Palestinian-Jordanian dialects have distinctive hallmarks and characteristics that define their phonology and grammar. In this lesson, we will cover key traits , such as the pronunciation of ق (q) /qāf/ and ة (tā’ marbūṭah).
Table of Contents
- MSA vs. Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic
- Pronunciation of ق (q)
- Pronunciation of ة (tā’ marbūṭah)
- Which pronunciation should I follow?
- Sentence Structure in Palestinian-Jordanian Dialects
- “P,” “V,” and “G” Sounds
- Level I – Beginner I (A1)
MSA vs. Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic
The following sounds are pronounced differently by some Palestinians and Jordanians depending on their background and location:
1. The letter ث (th) is pronounced like ت (t) in most words and like س (s) in some words in many urban areas and by many people in Gaza.
| Rural | Urban | Rural | Urban |
| ثُــوم thowm garlic | تُــوم towm garlic | ثَــوْرَة thawrah revolution | سَــوْرَة sawrah revolution |
| ثَــلَاث thalāth three | تَــلَات talāt three | حَــادِث ḥādith accident | حَــادِس ḥādis accident |
2. The letter ذ (dh) is pronounced like د (d) in most words and like ز (z) in some words in some urban areas and by many people in Gaza.
| Rural | Urban | Rural | Urban |
| ذُبَّــانِــة dhubbāneh a fly | دُبَّــانِــة dubbāneh a fly | إِذَا ’idha if | إِزَا ’iza if |
| ذُرَة dhurah corn | دُرَة durah corn | ذَكِــيْ dhaki smart | زَكِــيْ zaki smart |
3. The letter ض (ḍ) is generally pronounced like ظ (ẓ) by most Jordanians and Palestinians except in some urban areas and parts of Gaza.
| Rural | Urban | Rural | Urban |
| ظَــرَب ẓarab he hit | ضَــرَب ḍarab he hit | ظَــمِــيــر ẓamīr consciousness | ضَــمِــيــر ḍamīr consciousness |
| وَاظِــح wāẓiḥ clear | وَاضِــح wāḍiḥ clear | ظْـعِــيْــف ẓ‘īf weak or thin | ضْـعِــيْــف ḍ‘īf weak or thin |
4. The letter ظ (ẓ) is pronounced like a heavy ز (z) in many words and like ض (ḍ) in a few other words by some Palestinians in urban areas and parts of Gaza.
| Rural | Urban | Rural | Urban |
| ظَــالِــم ẓālim unjust | زَالِــم zālim unjust | ظَـــلّ ẓall he remained | ضَـــلّ ḍall he remained |
| مْــوَظَّــف mwaẓẓaf employee | مْــوَزَّف mwazzaf employee | نْــظِــيْــف nẓīf clean | نْــضِــيْــف nḍīf clean |
5. The letter ق (q) is pronounced in one of the following ways:
- Like “k” in “kangaroo” in most rural areas of Palestine.
- Like a glottal stop (’) in urban Palestinian areas.
- Like “g” in “girl” by most Jordanians, Gazans, and Bedouins.
- Standard ق (q) pronunciation in MSA by the Druze minority.
| MSA | Rural | Urban | Bedouin/Gaza |
| قَــرِيْــب qarīb near or close | كَــرِيْــب karīb near or close | أَرِيْــب ’arīb near or close | قَــرِيْــب garīb near or close |
| دَقِــيْــقَــة daqīqah minute | دَكِــيْــكَــة dakīkah minute | دئِــيْــئَــة da’ī’ah minute | دَقِــيْــقَــة dagīgah minute |
6. The letter ك (k) is pronounced like “ch” in “change” if followed by a ‘short a’ or ‘long ā’ vowel in some Palestinian villages, especially among older generations. This pronunciation is gradually falling out of use as people move to urban cities.
| Rural | Urban | Rural | Urban |
| تْــشَــان chān he was | كَـــان kān he was | تْــشَــلْــب chalb dog | كَــلْــب kalb dog |
7. The final feminine marker ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ of many words is pronounced as /-eh/ by most Palestinians and Jordanians. Only a few Palestinians retain the standard MSA pronunciation /-ah/, especially in some parts of Gaza and a few villages in the West Bank.
| MSA | Palestinian | MSA | Palestinian |
| مَـدِيْـنَــة madīnah city | مَـدِيْـنِــة madīneh city | رِحْــلَــة riḥlah trip | رِحْــلِــة riḥleh trip |
Here is a summary of the main pronunciation differences between Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine dialect groups compared to MSA:
| MSA | Urban | Rural | Jordan | Gazan |
| ث (th) | th → t, s | – | – | th → t, s |
| ذ (dh) | dh → d, z | – | – | dh → d, z |
| ض (ḍ) | – | ḍ → ẓ | ḍ → ẓ | – |
| ظ (ẓ) | ẓ → z | – | – | ẓ → z |
| ق (q) | q → ’ | q → k | q → g | q → g |
| ك (k) | – | k → ch | – | – |
You can follow any of the pronunciations above. However, be aware of the assumptions that come with each dialect group. For example, urban dialects often imply some prestige, rural dialects sound rougher, and Gazan dialects combine rural, Bedouin, and Egyptian elements.
