arabic script worksheet

7/22/2019 Arabic Script Worksheet

1/12

The Arabic script

We expect you to have some knowledge of the Arabic script at the start of the course: if you don't you will

really struggle. Were not expecting fluent reading, but an ability to recognise the letters and to work out the

pronunciation of words. To help with this, the following is a brief introduction covering all aspects of the

script, which you may like to work through, but you can of course use a book or any other way of learning it. If

you need more practice on any particular item, a good book to use is Brustad, K. et al. Alif Baa(Georgetown

University Press - ignore the video and the dialogues), but any introductory textbook to Standard Arabic will

cover this ground. We will not useAlif Baain the course, but we will have a session at the beginning of the

year to go over some of the material from this worksheet and answer any questions you have.

If you use this introduction, we would strongly recommend working through each exercise once, then go

through it again, pronouncing the word aloud. Then perhaps read it through again. There is a lot of repetition,

with the aim of helping you to get comfortable with the script and some of the vocab and phrasing, to helpreduce the cognitive load at the beginning of the year, when you will have to cope with new squiggles, new

sounds and unrecognisable words, all at the same time. For the same reason, spacing this out over a period of

months will be more useful than cramming it into the last week before you come. Certain vocabulary items are

introduced inAlif Baaand will reappear early in the course. These items are printed in boldbelow and you

will find it helpful to memorise them as far as you can. We will have a test on this vocabulary and on the

script in the first Arabic lesson.You are notexpected to learn any of the other words. All of the words here

are used in both Standard and Colloquial Syrian Arabic, the dialect we teach in the first year, except those

words marked with an asterisk, which occur only in Standard Arabic.

If you would like anything checked or have any other questions, please feel free to contact Mrs Nadira Auty,

Arabic Language Coordinator, ([email protected]) in the Department. Any suggestions for improving this

worksheet would be very much appreciated!

1. The alphabet

Arabic letters are almost always written joined up. So each has a basic shape, a way of connecting it to

preceding and subsequent letters, and a tail - a final flourish for when it is written alone or at the end of words.

This means that each letter has up to four shapes: at the beginning, middle and end of a word, and in isolation.

Writing is right to left.

Handwriting: for most Arabic letters just copying the printed form will give you a good handwritten version,

and for these there are no notes on how to do it. Where it's not obvious which order to do the strokes in, there

are notes on this at the end of the exercises to help you get into good habits from the start. A few letters have

very different handwritten and printed forms, but you can just keep to the printed form for now. As in English,

you write a string of letters in one continuous line without lifting the pen off the paper until you get to the end

of the word, or to a letter that doesn't join onto the following one. Then you go back and add in the dots, and

sometimes extra lines to the shape of the letter itself.

1


2/12

NameAloneInitialMedialFinalTransliteration

!"#$%&&'('(aa (only a vowel, not a consonant))'*+(*(,(-(b

)'./(.(0(1(t )'23(2(4(5(th6789(8(:(;(j)'


3/12

2. Vowels:

Short vowel signs go above or below the consonant they follow. In most texts they are not written, except to

clarify ambiguities:

-$= a (>g0$p fatHa); -= u ($[Damma);

-"= i (JgQ$wkasra); -g= no vowel (yO sukuun)

Long vowels are written after the consonant they follow: '( = aa;(( = uu; ( = ii.

and K can also represent diphthongs: $( = aw; $( = ayExercises 1, 3, 5 & 7 work through the alphabet gradually introducing all of the letters. Try to remember the

words in bold, the others are just for reading practice. Work your way through them as far as you find useful.

Question marks in place of the meaning mean that you might be able to guess it from English or from what has

gone before (answers in the footnote)1. Exercises 2, 4, 6 & 9 are to help to reinforce the words in bold, andgive some beginnings of putting words together.

