The letter “F” in Tunisian Arabic

Tunisian Arabic speakers write using both the Latin and Arabic scripts. (with younger generations tending to write more with the Latin script and older generations tending to write more with the Arabic script) (For more information on this topic see the IBL article: What is Tunisian Arabic?)

The letter “F” in Tunisian Arabic is represented by this letter:

ف

(The letter F is only represented by the letter ف. But vice versa, ف can be represented by “Ph-“—See this section below for more information)

Tunisian Arabic is a dialect of Arabic, and as such, adheres, at least in some noticeable way, to grammatical and linguistic convention of the language. In Standard Arabic (Fos7a / فصحى), conventionally, all letters are accompanied with a diacritic (known in Arabic as a Chakel / شكل) (In language, a diacritic is a marking associated to a letter that assists with the specificity of the letter’s pronunciation) In Standard Arabic there are five diacritics: Fat7a / فتحة,  Kasra / كسره, Dhamma / ضمة, Chadda / شدّة and Soukoun / فتحة which gives shape to the pronunciation of the letters they accompany. Here are chakels (diacritics) that can accompany the letter ف:

• ف = فَ  with Fat7a / فتحة
• ف = فِ  with Kasra / كسره
• ف = فُ  with Dhamma / ضمة
• ف = فْ  with Soukoun / فتحة

Tunisian Arabic speakers when writing often omit the chakels (likely out of convenience to write words faster), but in the Latin script, these diacritics often become associated to vowels.

For example, the word Cucumber in Tunisian Arabic is Fa9ous / فقوس. With all its diacritics in the Arabic script it’s فَقُوسْ . But it will be very uncommon to see someone writing in Tunisian Arabic use any diacritics in the word. (If they were, it would be more closely considered Standard Arabic) And it’s the Fat7a / فتحة on the ف (It’s hidden but it looks like فَ) that, when writing using the Latin script, gives the vowel “a” in Fa9ous.

IBL Contributor, Aroua F. pronounces فْ & , فُ, فِ ,فَ:

Examples in words

In the subsections to follow we’ll cover, with recordings, examples of the letter F / ف.

The letter F at the start of words

Here are four examples of F / ف at the start of words:

• Fes / فاس (“Axe”) (With the Fat7a – فَاس)
• Fisa3 / فيسع (“Fast”) (With the Kasra – فِيسع)
• Foul / فول (“Beans”) (With the Dhamma – فُول)
• Frite / فريت (“French fries”) (With the Soukoun – فْريت)*

*Note: It’s uncommon for etymologically Arabic words to start with the ف with the Soukoun. (i.e., فْ) Words like Frite / فريت and Fraise / فراز (“Fresh”) are Tunisian Arabic words that do, and are derived from French.

Aroua F. pronounces Fes, Fisa3, Foul & Frite:

The letter F in the middle of words

Here are four examples of F / ف in the middle of words:

• Mfeta7 / مفاتح (“Keys”) (With the Fat7a – مفَاتح)
• 3safer / عصافر (“Birds”) (With the Kasra – عصافِر)
• Telifoun / تاليفون (“Phone”) (With the Dhamma – تاليفُون)
• L7am mafroum / لحم مفروم (“Ground beef”) (With the Soukoun – لحم مفْروم)

Aroua F. pronounces Mfeta7, 3safer, Telifoun & L7am mafroum:

The letter F at the end of words

Here are three examples of F / ف at the end of words:

• Sif / صيف (“Summer”) (With the Soukoun – صِيفْ)
• Dh3if / ضعيف (“Thin”) (With the Soukoun – ضعيفْ)
• Sarf / صرف (“Change”) (With the Soukoun – صرفْ)

Note: The Chakel, the Soukoun (When on the ف — فْ) communicates to readers that the letter in the word should be spoken more softly.

Aroua F. pronounces Sif, Dh3if & Sarf:

Names that start with F

Here are three Arabic names that start with F / ف:

• Fadi / فادي (With the Fat7a – فَادي) (masculine-based)
• Feryel / فريال (With the Kasra – فِريال) (feminine-based)
• Fathi / فتحي (With the Fat7a – فَتحي) (masculine-based)

Aroua F. pronounces Fadi, Feryel & Fathi:

The Ph- prefix in Tunisian Arabic

In the opening notes of this article we mentioned that F is only associated to the Arabic letter ف. However, the vice versa isn’t true: The letter ف can also be associated to the Latin-script prefix Ph-. Ph- shows up in etymologically French (and likely some English) words. Here are three examples:

• Pharmacie / فرماسي (“Pharmacy”) (A note that some Tunisian Arabic speakers write this word as Farmasi)
• Physique / فيزيك (“Physics”)
• Photocopie / فوتوكوبي (“Photocopy”)

Aroua F. pronounces Pharmacie, Physique & Photocopie:

In closing

By studying and learning how the letter “F” functions in Tunisian Arabic you’re another step closer to learning this enjoyable dialect of Arabic. If you want to go back a letter for study, there is the IBL article: The letter “E” in Tunisian Arabic. If you want to study a different aspect of grammar there are the IBL articles: How nouns function in Tunisian Arabic and How adjectives function in Tunisian Arabic. (the latter being a premium guide)

Enjoy learning Tunisian Arabic.

And as always, we wish you a marvellous journey!