0

- sifr

- whid

- ithnn

- thaltha

- 'arbaca

- khamsa

- sitta

- sabca

- thamniya

- tisca

10

- cashra

11

- 'ahada cashra

12

- ithn cashra

13

- thaltha cashra

14

- 'arbaca cashra

15

- khamsa cashra

16

- sitta cashra

17

- sabca cashra

18

- thamniya cashra

19

- tisca cashra

20

- cishrn

21

- 'ahad wa-cishrn

22

- ithnn wa-cishrn

23

- thaltha wa-cishrn

24

- 'arbaca wa-cishrn

25

- khamsa wa-cishrn

26

- sitta wa-cishrn

27

- sabca wa-cishrn

28

- thamniya wa-cishrn

29

- tisca wa-cishrn

30

- thalthn

35

- khamsa wa-thalthn

40

- 'arbacn

42

- 'ithnn wa-'arbacn

50

- khamsn

59

- tisca wa-khamsn

60

- sittn

66

- sitta wa-sittn

70

- sabcn

73

- thaltha wa-sabcn

80

- thamnn

84

- 'arbaca wa-thamnn

90

- tiscn

91

- 'ahad wa-tiscn

100

- mi'a

153

- mi'a thaltha wa-khamsn

1000

- 'alf

- 'alf mi'a 'ahada cashra

1603

- 'alf sitt mi'a wa-thaltha

1111

102

- mi'a wa-ithnn

Lesson 1
Congratulations on your decision to start learning the Arabic script!You will see that being able to
read Arabic will baffle your friends and enrich your life. Also, you will no longer be an analphabet when
travelling to an Arab country, and there are many of them.
Let's start!

The first Arabic letter you should learn is Baa:

As you may have guessed from the name, this is the Arabic equivalent of B.
Note that Arabic is read and written from right to left. This will take some getting used to, so take a
sheet of paper and practise every letter immediately. To write Baa, start at the right tip of the letter, write
that curve to the left and finally place the dot underneath. Dots always come last.

One letter is not enough to read anything, so let's have another. May I present to you: 'alif.
This letter's basic sound is a long "ah". We'll transliterate it as "aa".
One very important thing to note is that Arabic is a cursive script, meaning that you have to connect the
letters in writing. So to write "baa", we actually have to mesh Baa and 'alif together:
'alif is an isolating letter though, meaning that you can attach 'alif to something, but you can't attach
another letter to the end of 'alif. So to write "bab", the Arabic word for "door", you have to do this:
Let's have a little reading exercise. These will come up throughout the lessons, to help you practise. I will
show you an Arabic word, and you should try to read it and to understand it, because it's something you
can recognize. I'll give you hints. Hover over the Arabic to see the solution.

a baby might say this

Swedish band

Actually this last one was cheating a bit, because in Arabic the band's name is pronounced 'aabaa, with a
stop before the name, so my spelling is incorrect.

B and As are getting old, let's have another letter. This one is Taa:

It looks quite similar to Baa, except there are two dots on top instead of one dot beneath the letter. It's
pronounced like the English letter T.
Another reading exercise:

short girl's name

key on your keyboard

Note that Taa meshes just the same way as Baa does.

This is Thaa:
It's almost the same as Taa, but there are three dots on top. You will find that it meshes the same way,
too. It's pronounced like the TH in "math".
Practise reading:

City in England

Here's another letter that looks almost the same:

This is Nuun. It has basically the same shape as the letters we've seen so far, but not quite. It's not as
wide, and it dips below the line. The pronunciation is like the English N.
One more reading exercise:

Woman's name

Man's name

Last letter for today:

This is the letter Waaw, pronounced either as a W or as a long U sound (transliterated UU). It also
replaces the O in foreign words. Note that Waaw is an isolating letter, just like Alif, so whenever you write
it, the word ostensibly has to end there, you can't connect the following letter to it.
Finally, here's a LONG reading exercise to practise everything we learned in this lesson:

name of a Greek letter

big city in Western Germany

man's name

either a chemical molecule or an exotic country

Korean currency

African tribe

international organization

Did you manage to read that? If so, I can promise you that you have everything it takes to be able to read
Arabic fluently. This was in fact the hardest lesson of all, because you didn't have any previous
knowledge. The next lessons will build on what you learned here and you will find them easier, also
because you will be able to practise reading much more once you know a few more letters. If you don't
feel overwhelmed right now, you can already continue with the next lesson, where you will learn a few
more letters and many more words. Otherwise, please come back to it later.

Lesson 2
Welcome back!
Let's have another vowel. This one is

Yaa:
What? 4 letters? No, just 4 forms. I give you the shape Yaa will take at the beginning of a word (on the
right), in the middle of it (2nd from the right), at the end and in isolation. Very often you can guess how
letters will mesh, but not this time. Or would you have thought that Yaa in beginning and medium position
looks just like Baa with another dot?
Yaa is pronounced either as a long EE sound (transliterated as II), or as semi-vowel Y as in 'year'. It's also
used to transliterate E in foreign names.
Another reading exercise:

Chinese currency

girl's name

girl's name

Asian country

short girl's name

Asian country

one Houston

girl's name

boy's name

Yes, this is the letter to learn if you want to know how to write your name in Arabic.

