How Arabic Writing Works

Arabic is one of the world's most widely spoken languages, used by over 400 million people across the Middle East and North Africa. Before learning individual letters, it is essential to understand how the Arabic writing system works — because it differs fundamentally from Latin-based scripts like English.

Right-to-Left Writing

Arabic is written and read from right to left. This applies to:

Individual letters within a word
Words within a sentence
Pages in a book (the "front" cover is what English speakers would consider the "back")

Numbers, however, are written left to right — the same as in English.

English:  The cat sat on the mat.    →  (left to right)
Arabic:   .ةريصحلا ىلع ةطقلا تسلج   ←  (right to left)

Tip: When you start practising, try writing your first letters from the right side of the page.

The 28 Letters

The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters. All 28 are consonants (or consonant-like). Vowels are represented by small marks above or below letters called diacritics (covered in Lesson 8).

#	Letter	Name	Approximate Sound
1	ا	Alif	glottal stop / long "a"
2	ب	Baa	b
3	ت	Taa	t
4	ث	Thaa	th (as in "think")
5	ج	Jiim	j
6	ح	Haa	breathy h
7	خ	Khaa	kh (as in "Bach")
8	د	Daal	d
9	ذ	Dhaal	dh (as in "this")
10	ر	Raa	rolled r
11	ز	Zay	z
12	س	Siin	s
13	ش	Shiin	sh
14	ص	Saad	emphatic s
15	ض	Daad	emphatic d
16	ط	Taa	emphatic t
17	ظ	Zhaa	emphatic z
18	ع	Ayn	voiced pharyngeal
19	غ	Ghayn	gh (like French "r")
20	ف	Faa	f
21	ق	Qaaf	deep q
22	ك	Kaaf	k
23	ل	Laam	l
24	م	Miim	m
25	ن	Nuun	n
26	ه	Haa	h
27	و	Waaw	w / long "u"
28	ي	Yaa	y / long "i"

Contextual Forms — The Key Concept

Unlike English, where a letter looks the same regardless of its position in a word (apart from capitalisation), Arabic letters change shape depending on where they appear in a word. Each letter has up to four forms:

Form	Position	Description
Isolated	Standing alone	The letter is not connected to any other letter
Initial	Beginning of a word	Connected to the following letter only
Medial	Middle of a word	Connected to both the preceding and following letters
Final	End of a word	Connected to the preceding letter only

Example with ب (Baa)

Form	Shape	Position
Isolated	ب	Standing alone
Initial	بـ	Start of word
Medial	ـبـ	Middle of word
Final	ـب	End of word

The core shape (a curve with a dot below) remains recognisable, but the connecting strokes change.

Connecting vs Non-Connecting Letters

Most Arabic letters connect to the letter that follows them. However, six letters never connect to the left (they only connect to the preceding letter on their right). These are called non-connecting letters:

Letter	Name
ا	Alif
د	Daal
ذ	Dhaal
ر	Raa
ز	Zay
و	Waaw

When a non-connecting letter appears in the middle of a word, it breaks the connection — the next letter starts in its initial form as if beginning a new segment.

Example:  دَرَسَ  (darasa — "he studied")
          د connects right only → ر connects right only → س starts fresh

Tip: Memorise these six non-connecting letters early. They are the exception, not the rule.

The Consonantal Alphabet

Arabic is an abjad — an alphabet in which only consonants are written as full letters. Short vowels are indicated by optional diacritical marks:

Mark	Name	Sound	Placement
َ	Fatha	"a"	Above the letter
ُ	Damma	"u"	Above the letter
ِ	Kasra	"i"	Below the letter
ْ	Sukun	no vowel	Above the letter

In everyday Arabic writing (newspapers, books, signs), diacritics are usually omitted. Readers use context to determine vowels. Diacritics are always used in:

The Quran
Children's books
Language textbooks
Dictionaries

The Dot System

Many Arabic letters share the same basic shape and are distinguished only by dots (placed above or below):

Base Shape	No Dots	1 Dot	2 Dots	3 Dots
Cup shape	ح (Haa)	خ (Khaa)	ج (Jiim)	—
Tooth shape	—	ب (Baa, 1 below)	ت (Taa, 2 above)	ث (Thaa, 3 above)
Bowl shape	—	ن (Nuun, 1 above)	ي (Yaa, 2 below)	—

Learning to recognise the base shapes first, then adding dot awareness, is one of the most effective strategies.

Writing Tools and Direction

Traditional Arabic calligraphy uses a reed pen (qalam) cut at an angle. Modern Arabic is written with:

Standard pens and pencils
Computer keyboards with Arabic layout
Mobile phone keyboards (Arabic input)

When handwriting Arabic:

Start from the right side of the page
Write each word as a connected unit (with breaks only at non-connecting letters)
Add dots and diacritics after completing the base shape of the word

Summary

Concept	Key Point
Direction	Right to left
Letters	28 consonants
Forms	4 per letter (isolated, initial, medial, final)
Non-connecting	6 letters (ا د ذ ر ز و)
Vowels	Short vowels shown with diacritics (often omitted)
Dots	Distinguish letters that share the same base shape

You now understand the fundamental principles of Arabic writing. In the following lessons, we will learn each letter group by group, practising all four forms and building toward reading full words and sentences.