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Arabic letters and diacritics: Difference between revisions
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==Arabic letters compatible with the English alphabet== | ==Arabic letters compatible with the English alphabet== | ||
The form of the letter is different when the letter is written alone, when it is at the beginning, middle or the end of a word, so besides the letter alone, this article also provides a sequence of 3 letters. | The form of the letter is different when the letter is written alone, when it is at the beginning, middle or the end of a word, so besides the letter alone, this article also provides a sequence of 3 letters. Which is still not enough, since some letters connect to the others and some don't. So when the letter doesn't "like to" connect to the next letter, you won't see a connected form. For example letters lam-dal (ل د) together, would be written this way لد, but letters dal-dal (د د) would be written this way دد. The Arabic letter د doesn't "want to" connect. | ||
* ب - '''b'''a | * ب - '''b'''a | ||
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* خ - '''kh'''aa | * خ - '''kh'''aa | ||
** خخخ | ** خخخ | ||
** It's better to listen how it sounds. | ** It's better to listen how it sounds. You lift the tongue as if pronouncing ق (qaf), but leave it up and breathe through it. | ||
These two are a pair similar to د/ض and others, but | These two are a pair similar to د/ض and others, but the basic doesn't have a proper equivalent in the English alphabet: | ||
* dh, z | * dh, z | ||
** ذ - '''dh'''al | ** ذ - '''dh'''al | ||
*** Pronunciation similar to "d", but the tongue touches the upper teeth. Similar to "the". | |||
** ظ - '''dh'''a | ** ظ - '''dh'''a | ||
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* غ - '''gh'''ayn | * غ - '''gh'''ayn | ||
** Similar to the French "r". | ** Similar to the French "r". | ||
And a glottal stop: | |||
* ء - hamza | |||
** It is pronounced by quickly closing the throat (so that you can't breathe). | |||
** The word Qur'an has a hamza after the "r", which is indicated by the ' sign. So you shouldn't exhale during the whole pronunciation of the word, but (quickly) close your throat after "r" and then (after a little moment of silence) continue with "aan". The hamza is indicated by diacritics in modern Arabic script (القرآن, al-qur'an), but in the Uthmani script, it was a letter (القرءان, al-qur'an). | |||
==ِArabic letters mixed together== | ==ِArabic letters mixed together== | ||
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==How to "extract" letters from an Arabic word== | ==How to "extract" letters from an Arabic word== | ||
The Arabic letters are written differently in the beginning, middle and end of the word and also when they are written alone. Some of the letters have are connected and some of them are not connected. The easiest way to determine the letters is to copy that word in to a text editor and insert spaces between the letters. That way, you will see their basic form. Some letters look very similar in some cases. Like the letter ف and غ, when they are in a middle of a word. Look at the middle letter: | The Arabic letters are written differently in the beginning, middle and end of the word and also when they are written alone. Some of the letters have are connected and some of them are not connected with the others. The easiest way to determine the letters is to copy that word in to a text editor and insert spaces between the letters. That way, you will see their basic form. Some letters look very similar in some cases. Like the letter ف and غ, when they are in a middle of a word. Look at the middle letter: | ||
* ففف (f-f-f) | * ففف (f-f-f) | ||
* غغغ (gh-gh-gh) | * غغغ (gh-gh-gh) | ||
Of course the correct way to determine the letters is to learn all the forms of the letters. | Of course the correct way to determine the letters is to learn all the forms of the letters. | ||
==How to read an Arabic word== | |||
If you know the alphabet, you can read the sounds of the letters in a word. But the vowels are often missing, so you have to either determine them from the Arabic diacritics, or from the English transliteration of the word, or from hearing the word. | |||
The words often start with the ال (al-) prefix. The prefix indicates a definite article, like "the" in English. Reading this prefix is complicated. The pronunciation of the alif (ا) is determined by ending vowel of the word before and the pronunciation of the lam (ل) is determined by the first letter after the ل. The alif is just read as the last vowel of the word before. The lam is sometimes read as "l", but sometimes it is read as the first letter of the word. When it is read as the first letter of the word, there is a shadda diacritic sign on the first letter of the word, indicating that the letter is to be pronounced with double length. The Arabic alphabet is divided into sun and moon letters. The sun letters "eat" the lam, the moon letters don't. When a word stars with a moon letter, the ل in ال is read as a regular "l". | |||
* Sun letters ("eat" the "l" in pronunciation): ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن | |||
* Moon letters (keep the "l" in pronunciation): ا ب ج ح خ ع غ ف ق ك م ه و ي | |||
So A'''l'''-Quran (القران) is read as A'''l'''-Quran, but A'''l'''-Rahman (الرحمان) is read as A'''r'''-Rahman, because ر is a sun letter. | |||
In the word الله (Allah), the second l "eats" the first one, and is pronounced twice as long, but they are the same letters, so the ل being a sun letter doesn't make much difference. | |||
When the word is alone, the alif in al- prefix is read as a simple "a". | |||
==How to write an Arabic word== | |||
If you know only the English transliteration, you will have to search for the original Arabic word. There is a [[Glossary of Islamic Terms|list]] of Islamic terms, with the original Arabic words on WikiIslam. When you know from which letters this word is derived, you can write the letters. You will probably have to use a virtual keyboard on the screen. On modern operating systems you can easily switch between different keyboard layouts. After some while, you can memorize the positions of the Arabic letter on the English keyboard and you can write "blindly" over the English letters on your keys. | |||
==Conclusion== | |||
* The Arabic alphabet is not perfect. It cannot express some basic sounds, which can be pronounced. So considering the Arabic language to be the best or universal is not accurate, since it is limited from the beginning by its limited alphabet (abjad). | |||
* English alphabet can pronounce some sounds, which the Arabic one can't and vice versa. | |||
* Although the Arabic alphabet doesn't have a simple letter like "p", it has two different letters for a letter like "t". The two "t" are a little different in pronunciation, but having two letters for this might be considered redundant. Not to mention the ta marbuta. | |||