.: Anna :.
01-06-05, 05:04 PM
Salams and welcome to the new Arabic beginners course brought to you by Ummah.com.
We will begin with a small lesson on the alphabet, although some people already know how to read and write. This is to make it easy for even the most basic beginners and give everyone the same starting point. Also there is never any harm in revising and consolidating what you already know :)
As there are already good resources available for learning the alphabet, we would like to refer you to the pages below. (Jazak allah khayr to Sister Cheeky and Brother Al-Nasser for bringing these links to our attention)
But firstly here are a few points to remember about the Arabic Alphabet :
Arabic is written from right to left
There are 29 characters of the Arabic alphabet
It is extremely important to include all dots, and the number and placement of dots can change the sound of the letter and therefore the meaning of word. In English we may forget to dot the I or cross the T but we can not do this in Arabic.
LINKS (the following links are essential for any student who is not already capable in reading and writing Arabic letters)
Click here for a tutorial on how each letter is drawn and the names of the letters (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicletters.html)
Click here for sound clips of the prononciation of each Arabic letter (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicletters2.html)
Click here for more information on the alphabet plus some quizzes and exercises for practice (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/lgalphabet.htm) - view in Internet Explorer (from LanguageGuide.org)
Sun letters and Moon Letters
The letters of the Arabic alphabet are divided into two groups - Sun and Moon letters. This is important when the word begins with "Al" (the use of "al" will be explained in a later lesson insha allah). When "Al" is followed by one of the sun letters, the L sound (lam) becomes silent and the following sun letter is pronounced in its place.
The sun letters are
ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن
All other letters are Moon letters and the lam is pronounced normally.
After a while you will naturally be able to distinguish a sun letter from a moon letter, simply by whether it sounds wrong or right but if you have not reached that stage, it may be useful to learn which letters are sun letters and which letters are not.
The two groups of letters have been named in this way because the word for Sun in Arabic is Shams which begins with a sun letter, and Moon is Qamar beginning with a moon letter. They are pronounced like this :
Ash-shams (NOT al-shams)
Al-Qamar
Joining the Letters
This should be learnt from the links provided insha allah, however please keep in mind the difference between "Separate" and "Inseparable Letters"
There are six letters of the Arabic alphabet that do not allow the following letter to be joined to them. These letters are :
ا د ذ ر ز و
They are written joined to the letter infront, but then the letter following it must be written in initial form. e.g.
حافظ
See how the alif is not joined to the following letter.
In Arabic there are "short vowels" and "long vowels". This is shown below:
http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicvowels.gif
*New* Please also look at this link, brought to my attention my Abdelwahab
Madina Arabic Reading course (http://www.madinaharabic.com/Arabic%20Reading/Arabic_Reading_Course.htm)
Also, shariah program free material on the alphabet (http://www.shariahprogram.ca/Arabic-alphabet.shtml)
If the alphabet is completely new to you, it would be best to get as much practise as possible insha allah so check out all the links given to build ur confidence
We will begin with a small lesson on the alphabet, although some people already know how to read and write. This is to make it easy for even the most basic beginners and give everyone the same starting point. Also there is never any harm in revising and consolidating what you already know :)
As there are already good resources available for learning the alphabet, we would like to refer you to the pages below. (Jazak allah khayr to Sister Cheeky and Brother Al-Nasser for bringing these links to our attention)
But firstly here are a few points to remember about the Arabic Alphabet :
Arabic is written from right to left
There are 29 characters of the Arabic alphabet
It is extremely important to include all dots, and the number and placement of dots can change the sound of the letter and therefore the meaning of word. In English we may forget to dot the I or cross the T but we can not do this in Arabic.
LINKS (the following links are essential for any student who is not already capable in reading and writing Arabic letters)
Click here for a tutorial on how each letter is drawn and the names of the letters (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicletters.html)
Click here for sound clips of the prononciation of each Arabic letter (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicletters2.html)
Click here for more information on the alphabet plus some quizzes and exercises for practice (http://www.ummah.com/arabic/lgalphabet.htm) - view in Internet Explorer (from LanguageGuide.org)
Sun letters and Moon Letters
The letters of the Arabic alphabet are divided into two groups - Sun and Moon letters. This is important when the word begins with "Al" (the use of "al" will be explained in a later lesson insha allah). When "Al" is followed by one of the sun letters, the L sound (lam) becomes silent and the following sun letter is pronounced in its place.
The sun letters are
ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن
All other letters are Moon letters and the lam is pronounced normally.
After a while you will naturally be able to distinguish a sun letter from a moon letter, simply by whether it sounds wrong or right but if you have not reached that stage, it may be useful to learn which letters are sun letters and which letters are not.
The two groups of letters have been named in this way because the word for Sun in Arabic is Shams which begins with a sun letter, and Moon is Qamar beginning with a moon letter. They are pronounced like this :
Ash-shams (NOT al-shams)
Al-Qamar
Joining the Letters
This should be learnt from the links provided insha allah, however please keep in mind the difference between "Separate" and "Inseparable Letters"
There are six letters of the Arabic alphabet that do not allow the following letter to be joined to them. These letters are :
ا د ذ ر ز و
They are written joined to the letter infront, but then the letter following it must be written in initial form. e.g.
حافظ
See how the alif is not joined to the following letter.
In Arabic there are "short vowels" and "long vowels". This is shown below:
http://www.ummah.com/arabic/arabicvowels.gif
*New* Please also look at this link, brought to my attention my Abdelwahab
Madina Arabic Reading course (http://www.madinaharabic.com/Arabic%20Reading/Arabic_Reading_Course.htm)
Also, shariah program free material on the alphabet (http://www.shariahprogram.ca/Arabic-alphabet.shtml)
If the alphabet is completely new to you, it would be best to get as much practise as possible insha allah so check out all the links given to build ur confidence