Letter 19 of 28
How Do You Pronounce Ghayn (غ)?
غ
Ghaynغَيْن
A gargled, French-r sound. English does not have it.
No English equivalent
The sound, and why English cannot spell it
English has no غ. It is the voiced twin of Kha (خ), like a soft gargle, or the French and German uvular r in Paris and rot. The back of the tongue vibrates loosely against the very back of the mouth.
It should flow, not stop. If your sound cuts the air like a hard g, relax the tongue until it buzzes. You hear it at the end of Surah al-Fatiha in غَيْرِ (ghayri).
The four written forms
Arabic letters change shape by position, alone, at the start, in the middle, and at the end of a word.
غ
Isolated
غ
Initial
غ
Medial
غ
Final
Ghayn with harakat
The three short vowels: fatha says "a", kasra says "i", damma says "u".
غَ
gha
Fatha · "a"
غِ
ghi
Kasra · "i"
غُ
ghu
Damma · "u"
Spot it in the Quran
غَيْرِ
ghayri
not, other than
الْغَفُورُ
al-Ghafur
the Ever-Forgiving
الْغَيْبُ
al-ghayb
the unseen
Keep going
Practice with the full Quran, word by word, in the Barakah Life app
Every ayah with word-by-word meaning, transliteration, and audio you can slow down. What you just learned here, you can practise on the whole mushaf.
Get the Barakah app