Arabic Alphabet — Group 1

Frequently asked questions

When do you use Arabic Alphabet — Group 1?

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters , and this first group teaches 7 of them. All 28 are consonants; three of them (ا و ي) also write the long vowels ā, ū, ī. Arabic is written and read from right to left , and most letters join the letters on both sides, so one letter has up to four shapes : isolated, initial, medial and final.

How do you form Arabic Alphabet — Group 1?

Look at the table again: ب ت ث are one shape, and only the dots tell them apart: one dot below (ب), two above (ت), three above (ث). ج ح خ are a second family: one dot inside the curve (ج), no dot (ح), one dot above (خ). Arab grammarians call the dotted letters "fastened" and the undotted ones "free". A dot in the wrong place is a different word: بَيْتٌ is a house, but put one dot above the middle tooth instead of two below and you have بِنْتٌ , a girl. Most letters connect on both sides. Alif (ا) connects only to the letter before it, never to the one after it, so the next letter starts again in its initial or isolated shape.

What are common mistakes with Arabic Alphabet — Group 1?

1. Mixing up ب ت ث: they differ only in their dots (one below, two above, three above). 2. Joining alif to the next letter: in بابٌ the last ب stands alone. 3. Saying ح as English h or as kh: حالٌ (state) and خالٌ (mother's brother) are different words. 4. Saying ث as t or s: ثَلاثَةٌ is thalātha. 5. Shortening the long ā of alif: بابٌ is bāb, not "bab". English speakers: ث is your "th" in think, and خ is the "ch" of Scottish loch, so both are within reach. The new sound is ح: practise it against هـ (plain h) and خ until the three are clearly different.

Sources

1. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   § 1 (p. 1): Arabic "is written and read from right to left"; the letters "are twenty-eight in number, and are all consonants, though three of them are also used as vowels", and "vary in form, according as they are connected with a preceding or following letter". In the table on pp. 1-2 alif has no form joined to a following letter.

2. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   § 1, rem. d (p. 4): letters "identical in form, and distinguished from one another in writing only by the aid of the small dots" are divided by the grammarians into unpointed ("free") and pointed ("fastened") letters; ب, ت, ث are named as the one-dot, two-dots-above and three-dots letters.

3. W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol. I (3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith and M. J. de Goeje) — Cambridge University Press, 1896

   § 2 (p. 5): ث "is pronounced like the Greek θ, or th in thing", and Turks and Persians usually turn it into s; ج "corresponds to our g in gem", but in Egypt it is the g of get; ح is "a very sharp but smooth guttural aspirate, stronger than ه, but not rough like خ", which Europeans rarely master; خ "has the sound of ch in the Scotch word loch".

4. A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Karin C. Ryding) — Cambridge University Press, 2005

   Chapter 2, "Phonology and script" (pp. 10-43) is the modern reference treatment of the sounds of Modern Standard Arabic and the Arabic script. Cited from the publisher's catalogue record; the chapter text was not consulted.