Faa (ف) is the “f” of “fan” and has one dot above its round head. Qaaf (ق) has two dots above the same kind of head. Its sound is a “k” made much further back, where the very back of the tongue touches the soft end of the roof of the mouth, near the throat; English has no such sound. Say “key”, then pull the back of your tongue as far back as you can and say it again: that deep, dark sound is close to q. Both letters join on both sides. At the end of a word the qaaf has a deeper round tail than the faa. In some local dialects qaaf is said differently, but in Modern Standard Arabic it is always q.
فalone
فـstart
ـفـmiddle
ـفend
fāʾf
قalone
قـstart
ـقـmiddle
ـقend
qāfq
Worked examples
Same head, different dots: one dot above is f, two dots above is q. Press each card and listen to the difference.
Read the three words and press Listen: horse, train, boat. The deep q is in the last two.
فَfa+جْj+رr
Break a word into steps: فَ + جْ + ر. The sukun on the jeem tells you there is no vowel after it, so you say fa, then j, then r: fajr, the first light of day.
Class activity
Throat check. Put your hand lightly on your throat. Say “key”, then say qa as deep and as far back as you can. Feel how the sound moves. Then write ف three times and ق three times from right to left, counting the dots each time.
Practice
1
Which of these letters is qaaf? Look at the dots.
ق
ف
ن
The first one, ق: it has two dots above.
2
Press Listen. Does the word start with fa or with qa?
With qa. The word is قَرِيب (qarīb), “near”.
3
Read aloud and say what it means: بَرْق.
barq, lightning.
4
The picture shows a train. Which word is it: قِطَار or قَارِب?
قِطَار (qiṭār). قَارِب (qārib) is a boat.
5
Where in the mouth is the sound q made, and how is it different from k?
Very far back in the mouth, near the throat. It is deeper and heavier than k.
