The Arabic definite article ال (al-): how it attaches, why there is no "a", the 14 sun letters that swallow its l and the 14 moon letters that keep it, the dropped a after a vowel, and when a noun is definite without ال.
I can make a noun definite with ال, pronounce it correctly before sun and moon letters and after a vowel, and know when a noun is definite without it.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
الكِتاب
the book
الشَّمْس
the sun
القَمَر
the moon
النّاس
the people
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Arabic has one article, ال (al-), meaning "the". It is written joined to its word, and it does not change for gender or number: the same ال for masculine, feminine, singular and plural (الوَلَدُ the boy, البِنْتُ the girl, الأَوْلادُ the boys). After لِـ it loses its alif in writing: لِلْبَيْتِ, for the house. There is no indefinite article: a word without ال is indefinite, and in careful Arabic it also carries tanwīn, the -n ending.
| Indefinite | Definite |
|---|---|
| بَيْتٌ - a house | البَيْتُ - the house |
| مَدينَةٌ - a city | المَدينَةُ - the city |
| كِتابٌ - a book | الكِتابُ - the book |
ال and tanwīn never meet: البَيْتٌ is always wrong.
The ل of the article is almost always written, but it is not always pronounced. It depends on the first letter of the word:
| Letters | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Moon letters (14): ل is heard | أ ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق ك م ه و ي | القَمَرُ - al-qamar, the moon |
| Sun letters (14): ل disappears | ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن | الشَّمْسُ - ash-shams, the sun |
Before a sun letter the ل melts into it and that letter is doubled, which is why الشَّمْسُ has a shadda on ش. You write الشَّمْسُ and say ash-shams; you write النّاسُ and say an-nās. The classes are named after their own examples: القَمَر keeps its l, الشَّمْس loses it.
A rule of thumb saves memorising: sun letters are made with the tip or blade of the tongue near the teeth and the ridge behind them, the same spot as ل, so ل slides into them. Moon letters are made with the lips (ب م) or further back (ك ق ع ح). Two exceptions have to be learnt: ج and ي are made with the middle of the tongue, yet ل stays before them (الجَمَلُ, al-jamal). And a word that begins with ل itself doubles it: اللَّيْلُ, al-layl, the night.
The a- of the article is only there to start the word. After a vowel it drops and the vowel runs straight into the l: في البَيْتِ is fil-bayti, إِلى البَحْرِ is ila l-baḥri, وَالقَمَرُ is wal-qamaru. After لِـ (for, to) the alif is not even written: لِلْبَيْتِ, lil-bayti.
Arabic puts ال on things in general, not only on specific ones: أُحِبُّ القَهْوَةَ - I like coffee; الماءُ ضَروريٌّ لِلْحَياةِ - water is necessary for life. English says "coffee" and "water" with no article; Arabic needs ال. An adjective describing a definite noun takes ال too (البَيْتُ الكَبيرُ, the big house), while an adjective without it makes a sentence (البَيْتُ كَبيرٌ, the house is big).
English is full of words that still carry ال: algebra (الجَبْر), alcohol (الكُحْل), alchemy, and the name Aladdin, عَلاءُ الدّينِ, where the article has turned into ad- before the sun letter د.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesFailed to assimilate ل before a solar letter
Memorize the 14 solar letters or remember: if the tongue touches the teeth/palate to start the letter, ل assimilates
Used ال when indefinite was needed or vice versa
ال = the (specific). No article + tanwīn = a/an (general)
الكِتاب
the book
al-kitāb - ك is a lunar letter, so ل is fully pronounced.
الشَّمْس
the sun
ash-shams (NOT al-shams) - ش is solar, ل assimilates and ش doubles.
القَمَر
the moon
al-qamar - ق is a moon letter, so the l is pronounced. The "moon letters" are named after this very word.
النّاس
the people
an-nās (NOT al-nās) - ن is solar, ل assimilates to ن.
السَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ.
Peace be upon you.
as-salāmu ʿalaykum - the greeting you will hear most, and a sun letter at work: س swallows the ل of the article and is doubled. The reply is وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلامُ.
ذَهَبْنا إِلى البَحْرِ في الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةِ.
We went to the sea in Alexandria.
dhahabnā ila l-baḥri fi l-iskandariyya - both articles lose their a after the vowel before them. ب and the hamza of الإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّة are moon letters, so the l is heard both times.
اللَّيْلُ في الصَّحْراءِ بارِدٌ.
The night in the desert is cold.
al-laylu fi ṣ-ṣaḥrāʾi bārid - اللَّيْل starts with ل, so the article's l joins it and the l is doubled; in الصَّحْراء the l vanishes into the sun letter ص.
أُحِبُّ القَهْوَةَ بِلا سُكَّرٍ.
I like coffee without sugar.
uḥibbu l-qahwata bi-lā sukkar - coffee in general, yet it takes ال: Arabic uses the article for a whole kind of thing, where English uses none. Sugar stays indefinite (سُكَّرٍ): no sugar of any kind.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
§ 14 (a) and rem. a (p. 15): the "euphonic" shadda follows a vowelless consonant which, "though expressed in writing, is ... passed over in pronunciation and assimilated to a following consonant"; it is used with the dentals, sibilants and liquids after the article, as in es-semsu. These letters are called the solar letters "because the word شَمْس, sun, happens to begin with one of them", and the rest the lunar letters because قَمَر, moon, begins with one of those.
§ 345 (p. 269): the article ال is composed of the demonstrative ل and a prosthetic alif "prefixed only to lighten the pronunciation"; it is always written joined to the following word, and "though it has become determinative, it was originally demonstrative", as still seen in اليَوْمَ "today" and الآنَ "now". Rem. a: used for a whole genus, as in "man is better than woman".
§§ 18-19 (p. 19): when the hamza-vowel at the start of a word "is absorbed by the final vowel of the preceding word", the elision is marked by waṣla; § 19 (a) lists the first case, "the ا of the article ال". This is why في البَيْتِ is read fil-bayti.
Chapter 7, "Noun inflections: gender, humanness, number, definiteness, and case" (pp. 119-204) is the modern reference treatment of definiteness in Modern Standard Arabic, including the article. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record; the chapter text was not consulted.