Exercise 1. Read the following:

+'*door'*'*pope1g"*girl/'$*girls1g7$*houseNg7$*between*'*my door*'0g"*our daughter0"*my daughter.'$*my daughters'0g7$*our house'g7$*between us'.'$*our daughters'7$$*we builtg,$he builds,$prophet

Note: the sign means that the consonant is pronounced double, like the ts in 'hot tea'. See section 4 below.g,$.she buildsg,$we build1$$*she built'*'Japanese'*'*?$...and

Note:is always written as part of the following word, e.g *'*07*+&$*doorman/7*housesgN"from{g$day

*N$who/g$death/$he dies+'0"wbook

-0wbooks',0wour books-$0gy$office-".'y$offices1g,$0$wI wrote-0gy$.she writes$z*'0"wyour (m.) book"z*'0"wyour (f.) book

You use $z*'0"wfor 'your book' to men/boys and"z*'0"wto women/girls. F. and m. are 'masculine' and 'feminine'.'whe was1gwI was{'he slept1g"I slept{'$.complete, OK/''"*buildings6$whow much*'what$$YemeniN"ygpossible'y$place'g,#Lebanon

z"}$king-g}$wdogD'money, wealth|no(See the note at the end of the alphabet if youre not sure what this last one is.)

3


4/12

D'*attention{$wspeechx}kings'7,7#Libya*7,7#Libyans~g7$#night+"wdogs

Notes on writing:

1) Since you don't lift pen from paper until there's a break, the letter 'alif' in a word like +'*is written upwards,not downwards. It's written downwards when not joined to anything in front.2) Start writing at the point where the lines join and form the circle going left first then up, right, down.3) { In isolation: start at the top left.( At the beginning of a word or group of letters: start at the point where the lines join and go either way

round.

(( In the middle: in handwriting the loop goes under the line, not above it as in print.6( At the end of a word: do a loop downwards, as with the form in the middle, then carry on a bit left thendown for the tail.

4)(w At the beginning of a word or group of letters, if you think of the shape as like a leg and foot with theknee pointing left, start at the knee and go down. When you've got to the end of the word or the letter group, go

back and add the top diagonal stroke, downwards.

(y( In the middle, start at the bottom right where the line comes in, go up to the 'knee' and down again, thencarry on with the line. Add the top diagonal afterwards.

5) | On its own: do theDas a downstroke finishing on the left side of the letter. Then do the alif as a separatedownstroke in a steep diagonal down from the top left of the letter to where it meets theD.

( Joined to a previous letter: similar but go up into theDfirst.Exercise 2. A pause. a) Do you remember what the following mean? (Answers2)

+'*+'0"wN"1g7$*-$0gy$1g"*|N"-$0gy$+'*|1g"*+'0"w1g7$*.b) Given some of the words above, what do the following mean? (Answers3)

*'0"w,$0gy$'07$*0g"*$z*'0"w"z,$0gy$$z0g7$*',$0gy$'0g"*"z*'0"w$z,$0y$'*'*.

Exercise 3. Some more letters:

F$#$boyNEreligionF$}$*townE"*countryF"#&father$Fg$#LondonI|Edollar/&I|EdollarsE"I'*coldFJ$*postI&Ehouse/Jg7$*Beirut

J7,$wbig6J$wgenerousIlightI'fire7xI?4&F$$w?J.7,w?L'0gexcellent

I&Lhe visited/gILI visitedJL$minister-$g$LZeinab -Mohamed

4


5/12

Eg>$Mahmoud.'7$$.under-7}$


6/12

tgJ$Seast6$}$spenJ$r$Otravel-J$sN"near to$k$with1gs$time',gj$.tired'Uga$hthirsty

'hg$8hungry~gr"_childNotes on writing:

8) ` (and d) The 'stick' is added on as a downstroke at the end, after you've got to the end of the line ofletters if there is one, or even if you're writing the letter on its own.

(a( In the middle of a word the line comes in from the right, continues along the bottom, then loops up andback, then down and round and back to continue the line towards the left.

