Sun and Moon Letters
In Arabic, the word "the" is ال (al).
When ال (al) comes before a word, the ل (L) may be silent. Whether it is silent depends on whether the first letter of the word is a Sun letter or a Moon letter.
For example, "the moon" is القمر (al-qamar). Since ق is a Moon letter, the ل (L) is pronounced normally.
On the other hand, "the sun" is الشمس (ash-shams). Here, ش is a Sun letter, so the ل (L) blends with the Sun letter sound.
In the next exercise, we will go through each letter to learn whether it is a Sun letter or a Moon letter. No need to memorize the words - they're just for practice. You may notice an "oo" sound in the audio at the end of each word. Don’t worry — it’s a grammar nuance that you’ll explore later. For now, just practice pronouncing the words without the "oo" sound!
Let's Go!