Learn to Write in Arabic

Understanding Arabic Letters

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With its flowing, cursive style and distinctive characters, Arabic script is unique and beautiful. The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, each with its own shape and sound. This lesson is for beginners. No prior knowledge of the Arabic alphabet is required. Here is your first learning point:

Unlike English, Arabic is read from right to left.

Arabic Hand Writing Tool

Okay, let's dive straight in! Here is a tool to teach you how to write Arabic letters by hand. (Note that Arabic hand-writing is slightly different to the printed letters.)

When playing with this tool, you will notice a toggle switch called "letter logic." When it is off, you can choose whatever letter you like. When "letter logic" is on, only the letters that could feasibly be next are highlighted. Don't worry. "Letter logic" will make more sense later. For now, just play with it.

letter logic:

off

grid:

off

(alif)

(baa)

(taa)

(tha)

(jiim)

(haa)

(khaa)

(dal)

(dhal)

(raa)

(zay)

(siin)

(shiin)

(Saad)

(Dhad)

(Taa)

(Dhaa)

(hain)

(ghain)

(faa)

(qaaf)

(kaaf)

(laam)

(miim)

(nun)

(Haa)

(waw)

(yaa)

(taa marbuta)

Key Facts about the Arabic Script

Hopefully, you have played with the hand-writing tool. Let's start learning a bit more. Here are five key facts to get us started:

(1) Arabic letters change depending on their positions

Most Arabic letters change form depending on their positions in words. For each letter, there are four possible positions. Here are the four forms of the letter ب (baa):

Letter	position	comment
ب	isolated	An isolated letter is not joined to any other letter. For example, isolated letters are the ones shown on the keys of a keyboard.
بـ	initial	An initial letter is used at the start of a word. Initial letters always join to letters on the left.
ـبـ	middle	A middle letter is only used in the middle of a word. They are always joined to the letter before (the one to the right) and the letter after (the one to the left).
ـب	end	An end letter always ends a word. Generally, end letters have a flourish to make the word look beautiful.

(2) Arabic script is joined up.

When first learning English, children learn to write the individual letters before learning joined-up writing. This is the not the case with Arabic. Arabic script is always joined up. However, be aware that some letters do not join to the left.

(3) Six letters do not join to the left.

There are six letters that do not join to the left (و,ز,ر,ذ,د,ا). At first, this seems like a pain for learners, but, trust me, you will learn to love that small gap to the left of these letters – it becomes important in distinguishing the letters from similar-looking letters. These six letters are called "semi-joiners" because they can only be joined from the right. In the table at the bottom of the page, the semi-joiners are highlighted in yellow.

(4) Vowels are not always shown in Arabic.

There are no true vowels among the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet. Instead, vowels and other guides to pronunciation are shown with small marks (called "harakat") positioned above or below letters. Usually, however, the vowels and the pronunciation guides are not shown. Readers are expected to know how to pronounce a word from experience. This takes some getting used to at first, but it quickly becomes normal. Do not worry. When learning Arabic, the harakat are often shown. The three main ones are fatha, kasrah, and damma.

Here they are with the letter "b" (called baa).

vowel	description	example
fatha	a small line placed above a letter produces a short ah sound	(bah)
kasrah	a small line placed below a letter produces a short ee sound	(bee)
damma	a small curl placed above a letter produces a short u sound	(bu)

(5) Isolated letters can appear in words.

It is possible for an isolated letter to appear in a word. For example, if an end letter is preceded by a semi-joiner, then an isolated letter must be used as the end letter. This makes sense because the letter is not joined from the left (due to the semi-joiner) or from the right (because it's the last letter). Don't worry. This was just a small taster of "letter logic."

The Whole Arabic Alphabet

Here are all 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet.

