Joining Letters

Joining Letters

Start

1. ب ت ث ن ي

Contents

2. ا د ذ ر ز و

3. ج ح خ ه م

4. س ش ص ض

5. ف ق ك ل

6. ط ظ ع غ

ب ت ث ن ي

Written Arabic is 'joined up'. When letters come at the end of a word they look very much as they do when standing alone. However, when they come at the beginning or in the middle of a word they get 'shortened'. Look at how these letters combine:

ب + ث = بث ت + ب = تب ث + ب + ت = ثبت

The letters nun and yaa have exactly the same shape as the other letters in this group when they come at the beginning or in the middle of a word, but they retain their differences when at the end:

ب + ن = بن ن + ي = ني ب + ي + ت = بيت ب + ن + ي = بني ي + ب + ث = يبث

Handwrite these combinations of letters.The first is an example:

Practice writing

ا د ذ ر ز و

The similarity between the letters in group 2 becomes clear when we look at how they are joined to other letters. All of the six letters in this group are joined to the letter before but cannot be joined to the letter after. Look at how alif joins in these combinations:

ن + ا + ر = نارب + ر + د = برد ز + ي + ن = زين ا + ب + د + ا = ابدا ذ + و + ب = ذوب و + ز + ي + ر = وزير

Fill in the missing letters and pronounciation as in the example:

Practice writing

ج ح خ ه م

When these four letters (jim, haa, khaa and mim) are at the beginning or in the middle of a word, the part of the letter which falls below the line gets 'chopped'. Only when they occur at the end of a word do they keep their tails:

ج + ر + ب = جرب ح + ر + م = حرم أ + خ + ت = أخت

د + م + ج = دمج م + ي + ز = ميز أ + م = أم

Handwrite these combinations of letters:

Practice writing

س ش ص ض

All of the letters in gruop 4 work on the same principle as the other letters which have tails. The tail falling below the line gets 'chopped' when the letters are joined to another following. Only when they are standing by themselves or at the end of a word do they keep their tails:

ض + ر + ب = ضرب م + ص + ر = مصر ب + ي + ض = بيض س + ي + د = سيد ح + ر + س = حرس

Complete the chart showing how these letters look at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a word:

Practice writing

ف ق ك ل

Faa, qaf and lam all lose their tails when they are joined to a following letter. This leaves faa and qaf with the same shape when at the beginning or in the middle of a word. The only difference is that faa has one dot above and qaf has two:

ف + ر + ق = فرق ق + ر + ن = قرن ق + ف + ل = قفل ل + ف + ق = لفق م + ل + ل = ملل

Match the letter combinations to their joined-up equivalents:

Practice writing

ط ظ ع غ

Taa and zaa have the same basic shape, wherever they appear in a word:

و + س + ط = وسط ط + ي + ر = طير ن + ظ + ر = نظر ظ + ب + ي = ظبي ر + ب + ا + ط = رباط

Like haa (ه), aayn and ghayn change their shapes depending on where they appear in a word.

غ + ي + ر = غير م + و + ع + د = موعد ص + غ + ي + ر = صغير ش + ا + ر + ع = شارع م + ص + ن + ع = مصنع م + غ + ر + ب = مغرب

Handwrite these combinations of letters , as in the example:

Practice writing

Thanks!