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What's the Arabic alphabet like?

You may well have to spell out your name and perhaps your address in Arabic. Here is the alphabet and how to pronounce it

- right click and choose 'save target as'

What's significant about the Arabic alphabet?

• Where did the vowels go?

  The Arabic alphabet, or 泭塈��堧堥堿堹��堜 [el abjadiyya], consists of 28 letters, 25 of which are consonants, and only 3 are vowels:
  泭堧 [alif], 泭�� [waw] and 泭�� 啊聆硃���a敕 also known as long vowels.

  Arabic is a consonantic language which means vowels could theoretically be omitted when writing words. However, spoken Arabic obviously has vowel sounds. They are indicated by diacritical marks placed above or below the letters. These vowel signs or
  泭堶堭��塈堛 塈��堛�������� [harakat attanween], short vowels, differentiate between the several sounds and meanings that the same sequence of consonants can have.
  With the use of these signs, the word
  泭媢���� [ilm], knowledge (without vowel signs), becomes
  泭媢傭����傭���� [ilm], knowledge (with vowel signs),
  泭媢傭����傭���� [alam], flag,
  泭媢傭���������� �� [alima], he found out, and
  泭媢傭劃��傭���� [olim], understood.

  It is possible to see these words written without vowel signs in everyday use, e.g. in general publications and on street signs, but in learning materials they are always included.

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• A single dot makes a big difference

  Several letters in the Arabic alphabet share the same shape and are differentiated only by the number and placement of dots above or below, e.g. the letter
  泭堶傭 [ha], becomes
  泭堮傭 [kha], with a dot above it, and
  泭堿傭 [gim], with a dot below it.
  The letter 泭��傭 [noun], becomes
  泭堛傭 [ta], if you add another dot above it, and
  泭堳傭 [tha], if you add two dots, while it becomes
  泭堥傭 [ba], if you place the dot below it, and
  泭��傭 [ya], if you add a dot to that dot.
  So, when writing in Arabic, forgetting a single dot could lead to a lot of confusion!

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• Direction and attachment

  Arabic words and sentences are written and read from right to left and books and papers from back to front. However, Arabic numbers are read and written from left to right.

  There is no upper or lower case and there are multiple forms to write a single letter. This is the letter [ayn] in an isolated position: 泭 媢.
  If it comes at the beginning of a word, it looks like this: 媢傭.
  If it comes at the end of a word, it would be written in a final form 傭媢.
  And if it comes anywhere else in a word, you would write it in a medial form 傭媢傭 .

  Arabic words are always written with joined up letters, except for the letters 泭堧 [alif], 泭堹 [dal], 泭堸 [thal], 泭堭 [ra], 泭 堬 [zain], and 泭�� [waw], which can only be attached to the letter that precedes them, and not the one that follows them.
  In the word 泭堻��堭 [sour], wall, the letter 泭�� [waw], is attached to the one that precedes it, but detached from the one that follows it.

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• When writing becomes an art form

  Artistic Arabic writing, or calligraphy, has developed over a thousand years, both for the Qur'an and other books, and for inscriptions on monuments and buildings as decoration.
  It���s still widely used and is considered by Arabs to be a major form of art, reflecting the beauty and the wealth of their culture.

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• Email and website conventions

  When giving an email or website address the conventions are:
  泭@泭堞堛 [at], at
  泭.泭����媟堜 [nuqta], dot
  泭/泭��塈媯��堜 ��媯��堭堜 [waseela kaseera], slash
  泭-泭奡堭媟堜 [sharta], hyphen

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