The semi-joiners (i.e., the letters that do not join to the left) are shaded yellow.
If a letter's name starts with a capital letter, this is a clue to its strength. For example, "taa" (ت) is the letter t, but "Taa" (ط) is an emphatic T.

letter name	the four forms	comment
alif	isolated:ا initial:ا middle:ـا end:ـا	sound: aah
baa	isolated:ب initial:بـ middle:ـبـ end:ـب	sound: b
taa	isolated:ت initial:بـ middle:ـتـ end:ـت	sound: t
tha	isolated:ث initial:ثـ middle:ـثـ end:ـث	sound: th (This is a soft "th" as in "thin.")
jiim	isolated:ج initial:جـ middle:ـجـ end:ـج	sound: j
haa	isolated:ح initial:حـ middle:ـحـ end:ـح	sound: h (There is no English equivalent. It is similar to a soft "h," like breathing on a glass from the back of your throat to polish it.)
khaa	isolated:خ initial:خـ middle:ـخـ end:ـخ	sound: kh (There is no English equivalent. It is similar to the "ch" in "loch", like clearing your palate.)
dal	isolated:د initial:د middle:ـد end:ـد	sound: d
dhal	isolated:ذ initial:ذ middle:ـذ end:ـذ	sound: th (This is a hard "th" like in "thanks.")
raa	isolated:ر initial:ر middle:ـر end:ـر	sound: r
zay	isolated:ز initial:ز middle:ـز end:ـز	sound: z
siin	isolated:س initial:سـ middle:ـسـ end:ـس	sound: s
shiin	isolated:ش initial:شـ middle:ـشـ end:ـش	sound: sh
Saad	isolated:ص initial:صـ middle:ـصـ end:ـص	sound: S (There is no English equivalent. It is a hard "S.")
Dhad	isolated:ض initial:ضـ middle:ـضـ end:ـض	sound: D (There is no English equivalent. It is a hard "D" from the back of the throat.)
Taa	isolated:ط initial:طـ middle:ـطـ end:ـط	sound: T (There is no English equivalent. It is a hard "T.")
Dhaa	isolated:ظ initial:ظـ middle:ـظـ end:ـظ	sound: TH (There is no English equivalent. It is a hard "TH.")
hain	isolated:ع initial:عـ middle:ـعـ end:ـع	sound: [glottal stop] (There is no English equivalent. It is like the gap in "uh-oh.")
ghain	isolated:غ initial:غـ middle:ـغـ end:ـغ	sound: gh (There is no English equivalent. It is like clearing your palate softly.)
faa	isolated:ف initial:فـ middle:ـفـ end:ـف	sound: f
qaaf	isolated:ق initial:قـ middle:ـقـ end:ـق	sound: q (There is no English equivalent. It is like "q" in "quiche" but from the back of the throat.)
kaaf	isolated:ك initial:كـ middle:ـكـ end:ـك	sound: k
laam	isolated:ل initial:لـ middle:ـلـ end:ـل	sound: l
miim	isolated:م initial:مـ middle:ـمـ end:ـم	sound: m
nun	isolated:ن initial:نـ middle:ـنـ end:ـن	sound: n
Haa	isolated:ه initial:هـ middle:ـهـ end:ـه	sound: h
waw	isolated:و initial:و middle:ـو end:ـو	sound: oo or woo (This letter can be like "oo" in "boot" or sometimes like "woo" in "wooky.")
yaa	isolated:ي initial:يـ middle:ـيـ end:ـي	sound: ee
taa marbuta	isolated:ة end:ـة	sound: ah

The language of "Dhad"

Looking at the table above, you will notice that some Arabic letters do not have direct equivalent sounds in English. At first, this can make Arabic words seem alien and difficult to pronounce. However, as you learn these letters, your ears will tune better to Arabic words, and you will find that spelling in Arabic is far more consistent than in English.

The letter "Dhad" (ض) is an example of a common Arabic letter that does not have a direct equivalent sound in English. Dhad is like an emphatic "D" that stems from the back of the throat. As this sound is not used in other languages, Arabic is sometimes called "the language of Dhad."

Mnemonic Devices

When first learning the Arabic letters, use mnemonic devices (e.g., little facts to remind you about the letter). For example:

letter name	the four forms	mnemonic
baa	isolated:ب initial:بـ middle:ـبـ end:ـب	sound: b The dot is always below – "b" for below.
nun	isolated:ن initial:نـ middle:ـنـ end:ـن	sound: n The dot looks like a nose – "n" for nose.
taa	isolated:ت initial:بـ middle:ـتـ end:ـت	sound: t There are two dots – "t" for two.
tha	isolated:ث initial:ثـ middle:ـثـ end:ـث	sound: th There are three dots – "th" for three.