Sudanese Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout northern Sudan. It has much borrowed vocabulary from the local languages (El Rutana). This has resulted in a variety of Arabic that is unique to Sudan, reflecting the way in which the country has been influenced by both African and Arab cultures. Some of the tribes in the eastern part of Sudan still have similar accents to the ones in Saudi Arabia.

Unique phonological characteristics

Sudanese Arabic is distinct from Egyptian Arabic and does not share some of the characteristic properties of that dialect despite the overall similarity of the two dialects.

The Arabic letter ج maintains an archaic pronunciation [ɡʲ] in Sudanese (other dialects typically have [dʒ], [ʒ] or [j], while Egyptian Arabic has [g]).

Sudanese Arabic also maintains an archaic rendering of qaf as [ɢ] (Voiced uvular plosive) while Egyptian (like some other modern Urban dialects) renders it as [ʔ]. The voiced uvular rendering of qaf has been lost in nearly every other Arabic dialect and is also considered a relic.

Also peculiar to Sudanese is the quality of the Arabic vowel transliterated as u/ū; this is usually transliterated as o in materials on Sudanese because the sound ranges from ɵ~o rather than the typical ʊ~u.

In addition to differences in pronunciation, Sudanese Arabic also uses different words when compared to Egyptian Arabic. For example, the interrogative pronoun "what" in Sudan is shino rather than "ēh" as in Egyptian Arabic.