Pronunciation of ق (q)
The pronunciation of the letter ق (q) varies among Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine dialects. A unique feature of rural dialects in Palestine is the pronunciation of ق (q) like “k” in “kangaroo.” People who pronounce ق (q) this way generally do it across the board for all words that contain the letter.
This is not the case for urban areas, Gaza, Jordan, and Bedouin communities. ق (q) is pronounced like a glottal stop (’) in urban areas and like “g” in “girl” in Jordan, Gaza, and Bedouin communities for most words that contain the letter. However, certain words retain the MSA pronunciation, although the criterion for this retention is not always clear.
Generally, formal words—often associated with religion, government, politics, law, technical and academic terms, or names of countries, cities, and historical figures—retain the MSA pronunciation of ق (q).
Here are some examples of words that retain the MSA ق (q) pronunciation:
| Religious | الـقُــرْآن (il-qur’ān) ‘Quran’ قَــــــدَر (qadar) ‘fate’ |
| Government & Politics | انْــقِــلاب (inqilab) ‘coup d’état’ قِــيَـــادِة (qiyādeh) ‘leadership’ |
| Legal | قَـــانــون (qānūn) ‘law’ عَــــقْــــد (‘aqd) ‘contract’ |
| Education, Technical, & Academic | ثَـــقَـــافِـــة (thaqāfeh) ‘culture’ اقْــتِــصَــاد (iqtiṣād) ‘economy’ |
| Names of Countries, Cities, & Historical Figures | الـقَــاهِــــرَة (il-qāhirah) ‘Cairo’ قَـــطَـــر (qaṭar) ‘Qatar’ |
Educated and religious speakers tend to retain the correct MSA pronunciation of the letter ق (q) in more words.
Pronunciation of ة (tā’ marbūṭah)
The ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ in many words is pronounced as /-eh/ by most Palestinians and Jordanians, while the standard MSA pronunciation is /-ah/.
However, some words retain the /-ah/ pronunciation in MSA.
If the consonant that precedes the ة (tā’ marbūṭah) is guttural, emphatic, or “r,” Palestinians and Jordanians generally retain the MSA /-ah/ pronunciation.
The term “guttural” here refers to the glottal stop: ء (’), glottal fricative: ه (h), pharyngeal fricatives: ح (ḥ) and ع (‘), velar fricatives: خ (kh) and غ (gh), and uvular plosive: ق (q).
The following letters trigger this retention:
| Letter | Romanization | Example |
| ء | ’ | مُــفَــاجَــأَة (mufāja’ah) ‘surprise’ |
| ه | h | وَاجْــهَــة (wājhah) ‘façade’ |
| ح | ḥ | مِــرْوَحَــة (mirwaḥah) ‘fan’ |
| خ | kh | طَــبْــخَــة (ṭabkhah) ‘(cooked) meal’ |
| ع | ‘ | سَــبْــعَــة (sab‘ah) ‘seven’ |
| غ | gh | لُــغَــة (lughah) ‘language’ |
| ق | q | سِــرْقَــة (sirqah) ‘theft’ |
| ص | ṣ | قِــصَّــة (qiṣṣah) ‘story’ |
| ض | ḍ | بِــيــضَــة (beyḍah) ‘an egg’ |
| ط | ṭ | غَــلْــطَــة (ghalṭah) ‘mistake’ |
| ظ | ẓ | لَــفْــظَــة (lafẓah) ‘utterance’ |
| ر | r | عَــشَــرَة (‘asharah) ‘ten’ |
If preceded by any other consonant, the hallmark Levantine /-eh/ pronunciation applies.
If the first vowel preceding the /r/ sound is /i/ or /ī/, the /-eh/ pronunciation can sometimes be used, e.g., عَــشِــيْــرِة (‘ashīreh) ‘clan.’
