Arabic Alphabets: The letter ي {yạʾ}

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 ي {yạʾ} 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 ي {yạʾ}.

Middle part of the tongue.
Front part of the palate

Now, let’s pronounce ي {yạʾ}: Touch the middle part of your tongue at the front part of your palate and say Ya ي , just like the English letter ‘Y’ in word “Yalk”. Practice this sound again and again.

Let’s practice ي {yạʾ} with vowel movements.

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

يَ = YA, Read as; Y fatah YA

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

يِ =YE, Read as; Y kasrah YE

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

يُ = YU, Read as: Y dammah YU

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:

يْ = Y sakin, أَيْ = Alif Fatha + Y sakin = ạ̉y

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.

أَيَّ = ạ̉ya – أَيِّ = ạ̉ye – أَيُّ = ạ̉yu

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

Now, practice the letter ي {yạʾ} by saying these words:

يَدٌ (yad – Hand)
يَوْمْ (yaẘm̊ – Day)
هَدِيَّةٌ ( hadīãẗuⁿ – Gift)
طَيَّار (ṭayãạruⁿ – Pilot)
غَلَّايَة (gẖalāãya – Boiler)
يَقْطِيْنْ (yaq̊ṭī̊n̊ – Pumpkin)
يُوسُفِيّ (yūsufī – Tangerine)

Listen to some Arabic Words starting with the letter ي {yạʾ}

Here, you can learn how to write the letter ي {yạʾ}

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