Lesson 1

Arabic Alphabet

The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters, which have different shapes depending on whether they are at the beginning, middle or end of a word, or written separately. You can only understand the Arabic alphabet after you have learnt each letter and sound individually over the course of 20 lessons (for curiosity’s sake, you can look at it right now). In this lesson you will learn 4 letters and 6 sounds. Let’s get started.

Arabic Writing System

Letters ا and د, the sound /d/

Arabs write from right to left, and an Arabic book starts where an English book ends. Therefore, your notebook should be started from the ‘last’ page.

Arabic letters vary in height and position relative to the line. We will measure them against the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, alif*, which is a vertical line. For initial exercises, it is advisable to take the height of the alif at 8-9 mm, i.e. slightly more than in ordinary Arabic handwriting.

^* The letter alif does not signify any sound by itself. Its purpose in Arabic script will be explained in the next lesson.

Exercise 1. Write down alif from right to left, observing its size:

ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا

The letter د (dal), denoting the consonant sound /d/, which is exactly the same as the corresponding English sound, exceeds half an alif in height and is written from top to bottom. Its lower rounding lies on the line.

Exercise 2. Write down the letters from right to left, alternating dal with alif:

ا د ا د ا د ا د ا د

Short vowels and vowel marks

There are no vowel letters in the Arabic alphabet. The short vowel sounds are indicated by marks that are written above or below the consonant letters that are followed by these vowel sounds. These marks are called vowel marks.

The short vowel /a/ is indicated by a small diagonal stroke above the letter. For example, the syllable /da/ is represented as follows: دَ

The short Arabic /a/ sounds a little bit like the ‘u’ in ‘but’ /bʌt/, like a short ‘ah’ sound.

Exercise 3. Read from right to left, correctly pronouncing the short syllable دَ and then write it down in your notebook.

دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ دَ

The short vowel /i/ (sounds like ‘i’ in ‘sit’) is indicated in writing by the same stroke, but under the letter, e.g. دِ /di/.

Exercise 4. Read from right to left, correctly pronouncing the short syllable دِ. Write down the syllables.

دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ دِ

Exercise 5. Read from right to left, correctly pronouncing the short syllables دَ and دِ, then write them down.

دَ دِ دَ دِ دَ دِ دَ دَ دِ دَ دِ دِ دَ دِ

The short vowel /u/ (sounds like ‘u’ in ‘put’) is indicated in writing by a supra-letter mark like a comma with a slightly enlarged head, e.g. دُ /du/.

Exercise 6. Read from right to left, then write the syllables.

دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ دُ

Exercise 7. Read from right to left, correctly pronouncing the consonant د and the vowels /a/, /i/, /u/, and write them down.

دَ دِ دُ دِ دُ دَ دُ دَ دِ دُ دِ دَ دَ دُ دِ دِ دَ دُ

Whenever a consonant does not have a vowel, it receives a mark in the form of a small circle, called sukoon, which is written above the consonant, for example:

The letter ر and the sound /r/

The letter ر (ra) is a kind of an arch that is written from right to down and then to left and crosses the line. Its upper part slopes slightly to the left and rises about 2 mm above the line; the lower, subscript part turns quite steeply to the left, dropping 2-3 mm below the line. Here is the letter ra next to alif and dal:

ادر

Exercise 8. Write from right to left.

ادر ادر ادر ادر ادر ادر ر ر ر ر ر ر ر ر ر ر

The sound of ر is basically the voiced alveolar flap sound, like ‘r’ in English but lighter and quicker in roll.

Exercise 9. Read from right to left, and then write down the syllables.

The audio for رَرُرِ:

Exercise 10. Read from right to left.

دَرَ دِرُ رَدْ رِدْ دَرْ رُدْ

Exercise 11. Read it, observing the rules of pronunciation (stress on the first syllable everywhere). Write them down, placing the vowel marks approximately on the same horizontal line, not very close to the letters.

Transcription

Transcription is a conventional recording of the sounds of a language with a certain degree of accuracy. We will use a transcription based on the English alphabet with a few additional signs. This transcription does not convey some nuances of Arabic sounds, but it is quite suitable for studying the sound-letter composition of an Arabic word and as an auxiliary means for mastering the Arabic writing system.

Transcription conveys both consonant and vowel sounds. Thus, the sound combination of دَرُرْ is transcribed as /darur/.

Exercise 12. Transcribe the sound combinations of exercise 11.

Exercise 13. Write down (in your notebook) in Arabic letters the following sound combinations:

/rid, darara, rud, dur, dirur/

The letter ز and the sound /z/

The letter ز (zajn) is written exactly like ra, but unlike it has a distinguishing dot at the top.

The letter zajn is pronounced similar to the English ‘z’ in ‘zoo.’

Exercise 14. Read from right to left. Write them down, putting the distinguishing dots and vowel marks not very close to the letters.

زَزَزَ زُزُزُ زِزِزِ زَزِزُ زِزُزَ زَزْ زِزْ زُزْ

The audio for زَزُزِزْ:

Exercise 15. Read, observing the rules of pronunciation (stress is always on the first syllable). Write down the given sound combinations in transcription next to each other.

Exercise 16. Write down the following sound combinations in a row or in a column using Arabic letters with vowel marks. If you need to see the correct answer, look at the key below.

/dar, dur, rad, zid, zur, raz, zar, darar, diruza, zurida, daziru, rizada, darza, razda, darda/