Arabic alphabet

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Overview

In Arabic there are:

  • 28 consonant sounds (two of which are semivowels: wāw and yā')
  • 3 short vowels and 3 corresponding long vowels: a, i, u, ā, ī, ū.

As you may already know arabic is written from right to left, letters are always joined each other, and can't be split across lines.

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters; beside those there are other signs used to represent short vowels, one consonant (hamza), doubling and other features.

Of the 28 letters of the alphabet 27 are consonants, but the first letter (alif) is not. It is used as the sign of lengthening of [a] or as a carrier for the consonant hamza (glottal stop).

This remaining consonant, hamza, is instead written over a carrier, which can be wāw, yā', alif, a segment or nothing.  The two letters wāw and yā?' are both used for the semiconsonantic sounds [w], [j] and as the signs of lengthening for [u] and [i]

Each letter has four forms, depending on its position in the word: initial, medial, final or isolated. Six of them (called nonligtable) have only isolated and final forms.

Beside this almost all writing styles have various ligatures, obtained by moving, shifting or rotating the letters, and this is true even for printed characters. This is the whole alphabet:

Translitteration is the one used in some grammars. Any suggestion will be welcome, many books put a dot under emphatics instead of writing it with capitals.


I couldn't find a single unicode encoding for t̴, s̴, z̴ and d̴ so they might appear as a letter followed by a tilde at mid height


Name Arabic name
 Transliteration
 Initial Middle Final Isolated In a row IPA Value (to check)
'alif ألف ā (*)

ﺎ ﺍ
No value/a:
bā' ‮باٍ‬
 b
 ﺑ ﺒ ﺐ ﺏ ﺑﺒﺐﺏ b
tā' ‮تاٍ‬
 t
 ﺗ ﺘ ﺖ ﺕ ﺗﺘﺖﺕ t
thā' ‮ثاٍ‬
 th
 ﺛ ﺜ ﺚ ﺙ ﺛﺜﺚﺙ θ
jīm ‮جيم‬
 j
 ﺟ ﺠ ﺞ ﺝ ﺟﺠﺞﺝ ʤ
Hā' ‮حاٍ‬
 H
 ﺣ ﺤ ﺢ ﺡ ﺣﺤﺢﺡ ħ
khā' ‮خاٍ‬
 kh
 ﺧ ﺨ ﺦ ﺥ ﺧﺨﺦﺥ χ
dāl ‮دال‬
 d

ﺪ ﺩ
d
dhāl ‮ذال‬
 dh

ﺬ ﺫ
ð
rā' ‮راٍ‬
 r

ﺮ ﺭ
ɾ
zāy ‮زاي‬
 z

ﺰ ﺯ
z
sīn ‮سين‬
 s
 ﺳ ﺴ ﺲ ﺱ ﺳﺴﺲﺱ s
shīn ‮شين‬
 sh
 ﺷ ﺸ ﺶ ﺵ ﺷﺸﺶﺵ ʃ
Sād ‮صاد‬
 S
 ﺻ ﺼ ﺺ ﺹ ﺻﺼﺺﺹ s̴
Dād ‮ضاد‬
 D
 ﺿ ﻀ ﺾ ﺽ ﺿﻀﺾﺽ d̴
Tā' ‮طاٍ‬
 T
 ﻃ ﻄ ﻂ ﻁ ﻃﻄﻂﻁ t̴
Zā' ‮ظاٍ‬
 Z
 ﻇ ﻈ ﻆ ﻅ ﻇﻈﻆﻅ z̴
`ayn ‮عين‬
 `
 ﻋ ﻌ ﻊ ﻉ ﻋﻌﻊﻉ ʕ
ghayn ‮غين‬
 gh
 ﻏ ﻐ ﻎ ﻍ ﻏﻐﻎﻍ ɣ
fā' ‮فاٍ‬
 f
 ﻓ ﻔ ﻒ ﻑ ﻓﻔﻒﻑ f
qāf ‮قاف‬
 q
 ﻗ ﻘ ﻖ ﻕ ﻗﻘﻖﻕ q
kāf ‮كاف‬
 k
 ﻛ ﻜ ﻚ ﻙ ﻛﻜﻚﻙ k
lām ‮لام‬
 l
 ﻟ ﻠ ﻞ ﻝ ﻟﻠﻞﻝ l
mīm ‮ميم‬
 m
 ﻣ ﻤ ﻢ ﻡ ﻣﻤﻢﻡ m
nūn نون n
 ﻧ ﻨ ﻦ ﻥ ﻧﻨﻦﻥ n
hā' ‮هاٍ‬
 h
 ﻫ ﻬ ﻪ ﻩ ﻫﻬﻪﻩ h
wāw ‮واو‬
 w/U (*)

ﻮ ﻭ
ɯ/u:
yā' ‮ياٍ‬
 y/I (*)
 ﻳ ﻴ ﻲ ﻱ ﻳﻴﻲﻱ j/i:
Other sings
lamalif



ﻼ
 ﻻ

tā marbūta



ﺔ
 ﺓ

hamza
 ‮همزة‬
 '




ʔ



Alif is transliterated if is a lengthening of a.
yā' and wāw has each two different transliterations: one for semiconsonantic values (y,w) and one for lengthening (ī,ū).
 

  • The first letter of a word (or of a compound with a monoletter, see below) has initial form
  • A letter alone has isolated form
  • A letter at the end of a word has final form
  • Otherwise it has middle form.


