In this stage you will learn:
-Six frequently used letters, together with their pronunciation – When and how to join these letters so that they make words – A thing about the “stress” of words – Words that you can construct using these six letters
OPENING STATEMENT
Before you start this stage, ensure you have read the introduction, as that section will give you valuable insight into some of the terminology that we will learn below.
LETTERS
ALIF
The first letter of the Arabic alphabet is ا, also known as Alif. It is meant to represent:
– If it’s at the beginning of a word: any of the short vowel sounds that include a-, u- and i-, with their comparable English counterparts as the a in ant, the u in put, and the i in ink
– If it’s at the middle of the word: the long vowel sound -a-, similar to the a in man in English, but instead lengthening the pronunciation of the vowel, so it sounds something like ma-a-an
– If it’s at the end of some words: A short -a
Alif is commonly referred to what is known as a “disjoined” letter, which is, when the letter is never joined to the next letter.
Alif is placed directly on the line of writing, but is considered a tall letter like a European l. Practice writing this letter multiple times, beginning at the right side of the page:
ALIF MADDA
Alif with a stroke on top of it allegedly represents a long -a-, and is usually at the start of a word. This derivative of alif is aptly named alif madda. Practice writing this letter multiple times, first the body and then putting the head on top of it, starting from the right side of the page.
BA, TA AND THA
The sounds made by the letters b, t and th, with th being pronounced softly as in the th in think, are written as such with the letters ba, ta and tha. These letters are all considered what is called “shallow”, where they all kind of slouch on the line of writing, and are not as “tall” as alif is considered to be.
These are considered to be “joined” letters, where they can be joined to any letter that is next in the same word. Each letter consists of the possibility of being represented in two forms: the short form is utilized at the start or in the center of a word, and the longer or “full” form, so to speak, is presented when the letter is positioned at the end tail of a word or is alone by itself.
It can also be observed that the three letters are the same with the exception of the dots. These are an important component of the letter, as i or j in English require the dots in order to meaningfully display the full letter. The dots are strategicially positioned either above or below the start of the short form, or above or below the center of the long form. When the letter is written, it is usually the stroke or body that is written first, followed by the dot or dots.
These forms of the letters are the ones that are either printed or typed. In typical handwritten form, however, two dots usually transform into a dash -, and three dots into a similar symbol to a circumflex accent which looks like ^. Proceed by writing a line of each of the letters, beginning with the dots as if you were printing the letter, then as if you were writing the handwritten form of the letter.
We now have some idea of how to write a few words using the letters that we learned. Alif is always written pointing down, with the exception of it’s middle form, such as when it is joined to a letter that comes before it, then it usually points up. Make sure to keep in mind that it is never joined to the next letter, which is to the left of it. It’s also wise to note that as was mentioned in the introduction, the short middle and final vowels are typically not written. What is also noticeable is the difference in height between Alif, which is tall, and ba-ta-tha, which is shallow.
Read and write the following words, and remember to start at the right going left:
There is no equivalent word in Arabic for the English words a or an, so ab can mean either father or a father, and bab either door or a door. There is also a rule regarding short vowels: a, i and u in the middle or end of a word are usually not written. In a few words the final alif is written with a short -a.
STRESS
To help illustrate the concept of stress in the Arabic language, try to imagine the English word “production”; it’s center vowel is pronounced more harshly than the rest of the word. In English this concept is called “stress”, so for production, we say the “u” is “stressed”.
Where there are books that teach English as a second language sort of thing, the stress is typically illustrated with an accent, where the “u” in “production” would typically have a little thingy on top. This device will be used to illustrate the stress in some Arabic letters and words, including the second a in athath and the first a in thabit. You can imagine there’s a stroke above each of the a’s.
Exercise 1: Match the corresponding words with their sound and their meaning. The first one has been already completed for you:
Exercise 2: In Exercise 1, mark down the alifs which are pronounced in a long sort of way, using the a with the flat line on top of it.
Exercise 3: Write the word bab or door using the Arabic alphabet. Think about why the first ba is written differently than the last one? Also, why isn’t the whole word conjoined together?
You can find the answers to these exercises after our next paragraph.
NUN
The sound n can be written with the joined letter nun, where the n is comparable to the English n, and a long u used as in the English word truth. This letter consists of a short form that is applicable to the start or the center of a word, and a complete form that is typically applied to the end of a word, or when the letter is there solo by itself. The dot is a crucial component of the letter. The short form is slightly different from ba as far as only where the dot is located, while the complete form starts just above the line of writing and proceeds to twirl under it and then over once more. We can refer to it as a “deep” shape. When it comes to handwriting, the dot in the full form of nun will frequently be written as a sort of hook on the curve.
Write a few examples of nun, starting with print, where the dot is positioned on the full form, and then proceed by attaching a hook on that form as if you were handwriting normally.
Now proceed to read and write additional words with the five letters that we’ve learned so far, and remember to read and write them starting from the right side going left.
Always try to write your words as opposed to drawing them or tracing them. Do not grasp the pen a little too tightly, and briefly plan ahead about what you want to write, so that you can be selective in choosing what form of the letters you want to print out.
