STANDARD CLASSICAL ARABIC COURSE
32 Lessons and Exercises

LESSON 2

ARABIC ALPHABET

Note: Do not concern yourself with the vocabulary of

this lesson. Please focus on writing, connecting the letters and pronounciation.

1) Arabic is written from right to left.  There are 29 characters in Arabic, starting with 'alif, ending with Yaa .  ( ا ..... ي ), 26 consonants (حُرُوفٌ سَاكِنَة) and 3 vowels (حُرُوفُ عِلَّة ).

2) The first letter is 'Alif (ا).The Álif in the beginning of the word is a Hamzah (ء) We will discuss all rules of the Hamzah in Lesson # 10.

Hamzah is pronounced as ‘A in ARM, or “I” in INDIA or “AU” as in AUSTRALIA

           depends on its Auxiliary Signs

‘Alif is pronounced like an “a” in cat.

‘Alif is also pronounced as an “a’ in car when it is proceeded with one of the following

letters: ر , ص , ض , ط , ظ , ق

رَاهِبٌ , صَادِقٌ , ضَائِقٌ , طَاهِرٌ , ظَاهِرٌ , قَائِدٌ                  

3) Some letters, dots and their position determine their sounds.

ب ت ث ن     ر ز        د ذ      ص ض       ط ظ        ج ح خ

4)      There are three "Weak letters" (Harf Ájwaf) Pl. (Hurouf Jawfaa’) or (Harf ‘Illah) Pl. ( Hurouf ‘Illah”  in Arabic :

 ا  و  ي        

5) The non-weak letters are called "Sound Letters"( Harf  Sahih) Pl. ( Hurouf Sahiha). All letters other than the Weak Letters are Sound Letters .

6)      There are "Sun" Letters and there are "Moon Letters".

 The "Sun Letters"are:

ت ث    د ذ     ر ز    س ش    ص ض    ط ظ    ل    ن

When the Definite Article (أل) is added to a word which starts with a Sun Letter,

the letter (ل) will be pronounced the same as the "Sun Letter" - assimilated.

example:    نور 

By adding the Definite Article :ألنُّورُ  An -Nour.

The rest of the letters are "Moon Letters".

7) "Seperate" and "Inseparable Letters"                               

The Six "Separates are:  ا   د   ذ   ر   ز   و

These Letters are connected with the previous "Inseprabable Letter" or

stand alone. They cannot be connected to the following letters.

Examples: مالك    صدق    مذهب   شرق   مزح   شوق

8) Inseparable Letters come in four positions, initial, medial ,final and

isolated. ( Review The Table at the end of this lesson).

HOW TO CONNECT ARABIC LETTER

All Arabic letters can be connected from both side except for the following letters :

ا  د ذ ر ز و

These letters can be connected from the right side & never be connected from the left

To make this simple and easy, the following chart will show you how.

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