The Arabic script is the foundation of the language. It has 28 letters, and unlike English, it's written from right to left. Think of it as a continuous, flowing line of text, because Arabic is almost always written in a cursive, or connected, style.

Here’s the most important thing to know about Arabic letters: they change shape. A letter will look different depending on where it sits in a word. This isn't as tricky as it sounds. It happens because the letters need to connect to each other smoothly.

Each letter has up to four forms:

• Isolated: When the letter stands by itself.
• Initial: When it's at the beginning of a word.
• Medial: When it's in the middle of a word.
• Final: When it's at the end of a word.

Let's look at a few examples to see this in action. Notice how the letter 'ayn (ع) transforms completely, while the letter bā’ (ب) just adapts its connections.

Most letters connect from both the right and the left. However, six letters are a bit stubborn. They only connect to the letter that comes before them (to their right). They never connect to the letter that comes after.

These six letters are:

ا (alif), د (dāl), ذ (dhāl), ر (rā’), ز (zāy), and و (wāw).

When one of these letters appears in a word, it creates a small gap before the next letter. The word is still one unit, but the cursive flow is broken.

Now, let's go through all 28 letters. The table below lists each letter's name and its approximate sound. Some sounds don't exist in English, so the closest approximation is given. Pay close attention to the pronunciation notes.

Learning these letters and their forms is the first and most important step. Let's see what you've picked up.

With these building blocks, you're on your way to reading and writing Arabic.