The final “h” sound is often not pronounced at the end of most words in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic. For example:
| مَـدِيْـنِــة madīne(h) city | كُــــرَة kura(h) ball |
| بِـــدُّه biddu(h) he wants | كْــتَـــابُــه ktābu(h) his book |
In Lesson 1 of this Level, we saw that in MSA, a word ending with ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ is pronounced as “h” when it is the last letter in a phrase or sentence. Otherwise, ة (tā’ marbūṭah) is pronounced as “t.”
This is true in MSA in all cases. In Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine dialects, this pronunciation rule applies only in genitive phrases; otherwise, ة (tā’ marbūṭah) is pronounced as “h” at the end of words.
| Genitive Phrase | Non-Genitive Phrase |
| مَـدِيْـنِــة حِــيــفَــا madīnet ḥeyfa City of Haifa | مَـدِيْـنِــة حِــلْــوِة madīneh ḥilweh beautiful city |
| مَــدْرَسِــة أَخُــوْي madraset ’akhūy my brother’s school | مَــدْرَسِــة جْــدِيْــدِة madraseh jdīdeh new school |
Note that compound nouns, such as ‘wall mirror’ and ‘coffee table,’ are treated as genitive phrases in Arabic.
| مْــرَايِــة حِــيــط mrāyet ḥeyṭ wall mirror | طَــاوْلِــة اِلْــقَــهْــوِة ṭāwlet il-qahweh coffee table |
We will discuss genitive phrases in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic in more detail in Level III, Lesson 5.
Which pronunciation should I follow?
The best way to start learning Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic is to adopt the standard MSA pronunciation while remaining aware of regional variations to understand most speakers.
You can also use these variations to your advantage. Here are three suggestions:
- Many English speakers find the pronunciation of the letter ق (q) in MSA to be challenging. Knowing that pronouncing it closer to ك (k) is acceptable in Palestinian Arabic can make things easier.
- Another challenge is the pronunciation of the letter ض (ḍ), a sound that rarely occurs in other languages. If you find the pronunciation of this letter to be challenging, you can replace it with ظ (ẓ), that is, an emphatic version of “th” in “they.”
- If you pronounce any ة (tā’ marbūṭah) as /-ah/ or /-at/ (when elided in a genitive phrase), your pronunciation will always be correct. If you want to sound more native, try to memorize the consonants that trigger the /-eh/ or /-et/ pronunciation when preceding the ة (tā’ marbūṭah).
We will continue to transcribe ق and ض as /q/ and /ḍ/ throughout the book, but feel free to pronounce them as /k/ and /ẓ/ if that makes it easier for you. Similarly, we will transcribe the ة (tā’ marbūṭah) as /-eh/ or /-et/, highlighting the Levantine pronunciation when it is triggered.
Sentence Structure in Palestinian-Jordanian Dialects
MSA generally prefers a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) sentence structure, in contrast to the Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure in English. In most regional Arabic dialects, including Palestinian and Jordanian, the SVO structure is often preferred unless the speaker intends to highlight the action rather than the subject.
In both MSA and Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, the verb ‘to be’ is omitted in the present tense. This means that some Arabic sentences can lack a verb. For example:
| .الِـكْـتـاب كْــبِــيْــر li-ktāb kbīr The book (is) big. |
| .الِـكْـتـاب بِــالْـبِــيــت li-ktāb bi-l-beyt The book (is) in the house. |
Like other spoken regional Arabic dialects, Levantine Arabic does not use the indefiniteness marker, known as تَــنْــوِيْــن (tanwīn), and ignores the complex declension rules used in MSA.
These rules change a word’s ending based on the grammatical function of the word within a sentence. While this allows identification of a word’s role—such as subject, object, or possession—it also makes MSA more complex.
“P,” “V,” and “G” Sounds
The sounds “p” as in “put,” “v” as in “voice,” and “g” as in “girl” do not exist in Arabic. In general, they are pronounced as ب (b), ف (f), and غ (gh), respectively, in most words. For example:
| بَــاكِــسْــتَــان bākistān Pakistan | فِــنِــزْوِيــلَّا finizweylla Venezuela | غِــيــنْــيَــا ghīnya Guinea |
In Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, the “g” sound, as in “girl,” is a common pronunciation of the letter ق (qāf) ‘q’ among Jordanians, Gazans, and Bedouins. Many educated speakers pronounce “p” and “v” correctly in words like “Panama” and “video.” The word for “Palestine” in Arabic is فَـلَـسْـطِـيْـن (falasṭīn), which does not contain the letter “p.”
Back to: Arabic Alphabet and Pronunciation
Other lessons in Level I: