Understanding the Two “th” Sounds: Challenging sounds in Arabic, part 3

In today’s blog post, we will continue our exploration of difficult sounds in Arabic by highlighting the two unique “th” sounds.

Arabic contains two distinct ‘th’ sounds which are represented by two different single letters.

This is in contrast to the sounds of ‘th’ which also exist in English formed by combining the t and the h together.

The first one, thaa ( ث ) is an unvoiced interdental sound as in such English words as “think”, “with”, and “thistle”.

The second one, dhaal (ذ ) is a voiced interdental sound where the voice of the speaker is added to the sound as in such words as “father”, “brother”, “mother”, “this”, and “that”.

ث ذ

[dhaal] [thaa]

(as in father) (as in think)

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Examples of Arabic Words Using Both “th” Letters

هذا هذه ذلك سذاجة فذلكة

brief summary, abstract innocence, simplicity that (masculine) this (feminine) this (masculine)

ثبات ثقيل عثور نثار وثاق

bond, fetter; string, twine scattered fragments, discovery heavy firmness, constancy

confetti