The Arabic alphabet: all 28 letters, with pronunciation

The Arabic alphabet looks intimidating at first, but it has a simple logic. It has 28 letters, is written right to left, and letters change shape slightly depending on their position in the word (start, middle, end). There are no upper- and lower-case letters.

The complete letter table

Below is each letter, its name and the approximate sound. 'Emphatic' means a sound pronounced more heavily, from the back of the mouth.

Short vowels are usually not written

An important quirk: in Arabic, short vowels (a, i, u) are marked with small signs above or below the letters, but in ordinary text they are not written. The reader infers them from context. That's why the table above is mostly consonants and long vowels.

Do you need the alphabet to speak?

No — and that's the good news. At the Lebanese Arabic Center we use the Oral First method: you start by speaking, with the help of Arabizi (Arabic written in Latin letters), and move gradually to the Arabic alphabet without getting stuck. You can hold whole conversations in Lebanese before writing your first letter.

When you actually need the alphabet

You need the Arabic script if you want to read texts, study Modern Standard Arabic, work with documents, or read religious texts. Realistically: 2-4 weeks of 20-30 minutes a day to recognise the letters, a few months to read fluently. You do not need it to hold a conversation — see learning Arabic without the alphabet, and the full Arabizi decoding guide. We teach the alphabet on request, alongside speaking.

How to learn the alphabet more easily

• Group the letters by shape — many look alike and differ only by dots (ب ت ث).
• Learn to recognise them first, then to write them.
• Associate each letter with a word you already know from speaking.
• Practise with a teacher who corrects the guttural sounds (ع، ح، ق).

Want to see where you start? Take the free level test or read the complete beginner's guide.