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- "وَ"
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It's the same as Aramaic and Hebrew ו = letter waw "and" and all other Semitic languages. The audio sounded like "oo" to my ear. I have a question about the two dots under the letter. My understanding is that the dots are under the yaˀ (or yaaˀ) letter sometimes and do not indicate a vowel. (I'm working from A. S. Tritton's Arabic [Teach Yourself Books, 1977]). So this is just the letter called yaaˀ but it's pronounced similar to "oo." Some people are saying there is something wrong with the audio so I'd like to find out what the deal is with how it's pronounced. I notice that Amrhilman says it's pronounced "wa." Perhaps it's a matter of dialect? Are we learning Egyptian Arabic here, Palestinian Arabic? Now I notice that dieprinzessin indicates that both wa and oo are correct.
It is both a letter and a word. Similar to и in russian. The word "wa" is "with" e.g. "Ana wa inta," me and you. But you will start to say "ana w'inta." So, in a way, this pronunciation "can be" correct at times, as you will hear it pronounced this way if someone is speaking quickly. But, shouldn't be this way for a beginner.
On Forvo, they have four different varieties of that word. (Iraq, Emirates, Algeria, Jordan)
What would be the closest to the type of Arabic thought here?
MODS: I noticed throughout ALPHABET1, the vowel sound for "dii" did not have a long pronunciation on audio for Match the Pairs lessons - although it was taught with a long vowel audio on the other lessons throughout the five levels. Also the audio for instances of "wa" was cut off throughout ALPHABET1