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

Groups: The tooth — ب ت ث ن ي (five letters, ONE skeleton. Joined up, they are identical strokes and only the dots tell them apart) · The bowl — ج ح خ (one skeleton; the dot goes below, nowhere, or above) · دال — د ذ (and both refuse to connect leftward) · راء — ر ز (likewise: one shape, one dot, and neither connects leftward) · سين — س ش (the three teeth; ش adds three dots) · صاد — ص ض (the emphatic pair built on one loop) · طاء — ط ظ (the other emphatic pair, again one shape and one dot) · عين — ع غ (the sound English cannot make, and its voiced gargle) · فاء — ف ق (one dot or two, and the sounds are nothing alike) · One of a kind (ا ك ل م ه و — no twin, nothing to confuse them with)

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.