Heavy and light letters
A heavy letter is pronounced with a full mouth, a light one is not. 7 Arabic letters are always heavy. Seen and saad are the classic pair: one light, one heavy, and the word depends on which is recited.
Learn Quran with TajweedFor families in the USA
Help your child learn Quran with Tajweed through live 1-to-1 online classes. Our qualified Quran teachers teach Tajweed rules, correct pronunciation and accurate Quran recitation step by step.
At Live Quran Lessons, a beginner learns 6 Tajweed rules first: heavy and light letters, long vowels, qalqalah, Noon and Meem Sakin, sakoon and tashdeed, and stopping (waqf). The Noorani Qaida introduces every one of these marks separately, before the Mus'haf, the printed Quran, is opened. On the Mus'haf everything arrives together, inside whole verses, at recitation speed. Our Tajweed course helps your child make that change correctly.
Two Arabic letters can sound almost the same and still make two different words. A short vowel held too long, or a long one cut short, changes the word into another. Tajweed is the set of rules that keeps every word sounding exactly as it should. Here is an explanation of each of the 6 in plain words.

A heavy letter is pronounced with a full mouth, a light one is not. 7 Arabic letters are always heavy. Seen and saad are the classic pair: one light, one heavy, and the word depends on which is recited.
A long vowel is the stretching of a sound, and a maddah sign stretches it further still. Leen is the soft sound of waw or yaa after an a sound, as in bayt, the Arabic word for house.
A short bounce given to 5 letters whenever they carry no vowel: qaf, the heavy taa, baa, jeem and dal. The bounce is strongest when the letter is the final sound before the reciter stops.
A noon or a meem with no vowel is pronounced according to the letter that follows it: clearly, merged into that letter, or hidden with a soft nasal sound. Before baa, a noon sakin also turns into a meem sound.
Sakoon is a small mark above a letter: the letter carries no vowel of its own. Tashdeed is a small w-shaped mark: the letter is doubled and held for a moment, exactly like the double l in Allah.
The small marks above the line that show where a reciter stops for breath, where a stop is permitted, and where it is not. Stopping in the wrong position can change the meaning of a verse.
Book your free Tajweed trial class
Up to 3 free classes, and nothing to cancel. We reply on WhatsApp, and a first class can start within an hour or two.
The teacher corrects each word the moment your child recites it, with the Mus'haf shared on screen. If a heavy letter comes out light, or a long vowel is cut short, the teacher stops on that word and puts it right.

At the point they have already reached, not at page 1 for everyone. When you book, tell us on WhatsApp whether your child is a complete beginner or has learned previously. The free trial classes show the teacher exactly where your child stands.
The Noorani Qaida is finished first, so every letter is recognized and pronounced correctly. Only then does your child begin recitation from the Mus'haf.
This is where the course begins. Your child recites a line, and every beginner rule is corrected immediately, the first time it appears.
The course carries on into advanced Tajweed: all 17 articulation points, the positions in the mouth and throat a letter comes from.
Your child learns the makharij: the 17 points where the Arabic letters are made, grouped in 5 areas.
The long vowel sounds.
6 letters, from the deepest point to the nearest.
18 letters, more than anywhere else.
4 letters: faa, baa, meem and waw.
Ghunnah, the nasal sound.
Each point is practised inside real verses, and the teacher corrects a letter the moment it comes from the wrong place.
Most children start with the basic rules and then move on to advanced Tajweed. The free trial classes show the teacher which level your child is ready for.
For a child who reads Arabic letters and words and is starting to recite from the Mus'haf. Lessons are 30 minutes, 1-to-1, 2 to 5 days a week.
For a child who already recites from the Mus'haf with the beginner rules in place. Lessons are 30 minutes, or 45 minutes to 1 hour if you ask.
2, 3, 4 or 5, whichever suits your family. More days a week means more lessons every month.
To add a day later, ask in your family WhatsApp group. There is no contract and no minimum term, so you can stop at the end of any month.
