Quran Transliteration Table

How to read and pronounce the Latin phonetic diacritics used in English Quranic transliteration — an interactive reference you can use right in your browser, no PDF download needed.

Quran transliteration symbols with their Arabic letter or rule, an example, and a pronunciation guide.
Symbol	Letter / Rule	Example	Pronunciation Guide
ā	Alif / Fatha Madd	Al-Fātiḥah (الْفَاتِحَة)	Long 'a' sound as in 'far' or 'father'.
ī	Ya Madd	Raḥīm (رَحِيم)	Long 'e' sound as in 'see' or 'machine'.
ū	Waw Madd	Nūr (نُور)	Long 'u' sound as in 'moon' or 'flute'.
ḥ	Ḥā (ح)	Al-Ḥamdu (الْحَمْدُ)	Heavy 'h' produced from the middle of the throat.
ʿ	ʿAyn (ع)	Al-ʿĀlamīn (الْعَالَمِين)	Deep throat glottal sound characteristic of Arabic.
ṣ	Ṣād (ص)	Ṣirāṭ (صِرَاط)	Emphatic heavy 's' sound.
ḍ	Ḍād (ض)	Aḍ-Ḍāllīn (الضَّالِّين)	Heavy 'd' sound made by pressing the tongue against upper molars.
ṭ	Ṭā (ط)	Ṭayyib (طَيِّب)	Emphatic heavy 't' sound.
ẓ	Ẓā (ظ)	Al-ʿAẓīm (الْعَظِيم)	Heavy voiced 'th' sound as in 'this', pronounced emphatically.
'	Hamzah (ء)	Yū'minūn (يُؤْمِنُون)	Sharp glottal stop sound as in 'uh-oh'.

Once you know these symbols, put them into practice: read the full Quran transliteration for all 114 surahs with Arabic script, English translation, and word-by-word audio, or start with Surah Al-Fatihah.