Shape families
Most Arabic letters come in families that share one skeleton and differ only by dots. Learn nine shapes and the dot rules, not 28 separate letters.
Early Arabic was written with almost no dots. Readers knew the language, so the bare skeleton was enough. Dots came later to tell look-alikes apart — and that history is the best shortcut for learning the alphabet today.
Each card below starts with the skeleton (dashed box) and shows the letters made from it. Press a letter to hear its name.
One tooth. One dot below is b, two above t, three above th — and at the start of a word, n and y wear this same shape.
A cup. Dot inside is j, no dot is ḥ, dot on top is kh.
A small hook sitting on the line. Dot above turns d into dh.
A hook that dips below the line. Dot above turns r into z.
Three teeth. Three dots on top turns s into sh.
A loop with a tooth. A dot on top turns ṣ into ḍ.
A loop with a tall stem. A dot turns ṭ into ẓ.
An open mouth. A dot on top turns ʿ into gh.
A small loop. One dot is f, two dots is q — and q's tail dips deeper.
Seven letters with no twin. Learn these by heart and you have all 28.
The dot rules
- Count the dots, then look where they are. ب has one below, ت two above, ث three above — same tooth.
- Under, inside, over. ج has its dot inside the cup, ح none, خ on top.
- One dot or two is the whole difference between ف and ق.
That leaves seven loners — ا ك ل م ن ه و — plus ي, which looks like a ب at the start of a word but has its own tail at the end.
Quiz: the look-alikes
These are the pairs and triplets that only differ by dots. Listen, then pick.
10 sounds. Listen, then pick what you heard — no reading the answer first.
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