But

  • Preceded by a non ligtable:
    • A middle letter preceded by a nonligtable letter takes initial form
    • A final letter preceded by a nonligtable letter takes isolated form
  • a nonligtable letters have only two forms
    • Use final form whenever you would have used final or middle form
    • Use isolated form whenever you would have used isolated or

initial form


A schema is

  • the first letter has
    • Initial form for ligtable letters.
    • Isolated form for non-ligtable letters.
  • a letter in the middle of a word has
    • if it's preceded by a ligtable letter:
      • medial form for ligtable
      • final form for nonligtables
    • if it's preceded by a nonligtable letter
      • inital form for ligtable
      • isolated form for non ligtable
  • a letter at the end of a word has
    • if it's preceded by a ligtable letter:
      • final form for ligtable and nonligtable
    • if it's preceded by a nonligtable letter
      • isolated form for both ligtable and nonligtable
  • a letter alone has always isolated form.


Said the other way round:

  • Initial form (only ligtable) is used:
    • at the beginning of a word
    • in the middle of the word, if preceded by a non-ligtable letter
  • Middle form (only ligtable) is used:
    • In the middle of a word, when preceded by a ligtable
  • Final form is used:
    • at the end of the word, if preceded by a ligtable
    • for non ligtable: in the middle of a word, if preceded by a ligtable
  • Isolated form is used
    • at the end of the word, if preceded by a nonligtable
    • for non ligtable: in the middle of the word, if preceded by a nonligtable
    • when the letter is used alone (abbreviation, quotation of the letter)


Vowels

As you have seen, the table above contains almost only consonants. In arabic vowels are normally not written and have to be "guessed" from the context. However, there are ways to write down vowels as well, we will discuss those below, but you should always keep in mind that they are usually not written. You will only find such vowels in the Quran, ancient poetry, and arabic coursebooks.

Arabic has three short vowels and three long vowels. The short vowels are all written as little marks above or below the consonant. We will discuss the three short vowels here in combination with the consonant B:

  • a, fatha, little line above the consonant: (بَ) (ba)
  • i, kasra, little line below the consonant: (بِ) (bi)
  • u, damma, little waw above the consonant: (بُ) (bu)

In addition, there's also a mark that tells us there is NO vowel:

  • sukuun, little circle above the consonant: (بْ) (b)

Long vowels have twice the duration of their short counterparts:

  • ā: fatha + alif: (بَا) (bā)
  • ī: kasra + ya: (بِي) (bī)
  • ū: damma + waw: (بُو) (bū)

Note that the alif, waw and ya are always written, but the vowel mark, like above, is rarely written.

Lam Alif

When the lām is followed by an alif they coalesce in a unique letter, called lam'alif, which has only two form as alif,

  • isolated: ﻻ
  • final: ﻼ

Ta' Marbuta

ﺔ and ﺓ, it's a ha with two dots above. It is used only at the end of a words. It mostly (but non exclusively) the sign of feminine and of collective. It has a -a sounds in normal speech and -at+desinence in formal classical arabic. Note that the -t must be pronounced in normal speech (and also in dialect) when part the name is the first part of a constructed state [translation?] When a suffix is added to the word (e.g., the possessive pronouns, the dual), then the ta marbuta becomes a "normal" ta (ta tawila) and it's pronounced.

Example:

  • a grandmother جدة
  • my gandmother obtained by "a grandmother+ جدتي :ي

Single letter

In arabic there are words that can't be written alone, but joined to the following

  • the article أل
  • all monolitteral words, as * بِ bi (=to, for) * وَ wa (and) * لِ li

(of, to, for)  Notice that in some case they are not attached to the following letter, (as for وَ ) since they are nonligtable. But in any case they and the words that follows make up a unique word, so you can't go new line.

Hamza

First of all one should keep in mind that hamza is a true consonant. It has just strange orthographical rules.
It should also defenitely not be confused with alif.
That said (read again, please):
hamza  ‮ٍ‬ is the glottal stop
In some cases it is dropped (and example is the hamza of the article).
It is often written over (under) another letter that can be:

  • alif
  • yā without dots
  • wāw
  • a little segment that prolongates(?) the preceding letter.


 The Rules to choose the carrier are a little complicated, we'll try to put a little overview here:

  • At the beginning of a word, the carrier is always alif. (أَكَلَ،إِيرَان،أُرِيدُ)
    • This is true also when the word is preceded by the article or by a word which is made up only by one letter. (the prince) (by / from / with a prince)
  • Inside a word it depends on the surrounding vowels:
    • If there's only one vowel, or it's surrounded by two equal vowels then we choose as carrier:
      • alif if the vowel is an A: (سَأَلَ)
      • yā' without dots if the vowel is an I: (مَسْؤ�?ولٌ)
      • wāw if the vowel is a U: (ر�?ئْمَانٌ)
    • If the hamza is preceded by a long A vowel and a short A vowel follows, then the hamza will get no carrier.
    • If there are two different vowels surrounding the hamza, then we choose one main vowel and derive the carrier from that vowel as above. We choose the main vowel in the following way:
      • If there's an I, it's the main vowel: (سَا�?�?ئلٌ)
      • If there's no I but a U, it's the main vowel: (س�?ؤَالٌ)
  • A hamza at the end of a word will only get a carrier if a short vowel (so not a long vowel) precedes it. Any vowel after this hamza is irrelevant to this discussion: (يَبْدَأْ،يَبْدَأ�?، بَدْءٌ، ل�?قَاءٌ)


Alif madda

In case a glottal stop (hamza) is followed by a long A vowel, it is not written as you might expect (hamza on alif + alif), but instead it's written as an alif with a madda, which is actually a small horizontal curly alif:
أَا -> آ

Dagger-alif

Sometimes a long A vowel is not written as you might expect but instead it's written with a small alif on top of the consonant: هٰذَا


Still to be done:

  • alif maqsura
  • tashkiil.
  • shadda (modifying symbol used for double-letters eg in دَخَّنَ to smoke).
  • wasla ?
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