Learning the Arabic Script

Arabic is written right-to-left and uses 28 letters. Every letter has up to four forms depending on its position in a word: isolated, initial, medial, and final.

Letter Groups by Sound

• Sun letters (الحروف الشمسية): 14 letters that assimilate the "ل" of the definite article (ال)
• Moon letters (الحروف القمرية): 14 letters that don't – the "ل" is pronounced clearly

Short Vowels (Harakat)

• فَتْحة (fatha) – "a" sound, written above the letter
• كَسْرة (kasra) – "i" sound, written below the letter
• ضَمَّة (damma) – "u" sound, written above the letter

Practice Tip

Write each letter 10 times in all four forms daily. Use dotted tracing sheets to build muscle memory before writing freely.