Arabic script

Used for many languages.

أبجد Abjad

Four long vowels

• ا
  alef

• ﻭ
  waw

• ي
  yeh

• ا
  alef

Regular consonants.

Emphatic consonants

صاد (sawed) vs ساد (sad)

smile when you say daal, but put your lips like you are kissing when you say dad.

Catch → caught
Loot → glut
Keep → kept

Hamza

أ / إ
Arabic words may not begin with long vowels, but with a hamza and a short vowel. Here the alef is merely a placeholder.

Connectors vs non-connectors

ا
الف alef

ah as in father, or a deeper sound.

ب
باء beh

B as in bib

ت
تاء taa

t as in cat, baton.

ث
ثاء thaa

th with the tongue further beyond the teeth than in ذال thaal -- ثاء thaa is the th in teeth but not teething; in moth but not mother; in Seth or Beth but not leather.

ح
حاء haa

The h comes from the lower throat and does not have a cognate in English. H as in happy.

ج
جيم jeem/geem

Pronounced as g in Egypt, and j elsewhere.

خ
خاء khaa

د
دال daal

D as in dear, deep but not puddle.

ﺫ
ذال thaal

The th is ذال thaal is like 'this' as opposed to the th ثاء thaa.

The tongue barely emerges from the teeth, if it all. ذال Thaal is the th in bother but not booth; in bathing but not bath; in slither but not sleuth. Weather, that.

ر
راء raa

R

ﺯ
ﺯاي zaa

Z as in uzz.

س
سين seen

S as in silk.

ش
شين shin

Sh as in sure.

ص
صاد saad

Ss as in whistle.

ض
ضاد daad

This is a d where it feels like no air is escaping the mouth when it is pronounced. D as in burden.

ط
طاء ttaa

T as in take.

ظ
ظاء dhaa

Z

ع
عين ayin

Practice pronouncing عين ayin by moving only your throat, not your mouth. It is like an ah noise from deeper in the throat.

غ
غين ghain

The gh in Baghdad.

ف
فاء faa

The f in after.

ق
قاف qaaf

The ck in beckon.

ك
كاف kaph

The ch or k in chip or kick.

ﻝ
لام laam

The l in balloon.

Laam may superficially seem like it resembles alef. However, the two are impossible to confuse because alef is a non-connector. Further, when ل laam is followed by ا alef the letters combine.

م
ميم meem

The m in melon.

ن
نون nun

The n in money.

ه
هاء haa

The h in Tahiti.

ﻭ
واو waw

The w in woe, or the u in bull.

ي
ياء yeh

J/y

ء
همزة hamza

A break or end in a sound.

Vowel diacritics

َ
فَتحة fatha

بَّ bbu

بِّ bbi

بَّ bba

بّ bb

بْ b

بُو b¯u

بِي b¯i

بِ bi

Double fatha

Gives an n sound.

Special cases

اء vs أ إ

Many colors begin with the alif.

أُجذ I love/like

س vs ص

د vs ض

Tar mabuta

سَيَّدة vs سَيَُد (lady vs mister)

Additional symbols

گ
گاف

The g in bagel.

ى

The j in pillage; the a in shura.

Special cases

ﷲ
Allah

Numerals

Related scripts

The Arabic character set is also used for Farsi, Pashto, Kurdish and other languages with some minor modifications.

Pashto characters

ټ

t

څ

ts, dz

ډ

d

ړ

r

ږ

z, g

ښ

x, s

ڼ

n

ئ

ey, ei

ۍ

ey, ei

ې

e

ݒ

p

Kurdish characters

ڕ

Rr

ێ

The Ê in aire, faire.

ۆ

Oh.