made there; خ is the same spot with a scratchy air leak (German Bach, Scottish loch); غ is خ with the voice on — a dry gargle, like a French r.
vs English: English has nothing this deep — the k in "call" is as far back as it goes. Keep going.
Try it: for خ, gently begin clearing your throat and hold the scrape; for غ, gargle without water. And in Jordan ق is usually just "g" as in go (gaddēsh) — or a glottal stop in Amman.
7ح عThe throat squeeze
Tongue: no contact at all — the tongue root pulls back and the throat walls tighten. ح is breath forced through the squeeze; ع is the same squeeze with the voice on.
vs English: this is not h. English h is loose and open; ح feels like fogging a mirror as hard as you can.
Try it: whisper "HEY!" as loud as a whisper can get — that throat pressure is ح. Then say "aah" and slowly tighten your throat mid-vowel until it sounds squeezed — that's ع.
8ء هThe very back
Tongue: nothing — these happen at the vocal cords. ه is plain English h in "hat"; ء (hamza) is a full stop of air, the catch in "uh-oh".
vs English: you already make both — Arabic just writes them down.
Try it: say "uh-oh" and freeze in the middle — that closure is hamza. Ammanis turn ق into exactly that: ʾaddēsh.
2 + 7ص ض ط ظEmphatics — two places at once
Tongue: the tip does exactly what it does for s / d / t (zone 2), but at the same time the back of the tongue humps up and pulls toward the throat (zone 7), like the start of a yawn. The mouth feels big and hollow, and vowels around them darken.
vs English: say "Sam", then "psalm" — that darker second vowel is what an emphatic does to its neighbors.
Try it: say sīn (seen), then say it again inside the start of a yawn — it comes out ṣād. If the word suddenly sounds "heavier", it's working: ṭūl vs tūl are different words.
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Levantine pronunciation. Arabic-Indic digits are what you'll see on price tags and doors — note they're written left-to-right, like Western digits.
Building numbers: say the unit first, then the ten — 25 is khamse w-ʿishrīn ("five and twenty"). 100s: 200 = mītēn, 300 = talat mīye. And 11–19 all end in -taʿsh.
English on the front — say it in Arabic, then flip to check.
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Single words for work, research, and religion. Jordanian ق shows up as "g" in everyday words (wagt, galb, farīg) — but religious vocabulary keeps the formal "q" (muqaddas, qurʾān).
English on the front — say it in Arabic, then flip to check.
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