9) i(and m) In the middle of a word,(j( starts with the line going up diagonally to the left, then horizontallyto the right, then diagonally down to the left, forming a triangular shape.

k( At the end of a word, it's the same, but with the tail coming down from where the two lines cross.Exercise 6. What do the following mean? (Answers6)

~_-0ykO&-7}$Wcorrect-gj$WdifficultJgY"EgyptvF$Wfriend^J$ill1$*$J$[she hit^g7$*eggsJgr"WzeroJ7Y$sshortb"*'[officervgU$"EDamascusCg7$SsheikhA7Ssheikhs9$J$@he went outMg,@bread

ZgB$SpersonX'@special~gu$hmind9J@exit+gJ$lwestF"#'@KhalidJ7n$Wsmall-J$lstrange

*7*gJ$lwesternersE&Fgn$** ?F"'Uhe watchesF7$SmartyrHH$#deliciousJwgH$he remembers-$$Ghe went

*N7,$gH$.you (f.) go*Ng>$we5"#'2thirdN$$2price5g>$*research'2secondJgcnoonJg$cback

Jge$it appears*1$$cI thoughtf$


7/12

(( In the middle of the word the commonest way to write this is by doing a diagonal leftwards stroke downbelow the line, then a vertical stroke back up to the line, the two making a sharp point, a bit like an inverted

shark's fin. It goes below the line about the same distance as the and similar letters go above the line.( At the end of a word, start with the line going vertically upwards, then do the semi-circle round and downto the left. There isn't an extra bit sticking up on the vertical line in the handwritten version.

11) X and(W (and \) In isolation and at the beginning of a word, start at the point where the linesjoin and go up and rightwards then down and leftwards along the line to complete the loop. Then do a 'tooth', a

little sticking up line to finish the letter. At the end of the word, the tail comes straight down from this 'tooth'.

(Y( and Z( In the middle and at the end of words, the line comes in from the right and continutesstraight to the point where the lines join. Then go up and back to the right to form the loop, down and back

along the same line to complete it. The rest is as above.

Exercise 8. Match these Arabic words with their English meanings: (Answers 7)

a) telephone g) Arabs .J$yO .'$7Ob) Muslim h) film .r"}". .zg$*c) sugar i) felafel .6"}gQ .~$$8d) cat j) cinema .+$J$h .I0gwEe) bank k) doctor (title) .6g}"p .b"sf) camel .~"p"p

Note: you will also find it useful to learn the Arabic way to write numbers. They go left to right. Note that iswritten in one pen movement, starting at the bottoem right.

Exercise 9. Here are some sentences. Note that in this kind of sentence the verb to be is not used, so -#'_ means He is a student. Note also thatand mean it for things referred to by masculine and femininewords respectively. (Watch out for names!) (Answers8)

.F#..J"O'F#J7nW..E>$-#'_..+'0wJ7Ys-Jl.

.

PIE-jW.

.

1*N$Fg$# .iI'S~_..'h8'Uah.F#^J..=',W~78.F$$>~8I~78..'M,@FF8..N'IO.."zOIE-jW.

3. The letter as on the end of the word >g0$p (the a vowel) is called )'._*gJ$ (taa marbuuTa) and is acombination of and /. It is always preceded by >0p(a) (occasionally a long aa) and the two together aremostly pronounced just a, but when in close connection with the following word (to be explained later), or

when reading aloud with full vowelling, $( is pronounced at.

Exercise 10. Read the following, pronouncing the as a:

7


8/12

j"'8university,"#'_female studentO$IgF$schoolI0wEfemale doctor

Exercise 11. Using the further vocabulary given here, read and translate the phrases below. ( j'8J7,w means'a big university'.) Note that adding to the end of a word generally makes it feminine: ,#'_a female student;FF$8new (feminine).What are the rules for agreement in gender?(Answers9)

pgJlroom*$J$hArab, Arabich'Oclock/watch .-#'_*Jh .,#'_}Q.,#'_7*Jh.h'OFF8.pJlFF8.+'0w*Jh.-#'_FF8.1*J7Ys.PIE-jW.j'87*Jh,Jl.j'8J7n[.iI'SkO&.17*kO&.,#'_}78.pJlJ7nW.pJlJ7nW

4. The sign is called $F$Sshadda, and when written above a consonant makes it double, e.g.J$yOsukkarabove. Note that a JgQ$w(i vowel) with a FSmay be written under the consonant as usual, or above theconsonant but under the FS.FS is usually not written in unvowelled texts.Exercise 12.

