Fusha Modern Standard Arabic
The written and formal Arabic taught in schools across the Arab world, and the one variety nobody speaks at home.
Where it is spoken
Fusha, also called Modern Standard Arabic, is the shared written language of every Arab country: newspapers, books, official speech, school instruction and most religious contexts. It is nobody's first language. Children grow up speaking a dialect and meet Fusha at school, and the distance between the two is wider than the gap between formal and casual English.
How it differs
Fusha keeps the full case system and the full set of consonants that dialects have simplified. The letter qaf is pronounced as a deep k, the jim as a j, and short vowels are all articulated. Sentence structure is more explicit and word order more regular. Learning it opens reading and formal listening. It will not by itself produce a natural conversation.
Words you can hear
Each of these is recorded by a native speaker of this dialect. Tap any card to hear it.
A note on the written forms below. Spoken dialects are rarely written down, so most words appear in their standard spelling. Where this dialect has its own written form, it is marked.
Most Arab children meet Fusha in their first year of school, and many find it strange, because it is not the language they speak at home. Children who arrive already knowing that letters and sounds belong together tend to find that first year easier. A child who has heard the same word in Fusha and in their own dialect also learns something useful early: both are Arabic, and both are theirs.
Who should learn it
Anyone who wants to read Arabic, study it formally, follow news broadcasts or approach religious texts. Most learners do best pairing Fusha with one spoken dialect, and PopPond records both so a learner never has to choose.
Dialects
Hear all seven dialects
PopPond records the same words in Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian, Moroccan, Algerian and Fus-ha.