How to pronounce the definite article depends on the letter that comes after it. In the case of the word below, it is pronounced as it is written- 'al'. The letters that follow this pattern are known as moon letters

the moon

moon

When is attached to words that begin with certain letters, the l isn't pronounced at all. Instead the first letter of the word is either pronounced twice or stressed. This is the case in the example below. The letters that follow this pattern are know as sun letters

the sun

sun

Notice the symbol that resembles a slanted ّّّّّw that appears immediately after the first letter. It is a called a shadda. Whenever two identical consonants appear right next to each other, only one consonant is written, and the shadda is written on top of it, indicating that it is doubled. Remember that short vowels that come within a sentence are often not written.