XXIIVV — arabic

Arabic has a root-pattern morphology made of bare consonants fitted into a discontinuous pattern to form words.

Words are written in horizontal lines from right to left, numerals are written from left to right. Most letters change form depending on whether they appear at the beginning, middle or end of a word, or on their own. Letters that can be joined are always joined in both hand-written and printed Arabic. The only exceptions to this rule are crossword puzzles and signs in which the script is written vertically.

Abjads, or consonant alphabets, represent consonants only, or consonants plus some vowels.

Consonants

Name	Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final	Transliteration	Sound	Pronunciation
'alif	ا			ـا	' / ā	long unrounded low central back vowel	'a' as in 'father'
Bā'	ب	بـ	ـبـ	ـب	b	voiced bilabial stop	'b' as in 'bed'
Tā'	ت	تـ	ـتـ	ـت	t	voiced aspirated stop	't' as in 'tent'
Thā'	ث	ثـ	ـثـ	ـث	th	voiceless interdental fricative	'th' as in 'think'
Jīm	ج	جـ	ـجـ	ـج	j	voiced palatal affricate	'j' as in 'jam'
Ḥā'	ح	حـ	ـحـ	ـح	ḥ	voiceless pharyngeal constricted fricative	only in Arabic; a constricted English 'h'
Khā'	خ	خـ	ـخـ	ـخ	kh	voiceless velar fricative	'ch' as in German 'Bach'
Dāl	د			ـد	d	voiced dental stop	'd' as in 'deer' (approx.)
Dhāl	ذ			ـذ	dh	voiced interdental fricative	'th' as in 'there'
Rā'	ر			ـر	r	voiced dental trill	'r' as in 'run' (approx.)
Zāy	ز			ـز	z	voiced dental sibilant	'z' as in 'zoo' (approx.)
Sīn	س	سـ	ـسـ	ـس	s	voiceless dental sibilant	's' as in 'sit'
Shīn	ش	شـ	ـشـ	ـش	sh	voiceless palatal sibilant	'sh' as in 'shut'
Ṣād	ص	صـ	ـصـ	ـص	ṣ	voiceless post-dental sibilant emphatic	the counterpart of Sῑn; all the 'emphatics' are pronounced with the back of the tongue slightly raised
Ḍād	ض	ضـ	ـضـ	ـض	ḍ	voiced post-dental emphatic stop	the counterpart of Dāl
Ṭā'	ط	طـ	ـطـ	ـط	ṭ	voiceless post-dental emphatic stop	the counterpart of Tā'
Ẓā'	ظ	ظـ	ـظـ	ـظ	ẓ	voiced post-interdental emphatic fricative	the counterpart of Dhāl
^cayn	ع	عـ	ـعـ	ـع	^c	voiced pharyngeal fricative	purely Arabic -- a constriction of the throat and an expulsion of the breath with the vocal cords vibrating
Ghayn	غ	غـ	ـغـ	ـغ	gh	voiced uvular fricative	close to a French 'r' as in 'Paris' -- like a gentle gargling
Fā'	ف	فـ	ـفـ	ـف	f	labio-dental voiceless fricative	'f' as in 'free'
Qāf	ق	قـ	ـقـ	ـق	q	voiceless unaspirated uvular stop	'k' in the back of the throat; compare 'cough' with 'calf'
Kāf	ك	كـ	ـكـ	ـك	k	voiceless aspirated palatal or velar stop	'k' as in 'king'
Lām	ل	لـ	ـلـ	ـل	l	voiced dental lateral	'l' as in 'lift'
Mīm	م	مـ	ـمـ	ـم	m	voiced bilabial nasal	'm' as in 'moon'
Nūn	ن	نـ	ـنـ	ـن	n	voiced dental nasal	'n' as in 'net'
Hā'	ه	هـ	ـهـ	ـه	h	voiceless glottal fricative	'h' as in 'house'
Wāw	و			ـو	w	voiced bilabial glide	'w' as in 'wonder'
Yā'	ي	يـ	ـيـ	ـي	y	voiced palatal glide	'y' as in 'yellow'
Hamza	ء				'	voiceless glottal stop	not a phoneme in English but found in some exclamations -- e.g. 'oh-oh'

Vowels

Name	Diacritic	Sound
fatha	ــَــ	a
kasra	ــِــ	i
damma	ــُــ	u (short)
sukun	ــْــ	No sound
shadda	ــّــ	Doubled or emphatic vowel sound
tanwin il-fath	ــَــ	-an (end of the word only)
tanwin il-kasr	ــٍــ	-in (end of the word only)
tanwin i-damm	ــٌــ	-un (end of the word only)

Nearly all Arabic words consist of a three-consonant root slotted into a pattern of vowels and helper consonants. The root gives the word its base meaning, while the pattern modifies this meaning in a systematic and predictable way. This idea is so cool that you'd think it came from a constructed language.

pattern	pattern meaning		result
m--a-a	place name	مكتبة	maktaba (library)
-aa-i-	active participle	كاتب	kaatib(writer)
ma--uu-	passive participle	مكتوب	maktuub (written)
-a-a-a	basic verb	كتب	kataba (to write)
a--a-a	causative verb	أكتب	aktaba (to dictate)
-i-aa-	noun	كتاب	kitaab (book)
-u-u-	plural noun	كتب	kutub (books)

Ligatures

Components of a ligature for "Allah"

1. alif
2. hamzat waṣl (ْهَمْزَة وَصْل‎)
3. lām
4. lām
5. shadda (شَدَّة‎)
6. dagger alif (أَلِفْ خَنْجَریَّة‎)
7. hāʾ