أَب
ab · a father
- أَa
- بb
- a — Alif with a hamza, carrying a fatha
- b — Bāʼ, closing the word
Unit 10 · Reading real words
Step 1 of 4 · Sound it out
Read each piece right to left, then let them run together.
أَخ
akh · a brother
- أَa
- خkh
- a — Alif with a hamza, carrying a fatha
- kh — Khāʼ, closing the word
يَد
yad · a hand
- يَya
- دd
- ya — Yāʼ with a fatha
- d — Dāl, closing the word
The shortest words in Arabic are two letters: the first carries a vowel mark, the last carries nothing and simply closes the word. Read right to left, piece by piece, and you have read a word.