Lesson 11: Letters م (Meem), ف (Faa), ق (Qaaf)

This set starts off easy with the letters م /m/ and ف /f/, but don’t get too comfortable—because the last one, ق /q/, is one of the trickiest letters in Arabic, with a pronunciation that shifts dramatically depending on the accent!

Pronunciation & Transcription

Let's dive into these important letters and discover the only letter that in some Arabic countries is the only silent letter in Arabic:

1. The letter م (Meem): is pronounced and transcribe exacty as the letter /m/ in English.

2. The letter ف (Faa): is pronounced and transcribe exacty as the letter /f/ in English.

3. The letter ق (Qaaf):

• Original Sound: This letter represents a deeper /q/ sound, produced from the back of the throat, as hot letters🔥. This pronunciation is common in formal Arabic and in daily speech in parts of the Levant countryside (including South Syria, Druze areas, and rural Palestine), as well as in Yemen.
• Original Transcription: /q/.
• Alternative sounds / transcriptions: depending on the region, the context and even the religious background and the gender of the speaker this letter can be pronounced differently, including:
  • Pronounced and transcribed as a /g/, like in the English word "good".
    • This pronunciation is typical of Gulf dialects, and it is usually linked to rural Jordan.
  • Pronounced as a glottal stop and transcribed as a /2/. This glottal stop is pronounced by briefly closing the vocal cords, creating a quick “catch” in the throat. You can think of it as the Scottish "t". In some Scottish accents, the letter t in the middle of a word (like in butter → bu’er) is pronounced as a glottal stop.
    • While this pronunciation is very common in urban Levantine Arabic (including Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon), it has become a hallmark of the Lebanese accent. In some communities, though, it’s traditionally associated with women and is even seen as a ‘softer’ or more ‘feminine’ way of speaking.

• • While this is very rare, in some rural accents in Palestine the ق can flatten into a regular /k/.

Letter Connections

These letters are dual-joining and they change their shape depending on their position in a word. Below are the different forms for م (Meem), ف (Faa), and ق (Qaaf):