Connecting Arabic Letters (1)

Connecting Arabic Letters (1)

Connecting Arabic letters is the focus of this lesson. Arabic is a cursive language; therefore, its letters must be joined to form words. This entails that the shape of the letter changes. This change is not straightforward, as the letter can have three different shapes: one at the beginning of the word, one in the middle of the word, and one at the end of the word. Consequently, the Arabic writing system is difficult for most learners of the language. For this reason, many learners unfortunately resort to using transliteration, which turns out to be an obstacle in the later stages of learning.

As a rule, all Arabic letters connect to the preceding and following letters except five letters: ا, د, ذ, ر, ز, and و. These letters connect only to the preceding letter. Let’s call them semi-connecting letters.

In table (1) above, the alif only connects to preceding letters. It is never joined to subsequent letters. The other three letters are identical in shape. They differ in the number and position of the dots. Word-initially, they always connect to subsequent letters. Word-medially, they connect to preceding and following letters. Word-finally, they connect preceding letters.

In table (2) above, the three letters are identical in shape. The presence/absence of the dot makes them three different sounds. Word-initially, they always connect to subsequent letters. Word-medially, they connect to preceding and following letters. Word-finally, they connect preceding letters. Remember the rule of semi-connecting letters mentioned earlier.

In table (3), the first two letters are identical in shape. The dot over the second letter makes them two different sounds. Similarly, the last two letters are two different sounds due to the dot over the second one. These letters are semi-connecting. They only connect to the preceding letters.

In table (3), the first two letters are identical in shape. The three dots over the second letter make them two distinct sounds. Likewise, the second two letters are similar in shape. The dot over the second one makes them two separate sounds. In like manner, the last two letters have the same shape. The dot over the second one makes them two different sounds. All these letters connect to the preceding and following letters. Remember, however, the rule of semi-connecting letters mentioned earlier.

Here are some illustrative examples:

بـَ  + ـتَـ  +  ـرَ  =  بَتَرَ

خَـ  +  ـشَـ  +  ـبَـ  +  ـا  +  ت  = خَشَبَات

شِـ  +  ـبـْ  +  ـس  =  شِبْس

دُ  +  حِـ  +  ـرَ  =  دُحِرَ

حَـ  +  ـرَ  +  دْ  +  نَ  +  ا  =  حَرَدْنَا

تَـ  +  ـخْـ  +  ـرُ  +  جَـ  +  ا  +  ن  = تَخْرُجَان

In the next lesson, you will learn how the remaining set of alphabets join to preceding and following letters.