Arabic alphabet: All you need to know to write in Arabic

The Arabic alphabet is often mentioned as one of the obstacles to learning this beautiful language. For students, the need to learn the alphabet can seem overwhelming at first. However, did you know that you can learn the Arabic alphabet in just a few days?

The Arabic alphabet consists of only 28 letters. Many letters are very similar and differ only in minor details. Often, when learning the shape of one letter, you automatically learn one or two others.

Below you will find an easy explanation of Arabic letters, the rules for their spelling, and examples of words. You will also find tips on how to learn the alphabet faster.

1. How to learn Arabic alphabet?
2. Learn Arabic alphabet
   1. 1. Arabic alphabet – ب ت ث
   2. 2. Arabic alphabet – ج ح خ
   3. 3. Arabic alphabet – د ذ
   4. 4. Arabic letters -ر ز
   5. 5. Arabic alphabet -س ش
   6. 6. Arabic alphabet -ص ض
   7. 7. Arabic alphabet – ط ظ
   8. 8. Arabic alphabet – ع غ
   9. 9. Arabic alphabet -ف ق
   10. 10. Arabic alphabet – ا و ي
   11. 11. Arabic alphabet – ن م
   12. 12. Arabic alphabet – ك ل
   13. 13. Arabic alphabet – ه
3. Arabic letters that don’t connect
4. Arabic alphabet Quiz

How to learn Arabic alphabet?

A common mistake made by people who want to learn the alphabet is that for a long time students practice the letter shapes, rather than whole words. Hence, you can often hear from students that it took them several months to learn the Arabic alphabet.

However, if you begin writing down whole Arabic words that consist of the letters you are learning, the whole process will take much less time. By learning this way, you will be able to write down and read Arabic words after just one week.

Some letters, as we mentioned at the beginning, differ only in details, such as the number of dots. It is natural that when learning the alphabet at the beginning such details can be confusing. Only by practicing writing in Arabic you can eliminate such mistakes and get used to the rules of the new writing system.

See also: If you are at the beginning of your language-learning journey, check our How to learn Arabic Guide to see how you can improve this process. 

Learn Arabic alphabet

Let’s take a look on the Arabic script and it’s basic characteristics:

1. Arabic alphabet is an abjad (أبجد) writing system, which means that it has no vowels
2. It consists of 28 letters, all consonants
3. The letters are written in a cursive form
4. Arabic alphabet is written from right to left
5. No capital letters

Arabic letters in English:

Arabic	Letter name	English
ا	أَلِف – Alif	a
ب	باء – Baa’	b
ت	تاء – Taa’	t
ث	ثاء – Thaa’	th
ج	جيم – Jeem / Geem	j / g
ح	حاء – Haa’	–
خ	خاء – Khaa’	–
د	دال – Daal	d
ذ	ذال – Dhaal	–
ر	راء – Raa’	r
ز	زاي – Zaay	z
س	سين – Seen	s
ش	شين – Sheen	sh
ص	صاد – Saad	–
ض	ضاد – Daad	–
ط	طاء – Taa’	–
ظ	ظاء – Thaa’	–
ع	عَيْن – Ain	–
غ	غَيْن – Ghain	–
ف	فاء – Faa’	f
ق	قاف – Qaaf	q
ك	كاف – Kaaf	k
ل	لام – Laam	l
م	ميم – Meem	m
ن	نون – Noon	n
ه	هاء – Haa’	h
و	واو – Waaw	w
ي	ياء – Yaa’	y / i

Below you will find all Arabic letters divided into 13 groups. That will help you to learn letters similar to each other first, to make the whole process easier for you to understand.

TIP:  Learn one group of letters in one day, or one lesson. This way, learning the alphabet will not be overwhelming for you and will take less than two weeks. One such lesson shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.

1. Arabic alphabet – ب ت ث

These three letters have exactly the same shape but they differ in the number and position of dots. As you can see, the letter ب (ba) has a dot under, the letter ت (ta) has two dots above and the letter ث (tha) has three dots above. By learning one shape you learn 3 from 28 Arabic letters.

Let’s start:

ب – baa’

Pronunciation: as in English bank

Joining the letter ب

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ب	بـ	ـبـ	ـب

Examples of Arabic words with letter ب

!!! If you want to learn new Arabic vocabulary check our Arabic Vocabulary Lists.

