BDIslam.Com

• Home
• Quran
• Hadith
• Fiqh
• Women
• Youth
• KiDs
• Du'a

Table of Contents

Browse our site

You are here: BDIslam Home > Learn Quran > Four Forms  

Check out Group 1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10  &  Exercise 2

Download this page from HERE

Lesson 2 : Four Forms of the Arabic Alphabet

When forming words in Arabic, letters are joined with one another. Each word is a combination of letters which are attached to each other. Spaces are placed between the words in order to differentiate between them. This style is comparable to that of cursive script in the English language where there are no spaces between letters; there are spaces only between words. Each letter of the alphabet looks different when it stands alone as a letter, when it is the first letter of a connected set of letters, when it is somewhere in the middle of a connection, and when it appears at the end of a set of connected letters. The table below describes each situation for all of the letters. Notice there are 6 letters ( Alif, Waw, Daal, Dhaal, Raw and Zaa) that do not allow connections at their end. When we see these letters, we must be careful whether to assume that the word has ended or not.

Note: To hear the interactive sound, please use “Internet Explore”. Our interactive sound may not compatible with other browsers. Sounds are taken from quranicsciences.com

Group #1 : Baa, Taa, Thaa, Nuun and Yaa : In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Baa, Taa, Thaa, Nuun and Yaa are the same with the exception of the placement and number of dots with each letter.

Final	Medial	Initial	Isolated	Transliteration
ـب	ـبـ	بـ	ب	Baa
ـن	ـنـ	نـ	ن	Nuun
ـي	ـيـ	يـ	ي	Yaa
ـت	ـتـ	تـ	ت	Taa
ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	ث	THaa

Remember to avoid common mistakes for Group 1:
- One dot below the sign is always ‘Baa’
- One dot above the sign (with no circle) is always ‘Nuun’
- One dot above the sign (with circle) is always ‘Faa’
- Two dots below the sign is always ‘Yaa’
- Two dots above the sign (without circle) is always ‘Taa’
- Two dots above the sign (with circle) is always ‘Qawf’

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Baa, Taa and Thaa?
- What is the difference between Baa and Nuun?
- What is the difference between Taa and Yaa?
- What is the difference between Faa and Qawf?
- What is the difference between Faa and Nuun?
- What is the difference between Taa and Qawf?

Group #2 : Faa and Qawf : In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Faa and Qawf are almost the same as the group #1 with the exception of the circle.

ـف	ـفـ	فـ	ف	Faa
ـق	ـقـ	قـ	ق	Qawf

Remember to avoid common mistakes:
- One dot underneath is always ‘Baa’
- One dot on top (with no circle) is always ‘Nuun’
- One dot on top (with circle) is always ‘Faa’

- Two dots underneath is always ‘Yaa’
- Two dots on top (without circle) is always ‘Taa’
- Two dots on top (with circle) is always ‘Qawf’

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Baa, Taa and Thaa?
- What is the difference between Baa and Nuun?
- What is the difference between Taa and Yaa?
- What is the difference between Faa and Qawf?
- What is the difference between Faa and Nuun?
- What is the difference between Taa and Qawf?

Group #3 : Jeem, Haa and Khaw :In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Jeem, Haa and Khaw are the same with the exception of the placement of one dot.

ـج	ـجـ	جـ	ج	Jeem
ـح	ـحـ	حـ	ح	Haa
ـخ	ـخـ	خـ	خ	KHaw

Remember to avoid common mistakes:
- One dot underneath is always ‘Jeem’
- ‘Ha’ is always without dot.
- One dot on top is always ‘Khaw’

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Jeem and Khaw?
- What is the difference between Jeem, Haa and Khaw ?

Group #4: Seen, Sheen and Thaa :In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Seen and Sheen are the same with the exception of the placement of three dots. The Letter Thaa and Sheen are the only two letters in Arabic alphabet that has three dots.

ـس	ـسـ	سـ	س	Seen
ـش	ـشـ	شـ	ش	SHeen
ـث	ـثـ	ثـ	ث	THaa

Remember to avoid common mistakes:
- Three teeth with no dot is always Seen.
- Three dots on three teeth is always Sheen
- Three dots on one tooth is always Thaa

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Seen and Sheen?
- What is the difference between Sheen and Thaa?

Group #5: Sawd, Dawd, Taw and Zaw : In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Saawd and Daawd, are the same with the exception of the placement of one dot and initial and medial shapes of Taaw and Thaaw are the same with the exception of the placement of one dot.