P$I$Ehe studiedP$I$Ehe taughtP"I$Fteacher!$c$office worker

Exercise 13. Read the following - if you prefer a pictorial presentation, seeAlif Baapp.116-8 and 113-4!

-#'_OgJw#'_+'0wh'Os$I$!$Wx',S

chairtablepiece of paperclasswindow

~78J7Ys~_J7nWJ7,w-JsNF7j*NhF$pcity

j'8-Jlg$s7*JhK'S-7}$


9/12

the dots, or it may be written below an &. These letters are called the seats (OgJw) for the M. There are rulesfor which OJwto use when, and the easiest of the rules is given below, but for the moment you mainly need torecognize the Mwhen reading. In careful writing or printing, even of unvowelled texts, the Mis alwayswritten.

Exercise 15. Read the names of the letters of the alphabet.

b) At the beginning of a word Mis written on an !#%if the vowel that follows it is >g0$p(a) or $[(u),and under the !#%if the vowel is JgQ$w(i).

Exercise 16. Read the following:

G'0O%lecturer*)'water~gw$%foodD&Oquestion{'imam"G$muezzinR7$Ipresident)'O$IpresidentsE|g$%boys'$%I$1g$%you (to a male)"1g$%you (to a female)

%$F$*he beganG'0O%?11E$gO$%black^$7g*$%whiteA$%brother~7&JgO"Israel{%mother+$%father

6. Three kinds of long aa: a) b) c) 'Exercise 17.

a) When an !#%M would be followed by another !#%or !#%M the two together are instead written as asingle !#%with a sign called a F$ madda on top: (aa).

Jug#$&the QuraanN$he believed*&nowgJ"mirror

b) On some words a final long aa is written as a)'without dots, called !#%IYgu$ alif maqSuura. Whenan ending is added to such a word, so that the is no longer final, it changes into an ordinary !#%)!#%}$_( :

}$hon#toMonaJ$0gS"&he bought&J0S"&he bought it*%$Ihe saw*$Ihe saw it

c) Dagger alif: a miniature !#%written above a letter in a few words, indicating the long aa vowel:*&Hthis (masc.)""Hthis (fem.)*$z"#Gthat

The F and the dagger alif are not written in unvowelled texts.

Exercise 18. Some revision, and some new words to learn: (translations12)

'hg$8',gj$.'Uga$h^J$6$j$|yes*

'$%$1g$%"1g$%$$"

&HHN"y#}#$&]The second laam has a dagger alif as well as a shadda[butAllah

"Exercise 19. A pause. What do the following sentences mean? All the words are in bold somewhere above.

9


10/12

(Answers13)

.&H~8I'Uah.'h8...') .This is a('.HFJ7nW..HsIJ7nW&H+'0w~_..HG'0O%]J.',j..

.Hs7*Jh&HK'S. .G'0O%pj'8F#Ny#N'IO..1%-#'_FF8-|Ny#'%-#'_Nj'87*Jh..&HD&O-jW..I'7OFF8.

7. Ng$.tanwiin: These are combinations of a vowel + an n sound, which can occur on the end of most nouns and adjectives in

Standard Arabic when they are grammatically indefinite, i.e. meaning 'a thing' or 'some thing(s)' rather than 'the

thing' e.g. +'0w/'*'0w/+'0w kitaabun/kitaaban/kitaabin a book. They are only used in relatively formalStandard Arabic, so you will hear them in news broadcasts or Quran recitations, for example, but they aren'twritten in unvowelled texts, except for the !#%that often accompanies . The three different vowels havedifferent grammatical functions, but for the moment you just need to recognise N.when you see it.

