The “sun letters” or حروف الشمسیہ (Huroof Al-Shamsiyyah) are the 14 Arabic letters that cause the “lām” (ل) in the definite article “al-” (الـ) to assimilate. This means that when a word starting with a sun letter is preceded by the definite article, the “lām” is not pronounced and the sun letter is doubled with a shaddah (ّ).
Here are the 14 sun letters with examples:
- ت (Taa) - Example: التفاحة (At-Tuffahah) meaning “The Apple”
- ث (Thaa) - Example: الثعبان (Ath-Thu’ban) meaning “The Snake”
- د (Daal) - Example: الدب (Ad-Dub) meaning “The Bear”
- ذ (Dhaal) - Example: الذئب (Adh-Dhi’b) meaning “The Wolf”
- ر (Raa) - Example: الرجل (Ar-Rajul) meaning “The Man”
- ز (Zaay) - Example: الزهرة (Az-Zahrah) meaning “The Flower”
- س (Seen) - Example: السماء (As-Samaa’) meaning “The Sky”
- ش (Sheen) - Example: الشمس (Ash-Shams) meaning “The Sun”
- ص (Saad) - Example: الصبر (As-Sabr) meaning “The Patience”
- ض (Daad) - Example: الضفدع (Ad-Dafda’) meaning “The Frog”
- ط (Taa) - Example: الطائرة (At-Taa’irah) meaning “The Airplane”
- ظ (Dhaa) - Example: الظهيرة (Adh-Dhahirah) meaning “The Noon”
- ل (Laam) - Example: اللوز (Al-Lawz) meaning “The Almonds”
- ن (Noon) - Example: النار (An-Naar) meaning “The Fire”
These examples show how the pronunciation of the definite article “al-” changes when followed by a sun letter, with the “lām” becoming silent and the sun letter being pronounced with a shaddah.