ـص	ـصـ	صـ	ص	Sawd
ـض	ـضـ	ضـ	ض	Dawd
ـط	ـطـ	طـ	ط	Taw
ـظ	ـظـ	ظـ	ظ	DHaw

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Sawd and Dawd?
- What is the difference between Taw and Zaw ?

Group #6: ‘Ayn and Ghwyn : In this group you will notice that initial, medial and final shapes of A’yyn and Ghawyyn, are the same with the exception of the placement of one dot.

ـع	ـعـ	عـ	ع	A'yn
ـغ	ـغـ	غـ	غ	GHawyn

Remember to avoid common mistakes:
The initial shape of this group looks like Hamzah, but it is not Hamzah. Medial and final shapes are different then initial shape like as upside down triangle.

Now Answer the Question:
- What is the difference between ‘Ayn and Ghawyn?

Group #7: Hamzah : Hamzah can be written in many ways,
a. It can be written by itself or
b. atop of Alif or
c. beneath of Alif or
d. atop of Wa or
e. atop of Ya.
- It has very complicated rules of how to write it based on its location in the word and its movement.

Don't worry about these rules for now. You just need to know that if you see any of the following forms then it is actually hamzah. أ ، إ ، ـئـ، ء، ئ، ؤ    

At that case Alif , Wa and Ya and other signs are the holder of hamzah.

ؤئ

ـئـ

إأ

ء

Hamzah

Now Answer the Question:
- What is the difference between ‘Ayn and Hamzah?

Group #8: Meem and Haa : In this group you will notice that initial, medial and final shapes of Meem and Haa, are not the same, but quite similar. Please try to remember the basic difference of the shapes of these two letters to avoid confusion.

ـم	ـمـ	مـ	م	Meem
ـهه	ـهـ	هـ	ه	Haa

Meem and ‘Haa’ have many other forms. Make sure that you are familiar all different shapes of Haa and Meem

Group #9: TA Marbutawh: is not actual letters, but rather different orthographical shape for HA, which is also extension of the existing letters Ta. The letter (ت)) has special treatment when written at the end of the word. There are 2 ways to write it, either ـت) or ـة). For now, you don't need to know when to write each method. You only need to know that the second method (ـة)) , when you are reading, if it is your last word that you pronounce then you read it as the letter Haa(هـ), otherwise, you should pronounce it as Taa(ت)).

ـة

ة

Taa

Remember to avoid common mistakes:
-If you stop on ta read it as Ha and if you continue your reading read it as Ta

Group #10: Kaaf, Laam and Alif : In this group you will notice that initial and medial shapes of Laam are quite similar of the final shape of Alif. Most of the new readers mix up final shape of Alif with the initial and medial shapes of Laam.

ـك	ـكـ	كـ	ك	Kaaf
ـل	ـلـ	لـ	ل	Laam
ـا			ا	Alif

There is a special character is called Laam Ailf ( لا), which is combine form of Laam and Alif: >The only compulsory ligature is Laam + Alif.
- (Isolated) Laam + Alif : لا

- (Final) Laam + Alif : بلا

- Laam Alif has no initial or Middle shape.

Now Answer following Questions:
- What is the difference between Kaaf and Laam?
- What is the difference between Laam and Alif ?

Group #11 : Alif, Waw, Daal, Dhaal, Raw and Zaa : There are 6 letters ( Alif, Waw, Daal, Dhaal, Raw and Zaa) that do not allow connections at their end. When we see these letters, we must be careful whether to assume that the word has ended or not. Letters of this group has the following characteristics:

i) If they are at the beginning of the word, then nothing can connect to them.
Examples:ولد،رجل

ii) If they are preceded by any letter of Group (1) then they will connect to them.
Examples:لو،قول،

iii) if they are not the first letter and they are preceded or followed by any letter of the same group, then they will not connect to them. Examples: مدرسة، رزق

ـا			ا	Alif
ـد			د	Daal
ـذ			ذ	DHaal
ـر			ر	Raw
ـز			ز	Zaa
ـو			و	Waw

Please click here for exercise of lesson 2. http://bdislam.com/learnQuran/exercise2.htm

Thank you and Jazakallahu khairan for visiting BDIslam.Com!

‘How perfect You are O Allah, and I praise You. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except You. I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.’