ت – taa’

Pronunciation: as in English tank

Joining the letter ت

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ت	تـ	ـتـ	ـت

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ت

ث – thaa’

Pronunciation: as in English thanks

Joining the letter ث

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ث	ثـ	ـثـ	ـث

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ث

2. Arabic alphabet – ج ح خ

ج- jeem

Pronunciation: as in English jar

Joining the letter ج

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ج	جـ	ـجـ	ـج

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ج

ح- Haa’

Pronunciation: breathy letter h, no equivalent in English

Joining the letter ح

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ح	حـ	ـحـ	ـح

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ح

خ- khaa’

Pronunciation: pronounced from the back of the throat, no equivalent in English

Joining the letter خ

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
خ	خـ	ـخـ	ـخ

Examples of Arabic words with the letter خ

3. Arabic alphabet – د ذ

د – daal

Pronunciation: as in English date

Joining the letter د

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
د	د	ـد	ـد

Examples of Arabic words with the letter د

ذ – dhaal

Pronunciation: as in English that

Joining the letter ذ

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ذ	ذ	ـذ	ـذ

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ذ

4. Arabic letters -ر ز

ر – raa’

Pronunciation: similar to Spanish r

Joining the letter ر

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ر	ر	ـر	ـر

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ر

ز – zaay

Pronunciation: as in English Zoo

Joining the letter ز

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ز	ز	ـز	ـز

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ز

5. Arabic alphabet -س ش

س – seen

Pronunciation: as in English safe

Joining the letter س

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
س	سـ	ـسـ	ـس

Examples of Arabic words with the letter س

ش – sheen

Pronunciation: as in English shirt

Joining the letter ش

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ش	شـ	ـشـ	ـش

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ش

6. Arabic alphabet -ص ض

ص – Saad

Pronunciation: emphatic s

Joining the letter ص

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ص	صـ	ـصـ	ـص

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ص

ض – Daad

Pronunciation: emphatic d

Joining the letter ض

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ض	ضـ	ـضـ	ـض

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ض

7. Arabic alphabet- ط ظ

ط- Taa’

Pronunciation: emphatic t

Joining the letter ط

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ط	طـ	ـطـ	ـط

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ط

ظ – Thaa’

Pronunciation: emphatic th

Joining the letter ظ

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ظ	ظـ	ـظـ	ـظ

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ظ

8. Arabic alphabet – ع غ

ع- Ain

Pronunciation: no equivalent in English, guttural a sound

Joining the letter ع

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ع	عـ	ـعـ	ـع

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ع

غ – Ghayn

Pronunciation: no equivalent in English, as r pronounced from the back of the throat

Joining the letter غ

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
غ	غـ	ـغـ	ـغ

Examples of Arabic words with the letter غ

9. Arabic alphabet -ف ق

ف – faa’

Pronunciation: as in English fox

Joining the letter ف

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ف	فـ	ـفـ	ـف

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ف

ق – qaaf

Pronunciation: q pronunced from the back of the throat

Joining the letter ق

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ق	قـ	ـقـ	ـق

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ق

10. Arabic letters – ا و ي

*These three letters also function as long vowels.

ا – Alif

Note: It can indicate a long A vowel (aa) or to carry a short vowel (a, u, i)

Joining the letter ا

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ا	ا	ـا	ـا

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ا

و – waaw

Note: It can indicate a long U vowel (uu) or pronunced as w in wedding

Joining the letter و

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
و	و	ـو	ـو

Examples of Arabic words with letter و

ي – yaa’

Note: It can indicate a long i vowel (ee as in need) or pronounced as y in yes

Joining the letter ي

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ي	يـ	ـيـ	ـي

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ي

11. Arabic alphabet – ن م

ن – noon

Pronunciation: as in English no

Joining the letter ن

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ن	نـ	ـنـ	ـن

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ن

م – meem

Pronunciation: as in English maybe

Joining the letter م

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
م	مـ	ـمـ	ـم

Examples of Arabic words with the letter م

12. Arabic alphabet – ك ل

ك – kaaf

Pronunciation: as in English key

Joining the letter ك

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ك	كــ	ـكـ	ـك

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ك

ل – laam

Pronunciation: as in English lost

Joining the letter ل

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ل	لـ	ـلـ	ـل

Examples of Arabic words with the letter ل

13. Arabic alphabet – ه

ه – haa’

Pronunciation: as in English hope

Joining the letter ه

Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
ه	هـ‎	ـهـ‎‎	ـه‎

Examples of Arabic words with letter ه

Arabic letters that don’t connect

As mentioned before, some of the letters are not joining the next letter in a word. These six letters are:

ا	Alif
د	daal
ذ	dhaal
ر	raa’
ز	zay
و	waaw

Read next: To learn how to read Arabic you need to learn vowels in Arabic.

Arabic alphabet Quiz

Quizzes are a great tool to practice your vocabulary. All the Arabic vocabulary lists on our website contain quizzes at the end of each lesson, to help you remember newly learned words. To check more Arabic Quizzes go to -> Selfarabic – Arabic Vocabulary Quizzes

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