Arabic/Arabic alphabet step-by-step

The Arabic alphabet is a consonantal alphabet; vowels are not fully represented. It also has a very rich calligraphic history.

A word such as كتاب may seem like a scribble to the beginner, and may seem not to be composed of letters. It is, they are simply connected to each other. The first letter is kaaf it looks like this كـ . The second letter in the word is taa, it looks like this (تـ ). The third letter is alif : It looks like this: ا . The last letter is baa it looks like this بـ.

As you might have noticed, Arabic is read from right to left, down the page. The word كتاب spelled kaf ta alif ba, means book it is pronounced "kitaab".

Exercise 1

Give the names of each letter, start at the right. كـ ، تـ ، ا ، بـ ، تـ ، ا ، بـ ، تـ

Exercise 2

Write the Arabic letter that best represents the first sound in the following words:

1. cave
2. tape
3. coconut
4. bill
5. apple
6. ant

Answers

Ex.1

kaf, ta, alif, ba, ta, alif, ba, ta

Ex.2

1. كـ
2. تـ
3. كـ
4. بـ
5. ا
6. ا