Let's start!

The first Arabic letter you should learn is Baa: As you may have guessed from the name, this is the Arabic equivalent of B. Note that Arabic is read and written from right to left. This will take some getting used to, so take a sheet of paper and practise every letter immediately. To write Baa, start at the right tip of the letter, write that curve to the left and finally place the dot underneath. Dots always come last.

One letter is not enough to read anything, so let's have another. May I present to you: 'alif. This letter's basic sound is a long "ah". We'll transliterate it as "aa". One very important thing to note is that Arabic is a cursive script, meaning that you have to connect the letters in writing. So to write "baa", we actually have to mesh Baa and 'alif together:

'alif is an isolating letter though, meaning that you can attach 'alif to something, but you can't attach another letter to the end of 'alif. So to write "bab", the Arabic word for "door", you have to do this:

Let's have a little reading exercise. These will come up throughout the lessons, to help you practise. I will show you an Arabic word, and you should try to read it and to understand it, because it's something you can recognize. I'll give you hints. Hover over the Arabic to see the solution.

a baby might say this Swedish band

Actually this last one was cheating a bit, because in Arabic the band's name is pronounced 'aabaa, with a stop before the name, so my spelling is incorrect.

B and As are getting old, let's have another letter. This one is Taa: It looks quite similar to Baa, except there are two dots on top instead of one dot beneath the letter. It's pronounced like the English letter T. Another reading exercise:

short girl's name key on your keyboard

Note that Taa meshes just the same way as Baa does.

This is Thaa: It's almost the same as Taa, but there are three dots on top. You will find that it meshes the same way, too. It's pronounced like the TH in "math". Practise reading:

City in England

Here's another letter that looks almost the same: This is Nuun. It has basically the same shape as the letters we've seen so far, but not quite. It's not as wide, and it dips below the line. The pronunciation is like the English N. One more reading exercise:

Woman's name Man's name

Last letter for today: This is the letter Waaw, pronounced either as a W or as a long U sound (transliterated UU). It also replaces the O in foreign words. Note that Waaw is an isolating letter, just like Alif, so whenever you write it, the word ostensibly has to end there, you can't connect the following letter to it. Finally, here's a LONG reading exercise to practise everything we learned in this lesson:

name of a Greek letter big city in Western Germany man's name either a chemical molecule or an exotic country

Korean currency African tribe international organization

Did you manage to read that? If so, I can promise you that you have everything it takes to be able to read Arabic fluently. This was in fact the hardest lesson of all, because you didn't have any previous knowledge. The next

lessons will build on what you learned here and you will find them easier, also because you will be able to practise reading much more once you know a few more letters. If you don't feel overwhelmed right now, you can already continue with the next lesson, where you will learn a few more letters and many more words. Otherwise, please come back to it later.

Lesson 2 Welcome back! Let's have another vowel. This one is

Yaa: What? 4 letters? No, just 4 forms. I give you the shape Yaa will take at the beginning of a word (on the right), in the middle of it (2nd from the right), at the end and in isolation. Very often you can guess how letters will mesh, but not this time. Or would you have thought that Yaa in beginning and medium position looks just like Baa with another dot? Yaa is pronounced either as a long EE sound (transliterated as II), or as semi-vowel Y as in 'year'. It's also used to transliterate E in foreign names. Another reading exercise:

Chinese currency

Asian country

girl's name

one Houston

girl's name

girl's name

Asian country

boy's name

short girl's name

Yes, this is the letter to learn if you want to know how to write your name in Arabic.

Now back to consonants. This is Miim: This letter has a tail when no other letters are connected to it. It's pronounced just like an English M. Practise reading:

boy's name

boy's name

first name of a model

chemical molecule

country in South America

city in India

former name of the above

And here's Laam: It meshes in a very boring, expected way, so you don't need to memorize several forms. However, you do need to remember that 'alif looks very similar to a Laam in medium position, but 'alif does not connect to the following letter. It's pronounced just like an English L, and it even looks a lot like an L - mirrored of course, since Arabs write from right to left. Nice long review again:

Man's name

A former American president's first name

Another man's name

Country in North Africa

African country

Man's name

Capital of a South-American country

Man's name

City in France

Country in Southern Europe

Country in the Himalaya

Now here's a tip: Arabs don't typically write out short vowels, they guess them. However, in children's books and in places where exactness is too important, such as in the holy scriptures, short vowels are indicated.

For a short A sound, draw a short line above the consonant (called fatha), like this "ba":

For a short I sound, draw a short line below the consonent (called kasra), like this "bi": Two things to note:

1) some people will indicate a short vowel in addition to the long vowel for extra clarity. It's still just one sound unless the vowels differ, then you get a diphtong like ay, ya and so on. 2) When you need a vowel sound at the beginning of a word, 'alif carries it. Try to read the following words that contain short vowels. Careful, the extra lines are easy to miss!

African country

Arab country

They live in an icy climate

Use to buy Sushi

North African country

Man's name

Woman's name in Jane Austen

American state