How to pronounce the letter kāf (ك)?

There are some easy tips and techniques through which pronouncing Arabic letters becomes an easy task to do. In this article, will do the same. At the end of this article, you will be able to pronounce the letter ك kāf} easily with the different harakat (Vowel movements):

Fat̊ḥa   فَتْحَة   َ
Kasrah  كسرة  ِ
Dammah   ضمة ُ
Jazm / Sokoun    جزم  ْ
Shadda  شدة ّ

Here it is important to understand some parts of the mouth through which we will be pronouncing the letter ك kāf}.

لهاة الحلق (lahāẗu ạl̊ḥal̊qi): The soft part of the palate towards the throat.
The root of the tongue towards the throat.

Now, let’s pronounce ك kāf}: Touch the root of your tongue to the palate towards the mouth, the middle part of the palate and say “ك” (k). Just like the English letter ‘K’. Practice this sound again and again.

Practice ك kāf} with vowel movements.

• Fat̊ḥa فتحة: It is a small diagonal line on the top of the letter and sounds as ‘AA’. For example: 

كَ    =  KA, Read as;  K fatah KA

• Kasrah  كسرة: It is a small diagonal line below a letter and sounds like ‘EE’. For example: 

كِ    = KE, Read as; K kasrah KE

• Dammah ضمة: It is a small comma like symbol on the top of the letter and sounds like ‘UU’. For example:

كُ = KU, Read as; K dammah KU

• Jazm / Sokoun جزم: Jazm is also called sokoun, a letter with Jazm is called Sakin. It is a small round symbol above the letter. It means that this letter is joint with the letter before it. For example: 

كْ = K sakin, أَكْ = Alif fatah k Sakin = ạảk

• Shadda شدة: When a letter having symbol ّ , it is called Mushadad. It is pronounced by saying the letter twice with one movement of the tongue. It is read by joining two letters and also read with harakat.

اَكَّ  = ạảkã    –     اَكِّ  = ạå̉kĩ     –     اَكُّ  = ạå̉kũ

To learn more about the Arabic Harakat, here you can find the easiest way to practice Tashkeel:

Practice the letter ك kāf} by saying these words: 

كَلْبٌ (kal̊b – Dog)
كُوبْ (kūb̊ – Glass)
سَمَكَةٌ (samaka – Fish)
سِكَّين (sikãyn – A knife)
كَنَارِي (kanārīi – Canary)
كَوْسَةٌ (kaẘsa – Zucchini)
كَتْكُوت ( kat̊kūt – Chicken)

Listen to some Arabic Words starting with the letter ك kāf}

Learn how to write the letter ك kāf}

For more explanation about how Arabic letters are written, please check out this article:

How Arabic letters are written in their different positions?

The Difference between the sounds ق {qāf} and ك {kāf}

• The sound of ق (qāf) is thick like Q in English, while the sound of ك (kāf) is thin like K in English.
• ق (qāf) is pronounced by touching the root of your tongue to the palate towards the throat, while ك {kāf} is pronounced by touching the root of the tongue to the middle of the palate (slightly below the lahāẗ).

Practice the difference between the sounds ق {qāf} and ك {kāf}:

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Practice makes perfect. Hence, keep practicing and keep improving!