Arabic Alphabet Review: All the Letters So Far!

 

Arabic Alphabet Review: All the Letters So Far!

Hello learners, I hope you are enjoying your learning journey. So far, we have finished part one of the Arabic alphabet: the Arabic letters whose sounds are familiar to non-Arabic speakers because their sounds correspond directly to sounds found in the English alphabet. Thus, in our previous lessons, we have learned 19 letters so far: أ, ب, ت, ث, ج, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ف, ك, ل, م, ن, هـ, و, ي.

 

 

We started this set of letters with Baa’ “ب”, which acts as the door (baab) to the Arabic letters. “ب” is the first letter of Bismillah (the first verse of Al-Fātiḥa). “ب” is also one of the sounds babies babble.

 

     

 

Later, we ended with Alif “أ”—the VIP letter—which stands as a symbol for the entire alphabet and the starting point of the alphabet list. Alif is special in a way that it has three versions: “أ”, “ا”, “ى”. Each version has a name, and its appearance in Arabic text is based on spelling and grammatical rules. In between, we learned letters, and we will continue to learn new ones.

         

The letters “ب”, “ت”, and “ث” have the same basic form but with different dot positions. You can remember the connection this way: “ب”, the beginning letter (as mentioned previously), has one dot below. “ت” has two dots above. “ث” has three dots above.

     

Jeem “ج” is a precious letter whose sound corresponds to the Soft 'G' and 'J' in English (as in gems and jewelry). “ج” also has two more brother letters that we will learn about later. The three letters are similar except for the matter of the dots.

    

Daal “د” and Thaal “ذ” are a pair that have the same form—one with a dot and the other without. We used the analogy for “د” as a hand puppet "Dragon" and “ذ” as "The Dragon"

                                           

Raa “ر” and Zaa “ز” are also a pair of letters that share the same form—one with a dot “ز” and the other without a dot “ر”. We compared the shape of “ر” to a Ramp for kids to skate on, and “ز” with a ramp with Zero kids.

      

 Seen “س” and Sheen “ش” have the same form, but “س” (that curvy, mean Snake) has no dots. The sweet Sugary “ش” took all the credit for possessing three dots (like three sugar cubes).

     

      

The rest of the letters we learned throughout the previous lessons are all unique, unrepeated forms: “ف”, “ك”, “ل”, “م”, “ن”, “هـ”, “و”, “ي”. We remember them as follows: Faa’ “ف” is the Fluffy Feather. Kaaf “ك” is the Kangaroo with its baby in the sack. Laam “ل” is the Leg pointing to the left. Meem “م” is the cute Mushroom. Noon “ن” is the Nest with one egg. Haa’ “هـ” is the unique, stylish Hat. Waw “و” is Wizy the Worm. And finally, Yaa’ “ي” the sailing Yacht.

Arabic letter	English corresponding letter/sound
أ	A
ب	B
ت	T
ث	Th (three)
ج	G (gem)/J
د	D
ذ	Th (there)
ر	R
ز	Z
س	S
ش	Sh
ف	F
ك	K
ل	L
م	M
ن	N
هـ	H
و	W
ي	y

 

The Hero letters

We also learned that some letters play an important role in Arabic text by representing sounds that do not naturally exist in the standard Arabic alphabet, such as the sounds of P, V, and Ch.

English letter/sound	Arabic letter representative
P	ب
V	ف
Ch	ش

 

And Now What?

At this point, I recommend that you write the first set down while learning them. This is a good practice because these letters are considered entirely new symbols for non-Arabic speakers. They are characters that are completely different from Latin characters or letters. Just like when you learn Chinese or Japanese, you feel the urge to learn how the characters are written as a drawing exercise.

I believe this is a highly effective way to learn and have fun simultaneously; there is genuinely something magical about learning through writing. These symbols, which are just letters for now, connect directly to a core area of neuroscience concerned with the mechanism of forming new neural pathways through the collaboration of different parts of the brain, ultimately boosting memory and learning.

You will find plenty of free printable sheets online to practice writing, or you can search YouTube for videos teaching how to write the letters.

What’s Next?

And that brings us to the end of this review. Stay tuned for Part Two of the Arabic Alphabet, featuring new adventures and characters, as you may encounter sounds that are unfamiliar or unrepresented in your language. But always remember that we all human beings have the same speech organs, so that we all can produce the same sounds. Finally, this is a long journey that starts with eagerness and passion and continues with persistence and routine. So, learn, practice, repeat, and have fun!