Welcome to Egyptian Arabic

Short vowels are small marks above or below a letter: fatha ◌َ is a, kasra ◌ِ is i, damma ◌ُ is u. A long vowel is made with a letter: ا gives ā, ي gives ī, و gives ū. Egyptian also has ē and ō: يْ after a fatha is ē (بَيْت bēt) and وْ after a fatha is ō (يَوْم yōm); in some common words a plain ي or و is said ē or ō too (إِيه ēh, فِين fēn), and the transliteration always shows it. Sukun ◌ْ means no vowel: the letter closes the syllable, as in مَدْرَسَة. Shadda ◌ّ means the letter is said twice: سُكَّر sukkar. At the start of a word, أ or إ (alif with a small hamza ء) is simply said a or i: أَيْوَه aywa, إِزَّيَّك izzayyak. Normal Arabic writing leaves these marks out; this course writes them all, so you can always read.