Where sounds come from
The makhārij — the points in the throat, tongue, lips and nose where each Arabic sound is made, with a map you can press.
Arabic phoneticians don’t say “make a k sound”; they say where to make it. Each letter has a makhraj — an exit point — and once you know the place, the sound follows.
Press a number on the head, or a row in the list. Then press the letters and copy them, feeling where your tongue is.
Squeeze here: ʿayn with voice, ḥā as breath. English has neither — listen a lot.
The pairs that matter most
An Uzbek or English ear merges these. Arabic doesn’t — swap them and the word changes meaning.
| Light | Heavy / deeper | Where the difference is |
|---|---|---|
| soft h | tight h | bottom of the throat vs. middle |
| catch | squeeze | a stop vs. a voiced squeeze |
| k | q | the further back, the deeper |
| s | ṣ | tongue back down vs. raised |
| t | ṭ | same |
| dh | ẓ | same |
| d | ḍ | tip vs. side of the tongue |
Quiz: the throat letters
The hardest group for most learners. Don’t move on until these feel different.
10 sounds. Listen, then pick what you heard — no reading the answer first.
Quiz: light or heavy?
10 sounds. Listen, then pick what you heard — no reading the answer first.
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