Now back to consonants. This is Miim:

This letter has a tail when no other letters are connected to it. It's pronounced just like an English M.
Practise reading:

boy's name

boy's name

first name of a model

chemical molecule

country in South America

city in India

former name of the above

And here's Laam:

It meshes in a very boring, expected way, so you don't need to memorize several forms. However, you do
need to remember that 'alif looks very similar to a Laam in medium position, but 'alif does not connect to
the following letter. It's pronounced just like an English L, and it even looks a lot like an L - mirrored of
course, since Arabs write from right to left.
Nice long review again:

Man's name

A former American president's first name

Another man's name

Country in North Africa

African country

Man's name

Capital of a South-American country

Man's name

City in France

Country in Southern Europe

Country in the Himalaya

Now here's a tip: Arabs don't typically write out short vowels, they guess them. However, in children's
books and in places where exactness is too important, such as in the holy scriptures, short vowels are
indicated.

For a short A sound, draw a short line above the consonant (called fatha), like this "ba":

For a short I sound, draw a short line below the consonent (called kasra), like this "bi":

Two things to note:

1) some people will indicate a short vowel in addition to the long vowel for extra clarity. It's still just one
sound - unless the vowels differ, then you get a diphtong like ay, ya and so on.
2) When you need a vowel sound at the beginning of a word, 'alif carries it.
Try to read the following words that contain short vowels. Careful, the extra lines are easy to miss!

African country

Arab country

They live in an icy climate

Use to buy Sushi

North African country

Man's name

Woman's name in Jane Austen

American state

Still with us? It will only get easier from now on. If you're still in a relaxed state of mind, you can already
continue with the next lesson. Otherwise, please come back to it later.

Welcome to the Basic Arabic Course!

Welcome to the three-part Basic Arabic Course in which you will learn all the
essentials of the Arabic language. Note, though, that this course is not meant to
replace more established courses. It merely aims to give you a taste of the Arabic
language and solid foundations on which to build.

Basic Arabic Course - Lesson 1:

Arabic Alphabet

If you want to learn how to read and write all the letters of the Arabic alphabet fast and
without rote learning, then check out Arabic Genie's The Magic Key To The Arabic
Alphabet.
Let's start with the Arabic alphabet, as this is the basis for the other lessons. Here
are some basic characterstics of the Arabic writing system:

The Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters.

Arabic is written from right to left.

In Arabic short vowels are generally not written.

Arabic letters change their shape according to their position in a word.

Let's go through these points in more detail.

The Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters.

This means that the Arabic alphabet contains only two more letters than the English
alphabet (26 letters). However, unlike English, the Arabic letters are always
pronounced in the same way. In English the letter "c" is sometimes pronounced like
an "s" (ceasar) and sometimes like a "k" (cucumber). Or, to take another example,
"gh" is sometimes pronounced "f" (enough) and sometimes pronounced "g"
(ghost). In Arabic, the letters always retain their sound.
Arabic is written from right to left.
English, of course, is written from left to right like this.
from
-> -> -> -> ->

left

to

right

Arabic, on the other hand is written from right to left:

tfel
<- <- <- <- <-

ot

thgir

morf

Sure, this takes some getting used to, but is not that hard with enough practice.

In Arabic short vowels are generally not written.

There are three short vowels in Arabic: a short "u" (as in "look"), a short "a" (as in
"can") and a short "i" (as in "with"). Usually these short vowels are simply omitted
in writing. Long vowels (such as the "ee" in "tree") are written. A sentence such as:
"The book in the tree is very ugly and rotten."
becomes
"Th bk 'n th tree 's vr 'gl 'nd rttn."
This omission of short vowels can be very difficult in the beginning, because it's
difficult to guess which short vowels exactly are missing. As you learn more about
Arabic grammar you will be able to "guess" the missing short vowels and pronounce
unknown words.

Arabic letters change their shape according to their position in a word.

The Arabic script is essentially a cursive script, much like handwritten English. I.e.
almost all the letters within a word are connected to each other. This necessitates
certain changes in their shapes. If you write an English word cursively, then you will
also make certain changes to the letters. For example, the letter "s" will be
connected to the letter on the left with a diagonal stroke if that preceding letter is
e.g. an "n".
However, in Arabic these changes can be quite drastic. Take a look at the following
table that summarizes the letters in the Arabic alphabet and their shapes according
to
whether
they
are:
1)
on
their
own
(isolated),
2)
at
the
start
of
a
word
3)
in
the
middle
of
a
word
or
4) at the end of a word.

