Click to view table of contents

►II.5. JOINING OF LETTERS

Like Aramaic and most other Semitic languages, Arabic is written from right to left.

In most languages putting letters next to each other simply creates a word. In Arabic, however, putting letters as they are in a row does not create a word.

بَ حْ ر

This is not a word. It is just a sequence of three separate sounds ba ħ r–

The letters of each Arabic word must be joined together, so the previous word will look like:

بَ‍‍‍‍ﺤْر

Now this is a word. It is pronounced baħr– and it means “sea”

So in order to write and read Arabic you will have, in addition to knowing the letters, to know how each letter is joined when it is at the beginning, middle, or end of the word.

More examples:

يَ + وْ + م = ﻳَوْم

yawm– “day”

Notice here that the letter w و was joined only from one side. Some letters are joined only from one side.

وَ + لَ + د = وَﻟَد

walad– “child, boy”

بِ + نْ + ت = ﺑِﻨْت

bint– “girl, daughter”

رَ + جُ + ل = رَﺟُل

raǵul– “man”

PREVIOUS—NEXT