Maltese alphabet

Maltese language - Alphabet
Maltese Alphabet         Maltese  Lebanese  English  
  
There are 29 letters in the Maltese Alphabet- 24 consonants, and  vowels (a, e, i, o, u). It is pretty much the Latin alphabet, with the following exceptions: 
  
ċ like ch in church, or tch in fetch  ċaqċaq  شقشق  to crack 
ġ like g in gem, or Lebanese ج   ġarra  جره  pitcher 
g like g in get, or bedouin ق , or Egyptian  ج   gideb  كزب  to lie 
h is silent like in hour  hawn  هون  here 
 When in final position, then soft aspirate like in who       
ħ like h in hand, maybe pretty much like the Lebanese ح   setaħ  سطح سطيحة  terrace Tripoli accent, again!
j like y in yellow  jaħasra  يا حسره  alas, poor fellow 
x like sh in shape  Xuereb  شوارب  moustache 
ż like z in zebra  żahra  زهره  flower 
z the Italian z, but has two different sounds. Like z in zorro and like ts in nuts  zekzek  تزقزق   to hiss 
  
q Mostly like a soft Lebanese hamza ( a') like our Qaf in Lebanon  qabad  أبض  seize, take, keep 
 Few regions in Malta pronounce it a q, like do people in Druze Mountains, and Syria qabda  قبضة  capture, handful 
  
għ Ragarded as a single letter in Maltese. It is silent or pronounced   
1) Pronounced like ħ ( equivalent to the Lebanese ع or  غ )   
  in final position in certain verbs  Żebagħ  صبغ  painted 
  in final position, and is preceeded by a vowel other than a  uġigħ  وجع  pain 
2) Silent and replaced by an apostrophe    
  in final position and preceeded by the vowel a  setagħ, seta' استطاع  he could 
  tagħ, ta'  تاع تبع  of 
  magħ, ma' مع  with 
3) Takes the sound of ħ when the pronomial suffix ha or hom is added  magħa  معها  with her 
  magħom  معهم  with them 
4) Takes the sound of ay as in British day, when comes before the vowel i  għira  غيرة  jealousy 
5) Takes the sound of ou as in soul, when comes before the vowel u  bgħula  بغولة  mules 
6) makes the following vowel sound longer, when comes before a, o, o inside a word ragħad  رعد  thunder 
 xegħel  شعل  he lit 
 logħob  لعب  games 
  
  
Vowels   
Vowels can be long (like Arabic vowels) or short (like Arabic diacritics).    
  They are short when followed by more than one consonant   
 They are long when followed by only one consonant, and carry the main stress, or is dependent on the position of the vowel in the word. 
  
a Short like u in nut  xatt  شطٌ  shore 
 or when it is a final letter in words with two or more syllables, 
 then the final a sounds like er in British paper  mara  مرا  woman 
 Long like a in ras  ras  راس  head 
 or when it is a final letter in a one syllable word, like ma  ma  ماما  mother 
 
e Short like e in fell, in words like  self  سلف  loan 
 Long in words like  hena  هناء  happiness 
 e can also have an open sound like ay in British day,    
 when followed by j as in  bejt  بيت  terrace 
 or by a silent h as in  dehen  زهن  intellect 
  
 i Short Like i in till in such words as   bint  بنت  daughter 
 Long Like e in heel when       
  1) it is the middle vowel in one syllable words like  ħin  حين  time 
  2) or it is followed by j like in  tarbija  تربيه  baby 
  3) or it is the final letter like in  biki  بكي  crying 
  4) or when the vowel is given force or stress like in  lira  ليره  pound sterling 
  
o Short Sounds like o in British pot, like in  fomm  فم  mouth 
 Long Sounds like aw in British saw, like in  kok  …  cook 
  
u Short Like u in pull, when followed by two consonants as in  kull  كل  every 
 Long like oo in spoon when,   
 1) it is the first letter in words like  uġigħ  وجع  pain 
 2) it is the final letter in words like  ġeru  جرو  puppy 
 3) it is the middle letter of a one syllable word, like  ful  فول  beans 
  
ie This is a two letter vowel, and occurs only as a long vowel.    
 Phonetically it sounds like ee, in beer in words like  bniedem  بني أدم  man