Memorize the Arabic Alphabet by Dot Families: 28 Flashcards from Alif to Yaa
Learn all 28 Arabic letters with 28 flashcards: sounds in IPA, letter names, the 9 dot families, the six non-connectors and the positional forms to add.
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Arabic has 28 letters, but you don't have to learn 28 shapes. Most letters are the same skeleton with a different number of dots, and the deck WU3597 – Arabic Alphabet & Letter Forms on Flip It is built to exploit that: one card per letter, in the traditional order from alif to yāʾ, with the sound in IPA and the name in the hint.
Study this deck: Arabic Alphabet & Letter Forms
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Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back (name) |
|---|---|
| ب | /b/; one dot below the base letter shape (bāʾ) |
| ت | /t/; two dots above the same base shape as bāʾ (tāʾ) |
| ث | /θ/ as in think; three dots above (thāʾ) |
| ح | Voiceless pharyngeal fricative /ħ/; no dots (ḥāʾ) |
| د | /d/; one of six letters that cannot connect to the following letter (dāl) |
| ض | Emphatic /dˤ/; one dot above the ṣād shape, unique to Arabic (ḍād) |
| ع | Voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ (ʿayn) |
| ه | /h/; four very different forms depending on position (hāʾ) |
What's covered
All 28 letters: alif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ, jīm, ḥāʾ, khāʾ, dāl, dhāl, rāʾ, zāy, sīn, shīn, ṣād, ḍād, ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, ʿayn, ghayn, fāʾ, qāf, kāf, lām, mīm, nūn, hāʾ, wāw, yāʾ. Plus: the glottal stop /ʔ/, long vowels /aː uː iː/ carried by alif, wāw and yāʾ, the four emphatics, the pharyngeals ح and ع, the lām-alif ligature لا, and the six non-connecting letters.
Learn it by dot family
The deck follows the alphabet order, which already groups shapes. Make that grouping explicit and you learn the script in 9 families instead of 28 letters: ب ت ث ن ي (one tooth, dots decide), ج ح خ, د ذ, ر ز, س ش, ص ض, ط ظ, ع غ, ف ق. For each family, learn the bare shape once, then drill only the dots. The six non-connectors are just as compact: ا د ذ ر ز و. Write them on one card.
What the title promises but the cards don't show
Despite "Letter Forms", the cards show only the isolated shape; only card 26 (ه) even mentions that letters change by position. Before your first review, write four extra cards for the shapes that change the most: ه / هـ / ـهـ / ـه, ع / عـ / ـعـ / ـع, ك / كـ, and ي / يـ / ـيـ. Add three missing characters too: hamza ء, tāʾ marbūṭa ة and alif maqṣūra ى, which you'll meet in the very first words you read. One small fix: jīm (card 5) always has its dot below, not "in most styles".
Where to go next
With the letters solid, start reading real words with our Arabic A1 vocabulary guide, then complete the script with Eastern Arabic numerals and calligraphy styles. Search for WU3597 in the Flip It library to begin.
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