Maltese Alphabet
Maltese Alphabet Maltese Lebanese English
There are 29 letters in the Maltese Alphabet- 24 consonants, and  vowels (a, e, i, o, u). It is pretty much the Latin alphabet, with the following exceptions:
ċ like ch in church, or tch in fetch ċaqċaq شقشق to crack
ġ like g in gem, or Lebanese ج ġarra جره pitcher
g like g in get, or bedouin ق , or Egyptian  ج gideb كزب to lie
h is silent like in hour hawn هون here
When in final position, then soft aspirate like in who
ħ like h in hand, maybe pretty much like the Lebanese ح setaħ سطح سطيحة terrace Tripoli accent, again!
j like y in yellow jaħasra يا حسره alas, poor fellow
x like sh in shape Xuereb شوارب moustache
ż like z in zebra żahra زهره flower
z the Italian z, but has two different sounds. Like z in zorro and like ts in nuts zekzek تزقزق to hiss
q Mostly like a soft Lebanese hamza ( a') like our Qaf in Lebanon qabad أبض seize, take, keep
Few regions in Malta pronounce it a q, like do people in Druze Mountains, and Syria qabda قبضة capture, handful
għ Ragarded as a single letter in Maltese. It is silent or pronounced
1) Pronounced like ħ ( equivalent to the Lebanese ع or  غ )
in final position in certain verbs Żebagħ صبغ painted
in final position, and is preceeded by a vowel other than a uġigħ وجع pain
2) Silent and replaced by an apostrophe
in final position and preceeded by the vowel a setagħ, seta' استطاع he could
tagħ, ta' تاع تبع of
magħ, ma' مع with
3) Takes the sound of ħ when the pronomial suffix ha or hom is added magħa معها with her
magħom معهم with them
4) Takes the sound of ay as in British day, when comes before the vowel i għira غيرة jealousy
5) Takes the sound of ou as in soul, when comes before the vowel u bgħula بغولة mules
6) makes the following vowel sound longer, when comes before a, o, o inside a word ragħad رعد thunder
xegħel شعل he lit
logħob لعب games
Vowels
Vowels can be long (like Arabic vowels) or short (like Arabic diacritics).
  They are short when followed by more than one consonant
They are long when followed by only one consonant, and carry the main stress, or is dependent on the position of the vowel in the word.
a Short like u in nut xatt شطٌ shore
or when it is a final letter in words with two or more syllables,
then the final a sounds like er in British paper mara مرا woman
Long like a in ras ras راس head
or when it is a final letter in a one syllable word, like ma ma ماما mother
e Short like e in fell, in words like self سلف loan
Long in words like hena هناء happiness
e can also have an open sound like ay in British day,
when followed by j as in bejt بيت terrace
or by a silent h as in dehen زهن intellect
 i Short Like i in till in such words as bint بنت daughter
Long Like e in heel when
1) it is the middle vowel in one syllable words like ħin حين time
2) or it is followed by j like in tarbija تربيه baby
3) or it is the final letter like in biki بكي crying
4) or when the vowel is given force or stress like in lira ليره pound sterling
o Short Sounds like o in British pot, like in fomm فم mouth
Long Sounds like aw in British saw, like in kok … cook
u Short Like u in pull, when followed by two consonants as in kull كل every
Long like oo in spoon when,
1) it is the first letter in words like uġigħ وجع pain
2) it is the final letter in words like ġeru جرو puppy
3) it is the middle letter of a one syllable word, like ful فول beans
ie This is a two letter vowel, and occurs only as a long vowel.
Phonetically it sounds like ee, in beer in words like bniedem بني أدم man
This vowel always carry the main stress, but when a suffix is added to the word,
then the stress generally moves to the next syllable.
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