• In this lesson we will learn the Arabic Alphabet Insha'Allah (God Willing).  The lesson is designed to teach the names of all the alphabets. Click on the letters to hear how the letter names are pronounced and the sound of the letter. 
   

• Please note that some of these letters are very similar to English letter sounds e.g. Baa is very close to the letter 'B' in the English language, this is a useful way to remember the sounds of the letters.  However many letters have no equivalent sound in English e.g. 'Ayn, and some letters have subtle but important differences in pronunciation, e.g. Ha which is pronounced with a lot more emphasis in the throat than the letter 'H' in English.  Please listen to the sound of the letters pronunciation also by clicking on the letters to hear the correct pronunciation.
   

• Finally, please note that the Arabic script is read from right to left.   Please read the letters below starting from the right and reading each letter to the left. 

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

ر

Noon

• In Arabic, there are 3 short vowel-marks (we shall learn the long vowel-marks in a later lesson Insha'Allah - God willing).  The short vowel-marks enable the letter to make a sound in a similar way to the English language.  In the same way a word cannot be made in the English language without one of the 5 vowels (a, e, i, o or u), in Arabic one cannot make a word without a vowel being used. 
   

• We will cover the 3 vowel-marks in Arabic below Insha'Allah.  The vowel-marks are the marks below or above the letter Alif in the examples below, the letter Alif has been used to give you an idea of where the vowel is placed.

• The single vowel-marks are the basic vowel-marks which add a sound similar to that of a, i or u in the English language to the letter.  Please click on the letters with the vowel-marks to hear the pronunciation. 

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

اَ

The 'a' in sat.

• The double vowel-marks signs are an extension of the single vowel-marks.  The double vowel signs add the '-n' sound to the single vowel.   Please see the letters below.  The Daal has been used to enable us to see the position of the double vowel sign which is called tanween.  Tanween refers to the double form of any vowel, the specific name of the double vowel sign e.g. double Fatha is also given below as this is unique for each vowel. Click on the letters with the vowel-marks to hear the pronunciation.

دًا

The 'an' in ran.

• In the next lesson we are going to practice each letter we have covered with each short vowel and long vowel, Insha'Allah.

• In the following 3 lessons, we will learn the Short vowel-marks pronunciation Insha'Allah.  This lesson will also help us to revise the letters we have already learnt in the previous lessons.

• The Fatha is the short diagonal stroke above the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Fatha.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رَ

• The Kasra is the short diagonal stroke below the letters. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Kasra.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رِ

• The Damma is the letter which is similar in shape to the Arabic character 'waw' which we learnt earlier, it is placed above the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Damma.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رُ

• In the following 3 lessons, we will learn the doubled forms of the three vowel-marks, Insha'Allah (God-Willing).  These differ in pronunciation from the normal vowel-marks in that there is an added '-n' sound e.g. whilst the Fatha makes the 'aa' sound, the Fathatain makes the 'an' sound.

• Insha'Allah, In this lesson will cover the Fathatain which makes the 'an' sound.  The Fathatain is written as two Fatha's above the letter.  Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Fathatain.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رً

• Insha'Allah, In this lesson we will cover the Kasratain which makes the 'in' sound.  The Kasratain is represented by two Kasra's below the letter.  Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Kasratain.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رٍ

• Insha'Allah, In this lesson we will cover the Dammatain which makes the 'un' sound.  The Dammatain is represented by a Damma with a slight inward 'tail' and is written above the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the Dammatain.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رٌ

• In the following 3 lessons, we shall cover the long vowel-marks Insha'Allah.  The long vowel-marks are basically a combination of a) the single vowel, b) a letter use to lengthen the sound of the vowel.

• The Alif al-madd is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the Fatha from 'a' into 'aa'.  We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letters lengthening the sound, we shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson Insha'Allah.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رَا

• The Yaa al-Madd is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the Kasra from 'i' into 'ee'.  We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letters lengthening the sound, we shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson Insha'Allah.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رِي

• The Waaw al-Madd is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the Damma from 'u' into 'oo'.  We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letter lengthening the sound, we shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson Insha'Allah.

Click on Letters to hear pronunciation

رُو

• Insha'Allah, In this lesson we will cover the diacritical mark (i.e. a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation) in the Arabic language called the Sukun.  The Sukun is in the shape of a circle and is written above a letter to show that there is no vowel on the letter.  Hence, we emphasise the letter by stopping in our pronunciation of it.  This will require us to join letters.  Although we have not covered the rules relating to joining of letters (covered in a later lesson) - we will use simple words to demonstrate the usage of the Sukun.

• Please click on the words to hear how they are pronounced.  This is a good opportunity for you to learn how to read basic Arabic words.   Please don't worry if you find it difficult to read the words by putting the letters together.  Insha'Allah, we will go over reading words in more detail later - at this stage focus on the principle of the Sukun and try your best to read the words.

