How do I pronounce letter Jeem? in Arabic

Aliya Javed

Shyness is the most beautiful character
Assalamalaikum....anybody plz tell me how will I pronounce the Arabic word Jeem?? Will I pronounce it as Z for 'Zebra' or J for 'Joker'?:(
 

SonOfAdam

Well-Known Member
Staff member
In some alphabets and languages they don't have many of the Arabic sounds so to make it easy for the commoner they replace certain letters and sounds such as "Z" in place of "TH" , i.e. Azan (Turkey, Pakistan) instead of Athan (proper).

Both are understood, but it is best to stick to the true Arabic pronunciation so we don't deviate from the meaning and teachings of Islam ins. I don't know who were the smart guy scholars that came up with these changes back in the day...
 

zohra94

New Member
Wa3leykum essalam:)
The Arabic jeem is pronounced like j in "joker". The only other pronunciation I've heard is the Egyptian pronunciation. Egyptians like to pronounce it as a hard g like in "gold". Just be careful, because the people of the Gulf like to pronounce the letter qaf as gaf.
So if an Egyptian says "giddan", he means "very", and if a a Saudi says "dagiiga", he means "minute" ;)
The standard forms are "jiddan" and "daqiiqa"

About the z:
In the dialects, the dh and the emphatic DH become z, like they do in Turkish.

Th becomes "t" in the dialects..

Just want you to know this, because Arabs speak different dialects, and might therefore not use all the sounds they use in lughat el fusha ;)
 

Nur_Karam

New Member
Assalamalaikum....anybody plz tell me how will I pronounce the Arabic word Jeem?? Will I pronounce it as Z for 'Zebra' or J for 'Joker'?:(

waalaikumsalaam wa rahmatuAllah,

I learned that the jeem comes from the middle of the tongue when pronouncing it. In order to practice this, try putting an alif next to the jeem that has sukoon, and kind of like bounce the jeem (its called qalqala). The best thing that will help is to see someone who speaks arabic show you and tell you how it is pronounced. Kind of like phonics
 
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