الرغوة فوق القهوة.

coffee

Breakdown of الرغوة فوق القهوة.

• فوق: on top of
• الرغوة: the foam

Questions & Answers about الرغوة فوق القهوة.

How do I pronounce الرغوة فوق القهوة in Egyptian Arabic?

A natural Egyptian pronunciation is:

ir-raghwa fōʔ il-ʔahwa

A quick breakdown:

• الرغوة → ir-raghwa
• فوق → fōʔ
• القهوة → il-ʔahwa

Two important pronunciation points:

• The sound ʔ is a glottal stop, like the break in uh-oh.
• The letter ق in Egyptian Arabic is often pronounced as that glottal stop, so القهوة sounds like il-ʔahwa, not al-qahwa.

Why do both الرغوة and القهوة have ال?

Because both nouns are definite.

So the sentence is literally:

the foam above the coffee

Arabic often uses ال where English might or might not use the, depending on context. Here it sounds like we are talking about specific foam and specific coffee, not foam in general.

Why is الرغوة pronounced ir-raghwa instead of al-raghwa?