* The six letters marked with an asterisk (*) cannot be connected to the left.
You should write the letters a few times each to get a feeling for them.

If you want to learn how to read and write all the letters of the Arabic alphabet fast and
without rote learning, then check out Arabic Genie's The Magic Key To The Arabic
Alphabet.

Pronouncing the Arabic sounds

Now that you've had a first glance at the Arabic alphabet, you're ready to learn the
pronunciation of the letters.
To hear the pronunciation of the Arabic letters you should head over to the Arabic
letters application.
For simplicity let's divide the letters into three groups, according to their difficulty.
Easy
In this group are all the letters that are more or less exactly pronounced as their
English counterparts.

Medium
These letters are still somewhat similar to English sounds, but already more difficult
to pronounce.

Difficult
These Arabic letters can prove tough to pronounce for beginners. Keep at it,
though, and listen to recordings of native speakers. Eventually, your throat will hurt
and you'll get it right!

Putting letters together to form words

Now that you know how to write and pronounce individual Arabic letters, let's take
a look at putting them together to form words.
salaam means "peace" in Arabic. To write the word start from the right and connect
all the letters:

Let's take a look at another word: mumtaaz - which means "excellent" in Arabic.

Basic Arabic Course - Lesson 2:

Arabic Grammar
This lesson is all about Arabic grammar. Don't be scared though - I'll explain
everything in easy steps. Upon completion of the lesson you will be able to form
simple Arabic sentences. First, let me give you a quick outline of the grammatical
aspects of Arabic discussed here:

The verb "to be" is not necessary to form a simple sentence.

Arabic has two grammatical genders.

Arabic words are formed according to a root system.

Arabic verbs change according to the subject.

Let's go through these points in more detail.

The verb "to be" is not necessary to form a simple sentence.

In English, the verb "to be" is used to form simple sentences such as "The house is
big". In Arabic, the verb "to be" is usually dropped when describing something in
the present tense. So, our example sentence would become "The house big."
Let me show you some examples. Remember to start reading from the right:

kabeer

al-bayt

big

the-house

The house is big.

mumtaaz

al-akl

big

the-house

The food is excellent.

Sagheera

al-bint

small

the-girl

The girl is small (young).

Note that when describing past occurences, the verb "to be" is necessary:

kabeeran

al-bayt

kaana

big

the-house

was

The house was big.

The word "kaana" is the past tense of the verb "to be".

Arabic has two grammatical genders.

In Arabic a word can be either masculine or feminine - just like in French. Feminine
words are usually easy to spot, because most of them end in
Below are some examples:

Word
student

friend

Feminine Singular

Masculine Singular

Taaliba

Taalib

Sadeeqa

Sadeeq

( taa' marbooTa).

moslem

ambassador

dog

muslima

muslim

safeera

safeer

kalba

kalb

Arabic words are formed according to a root system.

Most Arabic words derive from a three or four letter root. This can best be explained
using a concrete example.
The following words all derive from the same three root letters -

to write

kataba

writer

kaatib

written

maktoob

book

kitaab

writing

kitaaba

office

( k t b):

maktab
bookstore / library

maktaba

dictation

istiktaab

Once you've figured out how this system works, you will be able to construct a lot
of words from the same root, saving you valuable time in memorizing voaculary.
For now, simply try to recognize similarities between words and see if you can spot
the three (or four) root letters.

Arabic verbs change according to the subject.

Another similarity Arabic has to French is that verbs change according to their
subject. In English, verbal conjugations have been grately simplified over the last
few centuries. All that remains now is the "s" added to verbs for "he", "she", "it".
E.g. "I run", but "he runs". So, let's take a look at the verb "to write":
You will notice that Arabic has more personal pronouns than English. Specifically,
Arabic has something called a "dual" that only applies to two persons. There is also
a feminine and a masculine "they".

I write

you (sgl.) write (masculine)

you (sgl.) write (feminine)

he writes
she writes

aktub(u)

ana

taktub(u)

anta

taktubeen(a)

anti

yaktub(u)

huwa

you two write

we write

you (pl.) write (masculine)

you (pl.) write (feminine)

taktub(u)

hiya

taktubaan(i)

antuma

naktub(u)

naHnu

taktuboon(a)

antum

taktubna
they write (masculine)

they write (feminine)

antunna

yaktuboon(a)

hum

yaktubna

hunna

1. Note that in Arabic it is not necessary to use the personal pronouns in front of
the verbs. This is because the conjugated verb itself makes it clear who its subject
is.
In the example below both sentences mean "I write a letter".

ana aktub(u) risaalatan

aktub(u) risaalatan
"letter" is risaala (

).

2. Note that some endings (e.g. the "a" at the end of taktuboon(a) ) are usually
omitted in normal speech.

asic Arabic Course - Lesson 3:

Arabic Vocabulary
In this lesson you'll learn some essential vocabulary that you can immediately when
communicating with Arabic speakers.

End of Lesson 3: Arabic Vocabulary