Like English, Arabic has a definite article, أَلْ, which corresponds to "the". This definite article can be attached to adjectives as well as nouns:
the big house أَلْبَيْتُ الْكَبيرُ
the new man أَلرَّجُلُ الْجَديدُ
أَلْ has two pronunciations, depending on whether the letter that follows it is a "sun" letter (أَلشَّمْسُ) or a "moon" letter (أَلْقَمْرُ). The labels "sun" and "moon" are used to refer to these two categories because the first letters of أَلشَّمْسُ "sun" and أَلْقَمْرُ "moon" are examples of sun and moon letters, respectively.
If أَلْ is followed by a moon letter, then the definite article, أَلْ , is pronounced "al". The moon letters are:
ج ي ب ح خ غ ف ق ل م ه ء ي و
Therefore, in the above example, أَلْبَيْتُ الْكَبيرُ would be pronounced "albaytu alkabiir."
If أَلْ is followed by a "sun" letter, then the أَلْ is not pronounced and the next letter is lengthened. The sun letters are:
د ث ت ن ل ض ظ ط ص ش س ز ر ذ
So, أَلرَّجُلُ السَّعيدُ (the happy man) would be pronounced "arrajulu assa'iid."
Arabic does not have an indefinite article.
See also: