Letter shapes: ṣād to qāf
Arabic · Early Years · The School
Four shape-pairs
Today's eight letters come in four pairs, just like before. ص (ṣād) and ض (ḍād) share one shape; ض adds a dot on top. ط (ṭā) and ظ (ẓā) share one shape; ظ adds a dot on top. ع (ʿayn) and غ (ghayn) share one shape; غ adds a dot on top. ف (fā) and ق (qāf) share one shape; ق adds a SECOND dot on top.
Emphatic letters
ص ض ط ظ are called EMPHATIC letters. Say them with your tongue pulled back and down, low in your mouth. They sound heavier and rounder than their light cousins س ت د ذ. Try saying سا then صا — the second one should sound deeper straight away.
ض, the letter of the Arabs
ض has no equivalent in almost any other language. That is why Arabic is sometimes called "the language of ḍād". Listen to it carefully and copy it. It will not come easily at first, and that is completely normal.
Write all eight letters on cards: ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق. Mix them up. Now sort them back into their four pairs by shape: ص+ض, ط+ظ, ع+غ, ف+ق. For each pair, say which one has more dots, and say both sounds out loud. Notice that three of the four pairs are a light-emphatic or light-guttural pair, while ف/ق is a plain dot-count pair, just like ب, ت and ث were right at the start.