Alif, ﺍ, at the beginning of a word represents a short vowel sound (a, i, or u), a long i, or an ay sound.
ﺍرض ﺍبرة ﺍب ﺍ
Alif madda, آ, is used when a sustained 'a' sound occurs at the beginning of a word.
آسف آب
The next character has two forms. The joined form, بـ, is used when the character is followed by another character. The full form,ب, is used when that character appears by itself or at the end of a word. Remember that Arabic is read from right to left. Arabic characters should be written form right to left as well.
درب مبنى بيت بـ ب
Most Arabic characters both joined and full forms. Here are some more characters with both forms.
تحيات متظاهر تاج تـ ت
ثلث آثار ثقيل ثـ ث
Alif in the middle of a word represents a more sustained 'a' sound. Short vowels aren't represented by a letter when they appear inside a word. Alif is one of the few letters that joins with letters that precede it. It never joins with a letter that follows it.
باب
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Some of the following characters have both full and joined forms. Others just have one form. The first letter, ج, is pronounced as a j everywhere except in Eygpt where it is pronounced with a hard g.
درج مجلّة جديد جـ ج
فرح محيط حيوان حـ ح
خوخ مخفر خير خـ خ
مجد مدرسة دكان د
لذيذ حذاء ذرّة ذ
دير هرّة ربيع ر
رمز رز زعتر ز
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رئيس رسّام سلام سـ س
ريش عشاء شمس شـ ش
قفص رصاص صعب صـ ص
فرض فيضان ضفدع ضـ ض
بط بطاطا طاولة ط
حظ نظيف ظريف ظ
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ع and غ have four forms. One form is used when the letter starts a word, one when joined with both the preceding and following character, another when at the end of a word and joined to the preceding character, and finally a form used when it isn't joined with another character.
شارع ملعقة عين عـ ـعـ ـع ع
بليغ أغنية غالي غـ ـغـ ـغ غ
خفيف عصفور فارس فـ ف
شرق فقر قمر قـ ق
كعك سمكة كرسي كـ ك
جبل علبة لعبة لـ ل
When lam, ل, and alif join, the two twist together, forming a special character- لأ.
الأبجدية
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ألم كلمة مكتب مـ م
حصان سنة نمر نـ ن
ه, like ع and غ, has four forms.
إله مهد هواء ه هـ ـهـ ـه
In middle of a word, wow can represent the long vowel u or the vowel combination ou, ow, or w and at the end of a word, the long vowel u and sometimes ow.
دلو طويل وكيل و
The joined form of ya,يـ, ي is another example of a tooth. Ya is pronounced as the consonant y at the beginning of a sentence, long i, in the middle, and long i at the end.
زي نيسان ينبوع يـ ي
