The Letters Saad and Daad

 

·        The next letters of the Arabic alphabet are Saad and Daad

 

 

·        Saad and Daad look very similar except that Saad has no dots and Daad has one dot on top

 

·        Saad sounds kind of like the letter S
Daad sounds kind of like the letter D

 

Listening & Pronouncing

 

·        Saad sounds like S (so like س)
But it has a whistle to it
It can be difficult for a beginner to tell the difference between ص and س

 

 

·        Some differences between ص and س

o   ص has a slight whistle and س does not

o   ص sounds very “fat” and it’s pronounced with a “full mouth” and س is not

o   when you pronounce ص your lips become round and pouted a bit, but when you pronounce س they flatten out into a small smile

o   when you pronounce ص your tongue curves width-wise a bit, but when you pronounce س it stays pretty flat

 

·        Exercise: repeat the words you hear

 

 

·        Daad sounds like a soft D (so like د)
But it sounds much “fatter” / “thicker”

 

 

Source: http://www.gtchild.co.uk/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=66 

 

·        There’s a real way to pronounce Daad, and then there’s a way everyone does it in modern Arabic because the real way is difficult

 

·        The real way of pronouncing Daad is so unique, in fact, that Arabic is called “The Language of Daad”

 

·        This is how you pronounce Daad the non-real way:
When you pronounce Daal the tip of your tongue touches the part where your top central incisors meet your gums
Move the tip of your tongue a little further back and pronounce Daal again
The resulting sound is much “thicker”
This is Daad

 

·        Let’s not worry about how to do the real pronunciation
No one will notice the difference anyways

 

·        Exercise: repeat the words you hear

 

 

·        Exercise: each of the following recordings have two words
Which word has the س and which word has the ص?

 

 

·        Exercise: each of the following recordings have two words
Which word has the د and which word has the ض?

 

 

Reading & Writing

 

·        The Saad/Daad body is a loop, followed by a cusp, followed by a loop at the end

 

end	middle	beginning	by itself
ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ص
ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	ض

 

·        To write the Saad/Daad body:
Start from a point
Make a loop by going up and to the right
Complete the loop by coming down and to the left
Continue after the loop to create a small cusp

 

·        What other letter bodies have a loop (at the end)?

 

end	middle	beginning	by itself
ـح	ـحـ	حـ	ح
ـس	ـسـ	سـ	س
ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ص

 

·        Exercise: copy the following words once each

 

ضجر

صار

خاص

بصر

حصة

 

Proceed to lesson 13