Learning a Language has always been beneficial and feeds its learner with strength, as it helps improve his/her knowledge, and upgrade his/her memory and brain function. Each language that is spoken in this world adds value to its speaker. Now when talking about the Arabic language with its huge encyclopedia and rich dictionary with around twelve million words, imagine how big it can impact your brain as challenging as it might seem but it is easier than it sounds, especially if you go through the language letter by letter with the help of Kaleela.  

 

A learner should know it is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. It is called Alif (الف). In addition, the letter ا is one of the Arabic letters that can be either a vowel or a consonant in the Arabic language, which indicates that it is a multitasking letter in the Arabic language. Everything you need to know about the letter Alif will be demonstrated later on In this blog.


Get to know the letter Alif in Arabic


 


The shape of the letter Alif changes depending on where it appears in a word. Whether it comes at the beginning of the word (initial), middle of the word (medial), or ending of the word (final). But firstly, a person should know that when it is standing alone, it is written like this: ا. To write it, all you need to do is draw a straight line from top to bottom. Let us get to know more about the shapes of the letter Alif with some examples.

 

 

Alif shapes

 

1.  Initial: When it comes at the beginning of a word

As in:

 

   سدأ    /ʼasad/              

means Lion

 

2. Medial: When it comes in the middle of a word

Here we have two cases:

·         When it is not connected. As in:


فراولة     /farawlah/

                   


means Strawberry


·         When it is connected to the right side. As in: 

تفاح     /tuffaah/    

 

                                           

means Apple

 

3. Final: When it comes at the end of a word

Here we have three cases:

·         At the end of the word while being connected:

As in:

ـاعصـ            /ʻasaa/           

 

 

means Stick



·         At the end of the word while not being connected:

As in:


هولندا    /hoolandaa/

       

 

 

means Holland



·          At the end of a word while being connected or disconnected. This is a unique shape of the letter Alif and it is called Alif maqsura. And it looks like this: ى

 

1) At the end of the word while being connected. As in: 

مستشفى    /mustashfaa/


 means Hospital

 

2) At the end of the word while not being connected. As in:

 صحارى    /sahaaraa/

    

means Deserts

_______________________________________________________________

Note that

The letter ا might be either a consonant or a vowel. An important symbol you should know is Hamza "ء." When you draw it, you need to make a small inverted 2 on top of the Alif. Let us look at how to differentiate between the consonant Alif and the vowel Alif.

Consonant: When أ comes with the mark Hamza "ء" on top. It sounds like a short “a” as in apple. Let us see how it is in Arabic.

As in:

أسد    /ʼasad/   

 

means Lion

 

Vowel: When ا at the end of the word or in the middle without the mark Hamza "ء" on top. And it sounds like a long “aa” as in fat.  Let us see how it is in Arabic.

As in:

    بــاب /baab/   


means Door

 

To wrap up

 

Cases

Connected

Disconnected

Initial

_________

أسد

Medial

تفـاحة

فراولة

 

Final

Alif

عصــا           

كاميرا         

Alif maqsura

مستشفى          

صحارى        

 

 

 

That was it for the letter Alif, Kaleela provides its subscribers with more practices on both the website and the application and covers everything you need to know about the letter Alif. Also, you can have the Arabic language listed and broken down into lessons and topics to help you go through the language easily and step by step. At Kaleela, we believe in constructing and repeating methodology so that the learner gets all the knowledge he asks for. Starting from the basics of Arabic which are the Alphabet, all the way to guide you to master the language. In a positive and fun way. Download Kaleela and learn Arabic the right way. https://kaleela.page.link/bgs







appstore-logo googleplay-logo
Get updates & special offers
Subscribe to our newsletter
Most Read