Currently, Arabic script is one of the most commonly used writing systems in the world. You can find it utilized as the primary alphabet in many areas of Asia and Africa, as well as in various ethnic communities globally. In addition to Arabic, some of the languages that use Arabic script include Farsi, Urdu, Kurdish, Sindhi, Pashto and Arabi Malayalam.
Most important facts about the Arabic alphabet
- The Arabic alphabet, called al-abjadīya, has 29 letters. All of them are pure consonants except for three.
- There is only 3 vowel sounds in Arabic: /a:/, /i:/ and /u:/
- The sound of each letter is different than the name of the letter.
- Arabic is written and read from right to left.
- Arabic letters are made up of a series of strokes and written in a cursive style.
- Most letters have four different forms (initial, medial, final and independent) except for 6 letters (ز ـ ر ـ ذ ـ د ـ و ـ ا) can only be linked to their preceding letter, hence have only two forms, independent and final.
- Arabic contains vowel diacritics, which are not directly part of the alphabet but used to mark short vowels, and other special symbols. The bulk of Arabic script is written without those vowels, also called ḥarakāt. However, they are commonly used in texts that demand strict adherence to exact pronunciation like the Qur’an and poetry. It is also quite common to add ḥarakāt to hadiths, the Bible, and children’s literature. Moreover, ḥarakāt are used in ordinary texts in individual words when an ambiguity of pronunciation cannot easily be resolved from context alone. In art and calligraphy, ḥarakāt might be used simply because their writing is considered aesthetically pleasing.
Arabic alphabet table
Letter name | Letter name in Arabic | Transliteration | Final form | Medial form | Initial form | Independent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ʾalif | أَلِف | ā | ـا | ا | ||
bāʾ | باء | b | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | ب |
tāʾ | تاء | t | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | ت |
thāʾ | ثاء | th / ṯ | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | ث |
jīm | جيم | j | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | ج |
ḥāʾ | حاء | ḥ | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | ح |
khāʾ | خاء | kh / ẖ | ـخ | ـخـ | خـ | خ |
dāl | دال | d | ـد | د | ||
dhāl | ذال | dh / ḏ | ـذ | ذ | ||
rāʾ | راء | r | ـر | ر | ||
zāy | زاي | z | ـز | ز | ||
sīn | سين | s | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | س |
shīn | شين | sh / š | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | ش |
ṣād | صاد | ṣ | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | ص |
ḍād | ضاد | ḍ | ـض | ـضـ | ضـ | ض |
ṭāʾ | طاء | ṭ | ـط | ـطـ | طـ | ط |
ẓāʾ | ظاء | ẓ | ـظ | ـظـ | ظـ | ظ |
ʿayn | عَيْن | ʿ | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | ع |
ghayn | غَيْن | gh / ġ | ـغ | ـغـ | غـ | غ |
fāʾ | فاء | f | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | ف |
qāf | قاف | q | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | ق |
kāf | كاف | k | ـك | ـكـ | كـ | ك |
lām | لام | l | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | ل |
mīm | مِيم | m | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | م |
nūn | نُون | n | ـن | ـنـ | ـنـ | ن |
hāʾ | هاء | h | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | ه |
wāw | واو | w / ū | ـو | و | ||
yāʾ | ياء | y / ī | ـي | ـيـ | يـ | ي |
hamza (the hamza doesn't have any proper sound it's more like a glottal stop) | هَمْزة | ʾ | ء\ئ\أ\ؤ | ئـ\أ\ؤ\ء | أ | ء |
Arabic alphabetical order
There are two main collating sequences for the Arabic alphabet, both read from right to left:
The ʾabjadī lettering system is ultimately derived from the Phoenician alphabet. Therefore, it shares similarities with other Phoenician-based alphabets, such as the Hebrew alphabet. With this system, letters double as numbers known as Abjad numerals. It is usually vocalized this way:
ʾabjad hawwaz ḥuṭṭī kalaman saʿfaṣ qarashat thakhadh ḍaẓagh.
ء | غ | ظ | ض | خ | ذ | ث | ت | ش | ر | ق | ص | ف | ع | س | ن | م | ل | ك | ي | ط | ح | ز | و | ه | د | ج | ب | ا |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ʾ | gh | ẓ | ḍ | kh | dh | th | t | sh | r | q | ṣ | f | ʿ | s | n | m | l | k | y | ṭ | ḥ | z | w | h | d | j | b | a |
The hijā’ī order groups letters by similarity of shape and is used in places where lists of names and words need to be sorted, such as phonebooks, classroom lists, and dictionaries. However, the newer hijāʾī order is what modern dictionaries use for alphabetical sorting; this is because it allows forletters to be partially grouped together based on similarities in shape. Additionally, the hijāʾī order can never be used as numerals.
ء | ي | و | ه | ن | م | ل | ك | ق | ف | غ | ع | ظ | ط | ض | ص | ش | س | ز | ر | ذ | د | خ | ح | ج | ث | ت | ب | ا |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ʾ | y | w | h | n | m | l | k | q | f | gh | ʿ | ẓ | ṭ | ḍ | ṣ | sh | s | z | r | dh | d | kh | ḥ | j | th | t | b | a |
Arabic diacritics: Tashkīl
Arabic script has many diacritics, which are broken down into two categories: consonant pointing (iʻjām) and supplementary diacritics (tashkīl). Consonant pointing allows us to differentiate between letters, while tashkīl provides phonetic information about how a word should be pronounced. There are six types of tashkīl in Arabic:
Fatḥa
The fatḥa ⟨فَتْحَة⟩ is a small diagonal line placed above a letter and represents a short /a/ (like the /a/ sound in the English word “cat”). Example letter dāl ⟨د⟩ which represents the consonant “d” makes the sound /da/ written ⟨دَ⟩ (with the fatḥa).
