Arabic Basics

Here are some basic facts about Arabic you should know before starting these lessons:

 

• Arabic is a semitic language and is related to Hebrew.
• As a semitic language, it has a tri-literal (three-letter) root system.  These roots are generally three different consonants that convey a basic meaning or sense.  Verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are all derived from the tri-literal roots by adding vowels, prefixes, suffixes, and infixes.
• Arabic is written from right to left.
• Arabic has 28 letters in its alphabet.
• Arabic is spoken in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Arabic is also the language of the Qur'an - Islam's book of scripture.
• Arabic is a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO, or Verb-first) language.  English is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language.  Therefore, a sentence in English like "The boy hit the girl" would be in Arabic "Hit the boy the girl."
• Arabic has three vowels that are roughly equivalent to the English "a", "i", and "u".

    Letter       Name         English Equivalent             

1. ا    - Alif (vowel) - A (varies between apple and August)
2. ب  - Baa             - B (boy)
3. ت
4. ث
5. ج
6. خ
7. ح
8. د
9. ذ
10. ر
11. ز
12. س
13. ش
14. ص
15. ض
16. ط
17. ظ
18. ع
19. غ
20. ف
21. ق
22. ك
23. ل
24. م
25. ن
26. ه
27. و
28. ي