The Arabic Script & Abjad: How It Works

Level: beginner. Before any grammar, you need to read the letters. Arabic uses a 28-letter script written right to left, in joined, flowing shapes. It is an abjad, which means the letters mostly write the consonants, and the short vowels are added as small marks only when needed.

What an abjad is

An abjad is a writing system in which each letter stands mainly for a consonant (a sound like b, t, k). The short vowels — the a, i, u sounds between consonants — are not full letters. Compare that with the Latin alphabet you are reading now, where a, e, i, o, u are letters in their own right.

In practice, the three long vowels do get written, using the letters ا (alif, long ā), و (wāw, long ū) and ي (yāʾ, long ī). It is the short vowels that are usually left out. A reader fills them in from knowing the word — much as an English reader can still read “wrd” as “word”.

Reading right to left, in joined letters

Arabic runs right to left: you start at the right edge of the line and move left. Within a word, most letters join to the next one, like English handwriting, so a word is a connected shape rather than separate blocks.

Because letters join, a single letter has up to four shapes depending on where it sits: on its own (isolated), at the start of a word (initial), in the middle (medial) and at the end (final). The core identity of the letter is the same; only the connecting strokes change.

Six letters are exceptions that only connect on their right side — ا د ذ ر ز و (alif, dāl, dhāl, rāʾ, zāy, wāw). They link to the letter before them but never to the letter after, so they leave a small break in the word.

Short vowels: the harakat

The optional vowel marks are called harakat. The main ones sit above or below a consonant:

• fatḥa — a small stroke above, a short a: بَ (ba).
• kasra — a small stroke below, a short i: بِ (bi).
• ḍamma — a small loop above, a short u: بُ (bu).
• sukūn — a small circle above, meaning “no vowel here”: بْ (b).
• shadda — a mark meaning the consonant is doubled: بّ (bb).

There is also tanwīn, a doubling of the final short vowel that adds an -n sound and marks an indefinite noun: كِتَابٌ (kitābun, “a book”). You will see all of these in this course’s examples, which are fully vowelled to help you learn.

The script at a glance

Letters and words in action

Practice

Where to go next

Now that you can see how the script works, train the sounds themselves in the Arabic pronunciation overview, then meet the article that attaches to nouns, The Arabic Definite Article ال (al-), and browse the Arabic grammar section. New here? Start at Start Learning Arabic Here.

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