In comparison, the letter alif represents a longer /ā/ sound.
The word fatḥah itself means opening and refers to the opening of the mouth when producing an /a/.
Example: فَتَحَ /fataḥa/ 🠊 he opened
Ḍamma
The ḍamma ⟨ضَمَّة⟩ is a small curl-like diacritic placed above a letter to represent a short /u/ and its allophones [u, ʊ, o, o̞, ɔ] (as in “put”, or “bull”). Example letter dāl ⟨د⟩ which represents the consonant “d” makes the sound /do/ written ⟨دُ⟩ (with the ḍamma).
It is a smaller replica of the letter و /waw/, while the later represents a longer pronunciation of the ū/ sound.
One of the many meanings of ḍamma is to piece together or stick together, which is the movement we do with our lips when pronouncing sound u/.
Example: مُدُن /mudun/ 🠊 cities
Kasra
The kasra ⟨كَسْرَة⟩ is a diagonal line similar to the fatḥa but written below the letter used to designate a short /i/ sound (as in “me”, “be”) and its allophones [i, ɪ, e, e̞, ɛ] (as in “Tim”, “sit”). Example letter dāl ⟨د⟩ which represents the consonant “d” makes the sound /di/ written ⟨دِ⟩ with the kasra.
In comparison, the letter yā’ represents a longer /ī/ sound.
The word kasra refers to something being broken. It conveys the idea that it takes down a word, or almost breaks it.
Example: سِجْن /sijn/ 🠊 prison
The madda ⟨مَدّة⟩is a tilde-shaped diacritic which, in Arabic, can only appear on top of an alif and indicates a glottal stop followed by a long /aː/. The same sequence /ʔaː/ could also be represented by two alifs. However, consecutive alifs are never used in Arabic orthography. Instead, this sequence must always be written as a single alif with the maddah above it – this combination is known as an alif maddah.
Example: قُرْآن /qurˈʔaːn/ 🠊 Qur’an
The sukūn ⟨سُكُونْ⟩ is a diacritic in the shape of a circle, placed above a letter ( ْ). It signifies that the consonant it is attached to does not have a vowel following it, i.e., there is no vowel sound. This symbol is essential for writing consonant-vowel-consonant syllables, which are quite common in Arabic.
Example: دَدْ /dad/
The shadda ⟨شَدّة⟩ is a diacritic symbol that geminate, or double consonants which are phonemic in Arabic. It written above the letters to be doubled, and it is -the only ḥarakah- used commonly in spelling to avert ambiguity.
Example: دّ /dd/; madrasa ⟨مَدْرَسَة⟩ (school) vs. mudarrisah ⟨مُدَرِّسَة⟩ (teacher, female)
The tanwīn ⟨تَنْوِين⟩ represents the consonant /n/ that follows the three vowel diacritics (fatḥa, ḍamma and kasra) when doubled at the end of a word. The signs from right to left respectively denote -un, -in, and -an. These endings are generally used whenever a word is indefinite in Arabic.
The tanwīn fatha is typically written in unvocalized texts because the letter alif should always be written along with (except for words ending in tā’ marbūṭa, hamza or diptotes).
Here are the grammatical cases and tanwīn endings in indefinite triptote forms:
-un: nominative case.
-an: accusative case (also functions as an adverbial marker).
-in: genitive case.
The waṣla ⟨وَصْلة⟩ (meaning ’an instance of connection’) or hamzatu l-waṣli ⟨هَمْزةُ الوَصْل⟩ is an Arabic diacritic sometimes placed over the letter ʾalif at the beginning of the word. It indicates that the alif is not pronounced as a glottal stop (written with the letter or diacritic hamza ء), but that the word is connected to the previous word (like liaison in French). Outside of vocalised liturgical texts, the waṣla is usually not written.
Note: the ḥarakāt, or ‘motions’, are the diacritical marks that represent short vowels. As mentioned before, Arabic has three main vowel sounds represented by different letters, and thus there are three corresponding ḥarakāt: fatḥa (for /a/), ḍamma (for /u/) and kasra (for /i/).
Named after the first letter of the Arabic word for ‘sun’ شَمْس (shams) – ‘sun letters’ are those that have an assimilating quality, such as ش /sh/. They cause the sound لـ /l/, of the definite article, to blend in with it.
For example: ‘the sun’ written al-shams would be pronounced ash-shams.
As a compensation you’ll have to double up on the initial consonant by adding a shadda ( ّ ) above it. In transliteration processes though, both these changes are left unnoticed.
ش | س | ز | ر | ذ | د | ث | ت | ن | ل | ظ | ط | ض | ص |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sh | s | z | r | dh | d | th | t | n | l | ẓ | ṭ | ḍ | ṣ |
The other fourteen letters are called moon letters, because the first letter, ق /q/, of the Arabic word for ‘moon’, قَمَرٌ (qamarun), represents the class of non-assimilating letters. In other words as opposed to ‘sun letters’ they do not cause the sound لـ /l/, of the definite article, to blend in with it.
For example: ‘the moon’ written al-qamar would be pronounced the same way (al-qamar and not aq-qamar). Same goes with any other ‘moon letter’.
ي | و | ه | م | ك | ق | ف | غ | ع | خ | ح | ج | ب | أ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
y/ī | w/ū | h | m | k | q | f | gh | ʿ | kh | ḥ | j | b | ā |
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