Sound and Weak Letters

What is the Arabic Alphabet called?

They are called /huroof al hijaa’/ حروف الهجاء

Because Arabic is written cursively, the letters are connected and therefore, the shape of the letter changes when it is connected to another letter. The letters have four positions, separate, initial, middle and final.

These are:

final	middle	initial	separate
ء، ـــؤ، ــئ، ــأ	ــأ، ــؤ، ــــئــــ، ئــ	أ	ء

Examples أمثلة

أكرم سأل مئة بؤبؤ داء شاطئ سبأ

final	middle	initial	separate
ـب	ـبـ	بــ	ب

Examples أمثلة

بـَيت قبـْر جيب

NOTES

• Arabic writes and reads from right to left (RTL). To simplify, it is like when you draw clockwise circles except for some letters.
• Non-connective letters (ا، د, ذ، ر، ز، و), here grey-shaded, do not connect to the following letter. Therefore, the separate and the initial position is identical.
• Dots are important to distinguish letters that have identical shape. 

The Weak letters حروف العلة

The weak letters are three :

ا – و – ي

They are called weak letters [huroof ili’lla] due to they occasional change and omission they undergo.