Sun and moon letters
In Arabic and Maltese, all consonants are classified into two distinct groups known as sun letters (Arabic: حروف شمسية ḥurūf shamsiyyah, Maltese: konsonanti xemxin) and moon letters (Arabic: حروف قمرية ḥurūf qamariyyah, Maltese: konsonanti qamrin) This distinction primarily affects the way the definite article (equivalent to "the" in English) is assimilated or pronounced before certain consonants.
When the Arabic definite article (الْـ) is followed by a moon letter, no assimilation takes place.
However, in some varieties of Moroccan, Mesopotamian, and Palestinian Arabic, jīm (often /ʒ/) assimilates, like a sun letter, e.g., ij-jamal 'camel'.
[2][3] In Arabic dialects, like Palestinian, al before an emphatic consonant only assimilates in place of articulation but not in pharyngealization, hence it-ṭāwla instead of aṭ-ṭāwila (الطاولة 'table').
It is also worth mentioning that words starting with vowels, and the letters għ, and h get the definite article l- (minus the initial i).
E.g. personal name: transliterated geographical name: ʼ al-’a.../ al-’u...; al-’i... al-ʼakh(u) = the brother الْأُذُنُ al-’udhun(u) = the ear الْإِبْرِيقُ al-’ibrīq(u) = the jug b al-b... al-bayt(u) = the house j al-j... al-jawz(u) = the walnut ḥ al-ḥ... al-Ḥajj(u)/alˈħad.d͡ʒu,alˈħaʒ.ʒu,alˈħaɟ.ɟu,alˈħaɡ.ɡu/ = the pilgrimage kh al-kh... al-khawkh(u) = the peach ʻ al-ʻ... al-‘aql(u) = the mind الْعُشْبُ al-‘ush·b(u) = the grass الْعِيدُ al-‘id(u) = the holiday, festival gh al-gh... الْغَرَامُ al-gharām(u) = the love, romance, passion f al-f... الْفِكْرُ al-fik·r(u) = the thought q al-q... الْقِرْدُ al-qird(u) = the monkey k al-k... الْكَوْكَبُ al-kawkab(u) = the planet m al-m... الْمَتْحَفُ al-mat·ḥaf(u) = the museum w al-w... الْوَفِيَُ al-wafiy(u) = the faithful = the color y al-y... الْيَانْسُونُ al-yānsūn(u) = the anise h al-h... الْهَوَاءُ al-hawāʼ(u) = the air t at-t... at-tīn(u) = the fig th ath-th... ath-tha‘lab(u) = the fox d ad-d... ad-dubb(u) = the bear dh adh-dh... adh-dhakar(u) = the male r ar-r... ar-Rabb(u) = the Lord z az-z... az-zanbaq(u) = the lily s as-s... as-samāwāt(u) = the Heavens, firmament, skies sh ash-sh... الشَّرْقُ ash-shar·q(u) = the east ṣ aṣ-ṣ... الصَّحْرَاءُ aṣ-ṣaḥ·rāʼ(u) = the desert ḍ aḍ-ḍ... الضَّبَابُ aḍ-ḍabāb(u) = the fog ṭ aṭ-ṭ... الطَّاهِرُ aṭ-ṭāhir(u) = the pure ẓ aẓ-ẓ... aẓ-ẓuh·r(u) = the noon n an-n... النِّسَاءُ an-nisā(u) = the women l al-l... اللَّوْنُ al-lawn(u) = the color
