Letter shapes: kāf to yā — the alphabet complete
Arabic · Early Years · The School
The last seven letters
ك (kāf), ل (lām), م (mīm), ن (nūn), ه (hā), و (wāw), ي (yā). Say each sound: k, l, m, n, h, w, y. These are the last new shapes. After today, you will have met every letter.
Two letters with double jobs
و and ي have double jobs. Most of the time they are simple sounds: w and y. But sometimes they stretch a vowel long, like an extra-long oo or ee. You will learn to tell the difference later. For now, just learn their shapes and sounds.
و does not join forward
Remember the six letters that never join to the one after them? و is one of them. So و joins to the letter BEFORE it. But the letter after و always starts fresh.
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي. That is all 28 letters, start to finish, in order. Say them slowly, all the way through, in one go. Now say them again, a bit faster. That is the same feat as saying the whole English alphabet. You have just done it in a whole different one. Next comes something new: small marks above and below each letter, called ḥarakāt. They turn these shapes into real, readable words.