GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Professor:
Elementary Modern Standard Arabic
David Mehall
FALL 1999
The Arabic Alphabet
à — ÷ · Ê 4
À – ’ ⁄ Â Í
œ ‘ Ÿ ‰ Ë
» Œ ” ÿ „ ‡
« Õ “ ◊ ‚ 4
Characteristics: 1) Written from right to left. 2) There are 28 consonants and six vowels: 3 long, 3 short. 3) Vowels are generally not represented in print. 4) A letter may or may not connect to the one immediately to the left of it in the same word. The majority do. Those that do not are called non connectors and are listed here: Ë “ — – œ «