The Arabic alphabet, the second most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (the Latin alphabet is the most prevalent). Originally developed for writing Arabic and spread to much of the Eastern Hemisphere with the spread of Islam, Arabic scripts have been adapted into various languages including Persian, Turkish, Spanish and Swahili language.
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, all representing consonants, written from right to left. It is ultimately derived from the Northern Semitic alphabet, like its Aramaic and Greek contemporaries, but adapted to fit the wider Arabic phonetic and a cursive style that is well suited to pen and paper writing. The shape of each letter depends on its position in the word-initial, middle, and ending. When writing alone, there is a fourth form. The letters ālif, wāw and yā (for the glottal stops, w and y, respectively) are used to denote the long vowels a, u and i.
First, multiple Arabic letters have no equivalent in English. A good example is the letter ع. The best way to describe this is the throat "stop" at the back of the throat.
Also, the pronunciation of letters is not always consistent throughout the word. Just like English, almost any other language. For example, "e" in "ask" and "listen". differ greatly.
This is not to say that all Arabic letters are like this. For example, ä almost always sounds like an nn sound. Things to remember when learning the alphabet!
The Four Most Important Aspects of the Arabic Alphabet
1) Arabic is written from right to left
Writing from right to left is new to most people and takes some getting used to. But like anything, time and practice are the key factors here. And you get used to it quickly. Plus, even right-to-left, it still follows the "one horizontal line at a time" reading style of most languages.
2) Arabic letters are connected in words
You don't write Arabic words as individual letters (like handwriting), you connect them together. This makes it somewhat similar to cursive. That's because some letters introduce "breaks" in the connection of letters. A good example is the first letter ا ( alif ). This always creates a gap that forces the next letter in the word to take its "isolated" form (see next feature of the Arabic alphabet).
Usually, though (as my Arabic teacher told me), the letters "crowd together". What's confusing at first is that it can slightly change the look of the letters themselves.
3) Arabic letters vary slightly depending on their position in the word
This may cause the most confusion for beginners.
In other words: if a letter is at the beginning (initial), middle (middle) or end (ending) of the word, it will look different in an Arabic word.
Sound confusing? Not really, just practice a little. Let me explain.
The table you read above presents the Arabic alphabet (that's what I call it) in isolated form.
That is, it has nothing to do with a word by itself.
An Arabic letter can (but sometimes doesn't) change its appearance once you actually use it in a word.
It's important to note that most letters don't look very different when changed. Most Arabic letters are fairly consistent no matter where they are found in a word.
Beginners can easily guess!
That said, some letters do take different forms. This can be a little confusing at first. But it really just takes a little rote memorization. Like I said at the beginning - it just takes time.
Let's take a quick look at the letter ع I already mentioned, and how that letter looks in different positions in three different Arabic words.
As you can see here, the letter ع changes its form everywhere in the word. It doesn't look the same in a word as it does in isolated form. It's fun, right?
Like I said, most Arabic letters don't change much. The letter ع is actually an extreme case. This "form conversion" is learned faster than you might think. It's not like you have to learn four different versions of all 28 letters!
4) Arabic has no vowels
While this may sound odd to a native English speaker, it's actually not a big deal at all. That's because Arabic actually does have letters that make vowels. These are the last three letters of the Arabic alphabet: ه, و and ى.
You see, Arabic is based on the "root system". This means that any kind of word can usually be created from the "root" (usually three letters) by adding other letters.
To name just one example, the root كتب (to write), depending on which letters you add (and where), can become: writer, library, book, and student.
You may have noticed that all these words are slightly related. Another cool feature of this "root" system!
Tips for Learning the Arabic Alphabet
1) Practice writing Arabic
Writing is definitely the first thing you should do. This is the best way to get familiar with the Arabic alphabet. Start with a single letter.
For starters, Arabic letters look more like complex pictures than letters. But this complication quickly goes away.
After you master individual letters, practice writing complete words. It doesn't matter if you know what they mean.
Writing Arabic naturally forces you to become familiar with the shapes of the letters. This will improve your ability to understand Arabic letters faster.
There are many websites where you can find exercises to write complete Arabic words. Use them to your advantage!
2) Practice reading Arabic
Reading in Arabic will further internalize how Arabic works. Especially how the letterforms change. Really any difficulty level material (at least initially) will do. That's because understanding a language isn't even the most important thing when learning a new alphabet for the first time. Instead, familiarity with the letters is.
3) Reverse Engineering Arabic Words
This is where you break down a word into its constituent letters. Of course, for Arabic, it's not as simple as splitting the word "happy" into h+a+p+p+y .
Remember (as my Arabic teacher told me): Arabic letters "clump together". This means that the Arabic letters in the word are basically cursive, and they change their form depending on their position in the word.
While this was confusing at first, it became easier to understand. I promise. In fact, if you've been writing and reading Arabic (even without fully understanding it), this probably already happens naturally!
Because you may see letters that make up words. This is the basis for understanding how the Arabic alphabet works.
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