-un-an

-inNote: usually has an !#%written after it: '(, but notwhen the word ends in or :

'*'0w'0*j'8g,$a buildingThis !#%is the only sign of N.that appears in unvowelled texts.

8.(#&a) M~gW$#&!In some Arabic words, of which the commonest is the definite article(g#$&al- (= 'the'), the Mat the beginning isnot an essential part of the word, and neither it nor the vowel it carries are pronounced when there is a vowel at

the end of the preceding word: j':#&al-jaamiia the university; #j':#& ila l-jaamiia to theuniversity (long vowels are pronounced short before two consonants); pj':#& fi l-jaamiia in theuniversity. In these cases a Mis not written, and in very carefully written texts such as gJu#&, the !#%iswritten instead with a M~W#& joining hamza' on: . The rules for the pronunciation of(#&are a bore, butits worth keeping practising - in the end they become automatic, and they apply in colloquial spoken as well as

written Standard Arabic.

Exercise 20. Here are some common words that begin with M~W#& :gO"&my name*%$Jg"&a woman'>"0g"&exam, test

Read the following aloud, remembering that if there's a vowel before the M~W#& that vowel needspronouncing in place of the Mand the vowel it carries: (translations14)

%(~8I%J&'>0&-jW'%N'IOO&E>.&H'>0&J7Ys.Remember also to shorten any long vowel before

(#&.

+(p17,#',#&HG'0O&)this lecturer(ppJn#&N17,#j':#&Nj':#,#&p'>0|,0y#&pF#&.

pH',#&-0yJ7,w.'%NHF#&.

10


11/12

+'0y#&}h&HOJy#&.HF#&F7j*Nhj':#&"b) qJ>#&7Qg$U#&J$$u#& sun and moon lettersWith words beginning with certain letters the l of(#&is not pronounced, and instead the first letter of the wordthat follows it is pronounced double: PIF#&ad-dars. In fully vowelled texts, a FSis written over the Etoshow this doubling, but the(#&itself is written the same. The set of letters which behave like this with(#&are,roughly speaking, those pronounced with the tongue against the teeth or in that area of the mouth, and areknown as qJ>#&7QU#& sun letters since Rg$Ssun begins with one of them. These letters are:

/3EGILPTX\`dDThe other consonants, those which do not affect the pronunciation of the(#&, are qJ>#&Ju#& moon letters,

becauseJ$$smoon begins with one of them. They are either pronounced further forward in the mouth thanqJ>#&7QU#& , i.e. with the lips: +q{ ; or further back in the mouth:

9KxAmt=i%(in order of how far back in the mouth they are pronounced).

Exercise 21. Read the following aloud, preferably several times each: (translations15)

%(PIF#&-#'a#&I'7Q#&iI'U#&G'0O&1,#&-0y#&!Y#&D&Q#&F##&pJn#&~8J#&'>0|&,#'a#&',#&K'U#&JyQ#&)'#&u#&6O|&F#'a#&sI#&6}u#&h'Q#&OJy#&,0y#&-7}>#&17,#&+'0y#&.

+(pPIF#,#'a#,#&~8J#&1,#&p&HD&Q#&&Hx',U#&pI'7Q#j':#&,#'a#&shes the student'%G'0O&.1%~8J#&.'%p17,#&.-#'a#&pj':#& .I'7Q#&piI'U#&.sI#&6}u#&}h

#'a#&p-0y#&.

9. One letter words

These are always written as part of the following word, and never stand alone:

$and("*by, with($was, like(("#for, to, belonging to($p(thus, and thenNote: when(("#is written with a word beginning with((#&, the !#%is dropped:

(("#+((#&


12/12

Answers

1. '*'*= our door.

