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The Arabic alphabet: all 28 letters

Arabic is written from right to left. Most letters join to the letter that follows and change shape depending on where they sit in a word: alone, at the start, in the middle or at the end. Tap a letter to open its lesson.

🖨 Free printable tracing worksheets

Six letters that never join forward

ا د ذ ر ز و connect to the letter before them but never to the letter after. When one of them appears in a word, the next letter starts fresh, as in دار (daar, home).

Letters that look alike

Many letters share a shape and differ only in their dots. Learn them in groups:

ب · ت · ثBaa, Taa, Thaa
ج · ح · خJeem, Ḥaa, Khaa
د · ذDaal, Dhaal
ر · زRaa, Zaay
س · شSeen, Sheen
ص · ضṢaad, Ḍaad
ط · ظṬaa, Ẓaa
ع · غʿAyn, Ghayn
ف · قFaa, Qaaf

Short vowels

Arabic usually writes only consonants and long vowels. Short vowels are small marks above or below a letter. Beginner books and the Qur’an show them; newspapers usually don’t.

بَbafatḥa

بِbikasra

بُbuḍamma