1Chapter 1
Arabic script, transliteration
and alphabet table
1.1 The Arabic scriptThe Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters representing consonants. In
addition there are three vowel signs which are used in writing both short
and long vowels. Moreover, there are various other orthographic signs
that are explained in the following chapters.
The 28 letters are written from right to left. When writing words, the
letters are connected (joined) together from both sides, except in
the case of six letters, which can only be joined from the right side.
These letters are numbered 1, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 27 in the table below
and are marked with an asterisk (*). It is important to remember that
these letters cannot be connected to the following letter (i.e. on their left
side).
Most of the letters are written in slightly different forms depending on
their location in the word: initially, medially, finally or standing alone.
There are no capital letters.
Arabic grammarians use three different names for the alphabet:
ي ُةََّأْلـ ُح ُرو ُف ْ َلأ ْب َج ِد
al-h
̇uru ̄fu l-
abg ̆adiyyatuي ُةََّأْلـ ُح ُرو ُف ْل ِه َجا ِئ
al-h
̇uru ̄fu l-hig ̆a ̄
iyyatuَأْ َلأِل ْفـ َبا ُء
al-
alifba ̄
u