2. Ex.2 a) door, book, from, house, office, girl/daughter, no, from, office, door, no, girl/daughter, book, house.

3. Ex.2 b) my book, my office, our house, my daughter, your (m.) book, your (f.) office, your house, our office, our daughter, your (f.)

book, your (m.) office, our door.

4. 7xI = New York; &Fw= Canada; J.7,w= computer.

5.Ex.4 no, big, milk and tea, a house, an office, a lesson, from, a man and a boy, a book, a girl, our lesson, new, a door, beautiful/

handsome, a handsome boy, a new house, a big office, tea, a big house, from a house, a handsome man, a new lesson, a big book, new

milk, a boy and a girl, your (m.) tea, from my house.

6.Ex.6 long, a spacious office, milk and tea, a new student, a handsome boy, a lesson in a street, far from, a girl, near to, a pen and a

book, a wide street, no, a thirsty boy, a tired and hungry student, a long pen, a distant street, your (f.) pen, a near-by house, a house in a

long street, a hungry man, a spacious house, a thirsty student, a new pen and a long book, our street.

7.Ex.8 a) 8, b) 9, c) 7, d) 5, e) 2, f) 3, g) 10, h) 11, i) 6, j) 1, k) 4.

8.Ex.9 1. He's a boy. 2. Mahmoud is a student. 3. It is a difficult lesson. 4. It's a long street. 5. He is an ill boy. 6. Muhammad is a

handsome man. 7. She is from Syria. 8. Yasir is a small boy. 9. It is a short and strange book. 10. She is a girl from London. 11. He is

hungry and thirsty. 12. It is a beautiful morning. 13. Our bread is new. 14. Your lesson is difficult.

9.Ex.11 1. an Arab student (m.) 2. an Arab student (f.) 3. a new room 4. a new student (m.) 5. a difficult lesson 6. a small university

7. a spacious house 8. a small room 9. a Muslim student (f.) 10. a new watch 11. an Arabic book 12. a short girl 13. a strange Arab

university 14. a wide street 15. a beautiful student (f.) 16. a small room

10.Ex.14. 1. The city of Beirut is in France. 2. The city of London is near Libya. 3. The city of Cambridge is small. 4. The University of

Cambridge is new. 5. In the city of London (there) is a big university. 6. In the University of Cambridge (there) is a big library.

11. Female lecturer

12.Ex.18. hungry; tired; thirsty; ill; yes; no

I; you (m.); you (f.); he; she

this (m.); this (f.); but; Allah

13. Ex.19. 1. This is a thirsty man. And he is hungry. 2. This is a small city. 3. This is a small piece of paper and this is a long book. 4.

This is a sick lecturer (f.). And she is tired. 5. This is Arab (i.e. Turkish) coffee and this is tea. 6. He is a lecturer in the University of

London but he is from Syria. 7. Are you a new student? - No, but I am a student from an Arab university. 8. This is a difficult

question. 9. It is a new car.

14. Ex.20. %) a man and a woman; a difficult exam; I'm from Syria and my name is Mahmoud. This is a short exam.+) in the house, to the building, this lecturer (f.), in the room, from home (= the house) to the university and from the university tohome, in the exam, to the library, in the city.

In this building (there) is a big office. I'm from this city.

The book is on this chair. This city is far from the university.

15.Ex.21.%) the lesson, the student (m.), the car, the street, the lecturer (m.), the girl, the office, the class, the question, the boy, the room,the man, the exam, the student (f.), the building, the tea, the sugar, the water, the coffee, the name, the city, the table, the piece of paper,

the pen, the watch, the chair, the library, the milk, the house, the book.+) in the lesson, to the student (f.), to the house, the man and the woman, in this question, this window, in the car, to the university.She's the student, and I'm the lecturer (m.). You are the man. I'm at home. The student (m.) is in the university/at university. The car is

in the street. The piece of paper and the pen are on the table in the office.

16. Ex.22. to the lesson; for/belonging to the university; as a student; and the room; by car

12

arabic script worksheet

Documents