The Arabic Alphabet: All 28 Letters Explained (Beginner's Guide)

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, it’s written right to left, and every letter is a consonant — short vowels are added as small marks. That’s the whole foundation. Once you know the 28 letters and their sounds, you can begin sounding out real Arabic words. This guide walks through all of them.

How the Arabic alphabet works

Three things make Arabic different from the Latin alphabet, and none of them are as hard as they sound:

1. It reads right to left. Words, sentences, and the whole page flow from the right.
2. Letters connect. Most letters change shape slightly depending on whether they’re at the start, middle, or end of a word — like cursive handwriting. There are only a few base shapes to learn.
3. Short vowels are marks, not letters. The 28 letters are consonants (plus a few long vowels). Short vowels (a, i, u) are small symbols called harakat written above or below — often left out in everyday text once you’re fluent.

All 28 letters

Here is the full alphabet in order, with each letter’s name, its transliteration, and the sound it makes.

Which letters trip beginners up?

A handful of sounds don’t exist in English and deserve extra listening practice:

• ع (ʿayn) and ح (Haaʾ) — both come from deep in the throat. There’s no English equivalent, so hearing a native speaker is essential.
• The “emphatic” letters (ص ض ط ظ) — heavier, deeper versions of s, d, t, and dh.
• ق (qaaf) vs ك (kaaf) — both are k-like, but qaaf is made further back in the throat.

The single best way to master these is to hear each one repeatedly and copy it out loud. Reading the description isn’t enough — your ear has to learn the difference.

How to actually learn the alphabet

1. Learn the letters in small groups — 4–6 at a time, not all 28 at once.
2. Always pair the shape with its sound using native audio. Silent flashcards build a weak memory.
3. Review with spacing. Revisit yesterday’s and last week’s letters before adding new ones — this is what moves them into long-term memory. (More on this in our guide to learning Arabic vocabulary fast.)
4. Move to whole words quickly. As soon as you know a few letters, start reading short words like those in our list of the most common Arabic words for beginners.

Kalam Daily is built around exactly this loop: a new word every day, native-speaker audio on every word, and spaced repetition that schedules your reviews automatically. Learn the 28 letters above, then let daily practice turn recognition into real reading.