YA
The joint letter ‘ya’ is supposed to refer to:
– The consonant ‘y-‘, similar to the y in the English word year, usually comes at the beginning of a word.
– Either the consonant ‘y-‘, or with the long vowel -i-, such as in the English word machine, or it could be as the vowel combination -ay, such as in the English word day, can be in the center of a word.
– The end of a word might have a long vowel such as -i.
The letter ya is not supposed to be pronounced like the vowel y in the English word ‘my’.
As with the ba-tha-ta group of letter we inquired about earlier in the article, this letter consists of a shallow short form that is utilized at the start or center of a word, and a full form at the end of the word if that word or that letter is by itself. The short form looks exactly like ta except for the fact that it’s two dots are below as opposed to above it, where the full form has a deep shape that and is substantially different, coming down and under the line and then back up once more. Practice writing ya a multitude of times, beginning with dots and then proceeding with handwritten form, which contains a dash.
Here are some additional words. Read and write these words, and keep in mind that the initial ya must be a y-, the center ya can be -y-, -i-, or -ay-, while the last ya is usually an -i.
In their short forms, the following letters are referred to as “tooth letters”.
This form is considered a “tooth”:
When the full form has one or more toothed letters come before it, a series of special, handwritten shapes come into fruition, which should always be utilized even if they are not normally used in print:
Ensure that you put stress on the vowel during your pronunciation of it, if it has been accented:
Exercise 4 – Match up each of these words with their sound and their meaning. We have completed the first one for you:
Exercise 5 – Write all the Arabic words that you have learned so far that begin with either:
If expressed with the additional meanings “my” or “two” will not be taken into consideration.
The answers for these exercises will be provided after this part of the article accordingly.
It might be wise to remember that ya used at the start of a word emits the sound y-. We can also draw from the fact that initial alif is supposed to be a sort of initial short vowel. Keep in mind that any word that starts with a long vowel or a vowel combination when it comes to pronunciation must be welcomed into writing using alif, which in that case would be a silent alif and produce no sound where it traditionally does.
There is a rule for initial long vowels that states that any long vowel or vowel combination that is positioned at the start of a word has to be introduced by alif when in written form, and then the alif itself is not pronounced, rather it is silent.
Answer Key for the Exercises:
Exercise 1:
Exercise 2: The words for this exercise are:
The other alifs contain a short pronounciation of a.
Exercise 3: The letter “ba” contains the long form at the end of the word, while it contains the short form in the center or start of a word. The world is also not totally joined together in that it has to break following alif which is never joined to the following letter, or in other words, it is a “disjoined” letter.
Exercise 4:
Exercise 5: The total list of words we have studied so far is this, sorted by order of appearance
If you were able to figure out more than 12 out of the 18 words listed above, you passed this exercise with flying colors. If you manage to list less than 9, it is adviseable to go back and redo this entire stage, working through what you missed in order to fill your knowledge gaps and reinforce your learning.
Tests:
1. Convert the letters into a word, for example:
2. Orally pronounce the answers that you have to Test 1. For example, A) is bayt.
3. Read these out loud. To give you an example, A) is banat:
4. Write the following transliterations that use the Latin script into Arabic. To give you an example, A is:
A) Ibni B) Bintayn C) Binayati D) Babayn E) Ayna F) Athathi
5. Read the following words. What sound does each alif make in each of the following words? Elaborate on why this is. To give you an example, in A), also called ibn, it is the letter i, because alif here is meant to represent the short vowel i.
THINGS DONE SO FAR:
In this stage we learned six letters as well as one variant, of which five are very commonly used in the Arabic language. Among the things that you should know by now:
– Alif that is positioned at the start of a word can either represent a short vowel, such as a, i or u, or welcomes a long vowel such as i or ay. – The Alif madda letter is always meant to portray a long “a”. – The crucial distinction between short and long vowels. – The fact that short vowels in the center and end tail of word are typically not written, those such as a, i and u, albeit the last Alif is periodically used to express a short “a”. – The crucial distinction between “joined” and “disjoined” letters. – The distinction between the “tall”, “shallow” and “deep” shapes that you write. – All the “toothed” letters we could come up with, including the proper methodology for writing the last “ya” after a tooth in addition to the teeth.
You have accumulated some experience reading and writing joined letters, in their full and short variants, as well as absorbing shapes that are shallow, deep and tall. You have been taught to read and write 22 words out of countless more that you now have somewhat of a foundation to learn. There is quite a bit to learn in this first stage. The reason for this is that anything less than these six letters, you will only be able to write less than 10 words, and why would you want to write less than 10 words? You have engaged this system of writing which is completely different from that of any of the European languages, and as it seems completely foreign or counter-intuitive, one should not be demotivated by how dissimilar it is. If you are having any doubts as to what you learned, go through the stage once again to refresh your knowledge. Every time you will get back and go over points that you are weak in, you will strengthen your knowledge of them. Do not expect to be fluent or perfect from the outset. Learning a language takes time and practice. As you continue to learn, everything will become more clear as you gain new insights, and things that didn’t make as much sense before will come together. You will also begin to eliminate doubt by doubt and attain a higher level of confidence as it pertains to commanding the Arabic language.