Study Lebanese

In Lebanese, it is very important to be able to make the distinction between two types of letters, the sun letters (Solar) and the moon letters (Lunar). This is a property of many Semitic languages. The word sun means “cams” and the word moon means “amar”. If you look at the table of the alphabet, you will see that the letter type next to each letter is indicated either as “Camsi” (Solar) or as “Amari” (Lunar).

You must learn to identify which letter is “Solar”, and which letter is “Lunar”. For someone who does not know any Lebanese, making this identification is always tricky in the beginning, but when you understand the basic rules that govern these designations, you will know them instinctively. The “solar” letters are the letters that you use the front part of your tongue, or close your teeth, to pronounce. They are: C, D, Ḋ, J, L, N, R, S, Ṡ, T, Ṫ, Z and Ż. The “Lunar” letters are the letters that you use your throat, or your lips to pronounce. They are: `, A, B, E, F, G, Ġ, H, Ḣ, I, II, K, Ḱ, M, O, P, Q, U, V, W, X and Y.

Therefore, there are two types of words, “Solar” words and “Lunar’ words. This designation basically describes how these letters behave with the definitive article “L” or “Li”, meaning “the” and other prepositions such as “B”, “Bi” and “Bil” which mean “in”, etc…

Let’s take some examples:

Table 1:

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