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Arabic · الأبجدية العربية

28 letters, written right to left, always cursive — there is no 'print' vs 'handwriting': letters CONNECT, and each has up to four shapes depending on position (alone, initial, medial, final). It is an abjad: short vowels a/i/u are normally not written (diacritics ـَ ـِ ـُ exist for learners and the Qur'an); long vowels use ا و ي. Six letters (ا د ذ ر ز و) never connect to the letter after them — they break the flow mid-word, which is the single most important rule for reading. The 'emphatic' letters ص ض ط ظ are pharyngealised twins of س د ت ذ — they darken the vowels around them.

Semitic abjad (consonants written, short vowels usually not) · written right to left

28 signs

#	Sign	Initial	Medial	Final	Name	Roman	IPA	Group	Note
1	ا	ا	ـا	ـا	'alif	`ā`	aː · ʔ	Moon letters	Long ā, or the seat of hamza (glottal stop). Does NOT connect leftward.
2	ب	بـ	ـبـ	ـب	bā'	`b`	b	Moon letters	b as in band. One dot below.
3	ت	تـ	ـتـ	ـت	tā'	`t`	t	Sun letters	t as in tan. Two dots above — same skeleton as ب.
4	ث	ثـ	ـثـ	ـث	thā'	`th`	θ	Sun letters	th as in thin. Three dots above.
5	ج	جـ	ـجـ	ـج	jīm	`j`	d͡ʒ · ʒ	Moon letters	j of jam in the Gulf and MSA, French j in the Levant, hard g in Egypt.
6	ح	حـ	ـحـ	ـح	ḥā'	`ḥ`	ħ	Moon letters	No English equivalent — 'ha' with the throat squeezed. NOT the same as ه.
7	خ	خـ	ـخـ	ـخ	khā'	`kh`	x	Moon letters	ch of German Nacht / Scottish loch.
8	د	د	ـد	ـد	dāl	`d`	d	Sun letters	d as in dance. Does NOT connect leftward.
9	ذ	ذ	ـذ	ـذ	dhāl	`dh`	ð	Sun letters	th as in that. Does NOT connect leftward.
10	ر	ر	ـر	ـر	rā'	`r`	r	Sun letters	Trilled or tapped r. Does NOT connect leftward.
11	ز	ز	ـز	ـز	zāy	`z`	z	Sun letters	z as in zoo. Does NOT connect leftward.
12	س	سـ	ـسـ	ـس	sīn	`s`	s	Sun letters	s as in sat.
13	ش	شـ	ـشـ	ـش	shīn	`sh`	ʃ	Sun letters	sh as in shine.
14	ص	صـ	ـصـ	ـص	ṣād	`ṣ`	sˤ	Sun letters	Emphatic s — darkens neighbouring vowels: صوت ṣawt.
15	ض	ضـ	ـضـ	ـض	ḍād	`ḍ`	dˤ	Sun letters	Emphatic d — Arabic proudly calls itself لغة الضاد, 'the language of the ḍād'.
16	ط	طـ	ـطـ	ـط	ṭā'	`ṭ`	tˤ	Sun letters	Emphatic t.
17	ظ	ظـ	ـظـ	ـظ	ẓā'	`ẓ`	ðˤ	Sun letters	Emphatic dh.
18	ع	عـ	ـعـ	ـع	'ayn	`ʿ`	ʕ	Moon letters	THE Arabic sound — 'ah' squeezed in the throat. Learn it early; it distinguishes hundreds of words.
19	غ	غـ	ـغـ	ـغ	ghayn	`gh`	ɣ	Moon letters	Like the French r / gargling.
20	ف	فـ	ـفـ	ـف	fā'	`f`	f	Moon letters	f as in fish.
21	ق	قـ	ـقـ	ـق	qāf	`q`	q	Moon letters	k far back at the uvula. In dialects: g (Gulf/Egypt countryside), glottal stop (Cairo, Beirut).
22	ك	كـ	ـكـ	ـك	kāf	`k`	k	Moon letters	k as in kite.
23	ل	لـ	ـلـ	ـل	lām	`l`	l	Sun letters	l as in land. With alif it MUST ligate: لا.
24	م	مـ	ـمـ	ـم	mīm	`m`	m	Moon letters	m as in man.
25	ن	نـ	ـنـ	ـن	nūn	`n`	n	Sun letters	n as in now.
26	ه	هـ	ـهـ	ـه	hā'	`h`	h	Moon letters	Plain h as in hat — contrast with ح.
27	و	و	ـو	ـو	wāw	`w / ū`	w · uː	Moon letters	w, or the long vowel ū. Does NOT connect leftward.
28	ي	يـ	ـيـ	ـي	yā'	`y / ī`	j · iː	Moon letters	y, or the long vowel ī.

Groups: Sun letters (assimilate the l of al-: الشمس ash-shams) · Moon letters (keep the l of al-: القمر al-qamar)

Most used combinations

The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
emphatic + vowel	—	ص ض ط ظ (and ق ر خ غ) darken neighbouring a to a deep [ɑ] — hearing the vowel tells you which s or t you heard.	سار sāra vs صار ṣāra — different verbs

Rules of the system

How the signs behave together.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
لا	laː	lām + alif MUST fuse into the lām-alif ligature — writing them separately is simply wrong. The only mandatory ligature.	لا lā — no
ال + sun letter	a + doubled letter	The article's l assimilates into a following 'sun letter' (ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن): written ال, said doubled.	الشمس ash-shams (not al-shams) — the sun
ال + moon letter	al	Before 'moon letters' the l is pronounced as written.	القمر al-qamar — the moon
ـتـ skeleton + dots	—	Many letters share a skeleton and differ ONLY by dots: ب ت ث ن ي are one shape with 1-3 dots; ج ح خ likewise; د ذ, ر ز, س ش, ص ض, ط ظ, ع غ, ف ق. Learn skeletons first, dots second — 28 letters collapse into ~18 shapes.
hamza seats	—	The glottal stop ء sits on a carrier chosen by the surrounding vowels: أ (on alif, a/u), إ (under alif, i), ؤ (on wāw), ئ (on yā'), or alone ء. Same sound, five spellings — orthography's revenge.

Incompatible combinations

What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.

Sequence	Sound	What's going on	Example
ا د ذ ر ز و + anything	—	The six non-connectors never join the letter AFTER them (leftward). A word like ورد 'rose' is written as three separate strokes even though it's one word — spotting these breaks is the key reading skill.