Yes. Tell us in your family WhatsApp group, and we try to settle it before the next class. The rules we work to:
A different teacher is arranged the same way. If your child's teacher is away, a cover teacher briefed on your child's lesson plan takes the class.
Yes, if your child can already read Arabic letters and words: every lesson is recitation from the Mus'haf, the printed Quran. Live Quran Lessons has taught it online since 2019, to families in 15 countries, most of them in the UK and the USA.
Up to 3 free classes with a qualified teacher, and no credit card at registration.
See why families choose our 1-to-1 online Quran classes for their children.
Try a free 1-to-1 class first. See how your child does with the teacher, then choose.
Book Up to 3 Free Trial ClassesNo credit card required · No obligation · Review excerpts shortened for clarity
Watch families and students talk about their own experience.
Hear it from your own child next. Up to 3 free classes, and no card at signup.
Book a Free Trial ClassEvery course is taught one-to-one by a qualified tutor, and every one starts with up to 3 free trial classes.
The questions parents ask us most, answered.
The rules for how every Arabic letter should sound in recitation. They cover the position in the mouth, the length of each sound, and where a reader may stop.
Yes. Your child reads aloud to a qualified teacher, who corrects each slip in pronunciation as it happens.
They need to be able to read the Arabic letters. If they cannot yet, a beginner starts on the Noorani Qaida.
There is no fixed time. It depends on where your child starts.
Yes. 45-minute and 1-hour classes are also provided once regular classes start. Trial classes are 30 minutes.
Your child keeps the same qualified teacher every week, at the same time. Every class is one-to-one. After each class the teacher writes a note: what was covered and what to practise.
Live, always. Every class is a live lesson on video with your child's teacher. We never send recordings in place of live lessons.
Beginners start with the Noorani Qaida. From there it is Quran recitation with Tajweed, and after that Hifz, translation or Tafseer, depending on what a family wants. Alongside the Quran your child learns Islamic Studies. Families on 5 days a week keep Friday as Islamic Day, which revises that week's Islamic Studies and adds one new lesson.
Yes, and it is checked before anyone teaches a child. Every teacher holds a qualification from a recognized Islamic institution, and several hold professional degrees as well. Nobody is given a student on an application alone. There is an interview, a document check, training, and a live demo class we sit in on. The academy page sets out each stage.
A supervisor. She joins the link about 2 minutes before the teacher and your child, checks that both are online, and listens in as the lesson runs. She is not there to teach: she is there to make sure the class is a good one. If the sound fails, or the teacher is not listening closely enough to your child, she steps in. Every class is supervised, and all our supervisors are female.
Send us your WhatsApp number on the form, or message us on WhatsApp. We ask for your child's age and the times that suit you. A supervisor places your child with a teacher in a slot at that time, in your time zone. We reply on WhatsApp within 24 hours, and usually within hours.
Yes. Take up to 3 free trial classes first. Use them to check the teacher, the timing, and how your child responds before paying anything.
Yes. You are welcome to watch any lesson, without asking first.
There is no contract and no minimum term. Fees are monthly, and you pay for the month ahead. If you want to stop, tell us and we will stop. If you need a break instead, any unused balance carries to the next month. Before your regular classes begin, you can withdraw and get a full refund.
Through a WhatsApp group we open for your family after the trial classes. It has 4 people in it: you, your child's supervisor, the coordinator and the academy manager. Use it to move a class, ask for a different teacher, or raise anything at all. We try to settle it before the next class.
Arranging your trial class is the only thing we use it for, and we never pass it on to anybody. Once classes start it is the number in your family WhatsApp group.
You are welcome to watch any lesson yourself, without asking first, and a supervisor is listening in on every class. No teacher is given a student until we have checked their certificates and references. We then train them in how we teach, and sit in on a live demo class before they start.
Live Quran Lessons charges monthly, per child, by the days a week your child attends. 2 days a week is $39, 3 days $49, 4 days $59, and 5 days $65. Each lesson is 30 minutes, 1-to-1.