Click on Words to hear pronunciation

• Insha'Allah, we will now cover the Shadda.  The Shadda is a diacritical mark written above a letter to show that the letter has been doubled and therefore increases in emphasis.  Once again, please don't worry if you find joining the letters and vowel-marks or reading difficult.  Try your best to join the sounds and letters at this stage and pay attention to the sound of the letter which has the Shadda on it.

Duck

Cat

• The joining of the Arabic Alphabet can be a difficult subject to master.  The reason for this is that the way a letter joins depends on:

a) The letter being used (e.g. Alif, Baa etc) as different rules apply to different letters.
b) The position of the letter in the word (i.e. beginning, middle or end).
c) Unique letters - i.e. there are 6 letters which do not join to any other letter (but can be joined to) - this is covered below.

• As there are so many different scenarios to remember, it is easier to remember the patterns.  The table below shows every scenario, i.e. how each letter will be written in the beginning, middle and end of a word as well as an example of its joined form and the shape of the letter by itself (as we learnt earlier).
   

• The most common patterns you will find below are:
  a) All letters are written in their full form if they occur at the end of a word, some may slightly change shape.
  b) Most letters do join to other letters in front of them, however, there are six letters which do not join to any letter after them, these letters are ( ا د ذ ر ز و ).
  c) There are groups of letters which have similar shapes in individual form (i.e. as learnt earlier), these groups are also similar in joined form (e.g. Baa, Taa and Thaa). The only difference in these letters is the number or positions of dots around the letter.

Alif

ـج

'Ayn

• Whilst it is important to make an effort to look at the forms above, it is sometimes easier to look for the patterns rather than each individual letter.  For example, the following groups of letters are very similar in their joined forms, in most cases the only difference is the position or number of dots used in the letters:
   

  • Baa, Taa and Thaa

  • Jeem, Ha and Kha

  • Seen and Sheen

  • Saad and Daad

  • Ta and Za
     

• Finally, to master the different forms of joining will take some time and it is important to practice writing whilst learning the Arabic language to become familiar with the script.    This will come with practice (Insha'Allah) so it is not necessary to have mastered all the letters joining forms before moving on, please move on to the next lesson after you have familiarised yourself to a reasonable level of the joined forms above.  In the next lesson we will use some examples to practice and familiarise ourselves with the joined form of letters (Insha'Allah).

• In this lesson we will practice some examples that we covered earlier.  Please read from left to right.  The first column shows the letters individually.  To hear the sound of each letter which forms the word, click on the letter.  To hear the full word pronounced, click on the word in the column Final Form.

• Pay careful attention to how letters are joined.  Remember letters can have different shapes depending on whether they are in the beginning, middle or end of a word.

He Sat.

 فَتَـحَ

 فَـ  ـتَـ  ـحَ

• Insha'Allah, we will continue practicing joining letters and reading in the next lesson.

• In this lesson we will continue practising joining letters and reading, Insha'Allah.

• In this lesson we have covered some very basic words in Arabic to practise joining the letters and the sounds that they make.  Insha'Allah, in the next lesson we will practice some more words which will include long vowel-marks, Sukun and Shadda which we covered in earlier lessons.

• In this lesson we will continue practising joining letters and reading, Insha'Allah.   We will also practice reading words with:

  • a) Sukun - We should pronounce the letter sound with no vowel sound i.e. Sukun acts like a stop.

  • b) Shadda - We should increase emphasis on the letter which has the Shadda.

  • c) Long vowel-marks - As we learnt in previous lessons there are 3 long vowel-marks, these lengthen the sound of the single vowel-marks.

 مَسْجِدٌ

مَـ ـسْـ ـجِـ ـدٌ

• Insha'Allah, we shall continue practising reading more words in the next lesson. Remember, the more practice you do, the better your Arabic will be Insha'Allah.

• In this lesson we will continue practising joining letters and reading, Insha'Allah.

 غَنِيٌّ

 غَـ ـنِـ ـيٌّ

 غَ    نِ    يٌّ

 اَلْـ ـمَـ ـدِيْـ ـنَـ ـةُ

• Insha'Allah, we shall continue reading one more group of words in the next lesson. The words in the next lesson will be more difficult, however, the Arabic Language course will start with basic words so please try to familiarise yourself with the principles of reading the Arabic text as there will be an opportunity to practice further in the Arabic Language course.

• In this lesson we will continue practising joining letters and reading, Insha'Allah.

 اَلمُمَرِّضَةُ

 اَلْـ ـمُـ ـمَـ ـرِّ ـضَـ  ـةُ

 اَلْ  مُ  مَ  رِّ  ضَ  ةُ

 اَلْـ  ـمِـ ـكْـ  وَا  ةُ  

• You have now completed the Arabic Reading Course.  If you feel you need more practice before moving on to the Arabic Language course then please revise the lessons where you feel you need improvement.  Insha'Allah, in the Arabic Language course the lessons begin with very basic words so if you have grasped the ability to read the Arabic script in this course then you should find the Arabic Language course easier to understand.  Please click here to move on to the Arabic Language Course.  Please click here to see the index of the Arabic Reading Course we have covered to review the areas that you may like to repeat before moving on to the Language Course.