The Alphabet

28 letters — and you already know most of them.

Arabic has 28 letters to Hebrew's 22 — not because it invented new sounds, but because it kept six ancient Semitic sounds that Hebrew gradually merged away. And where Hebrew gives just five letters a special final form, Arabic runs with the idea: most letters join hands with their neighbors and take up to four shapes depending on where they sit in a word.

All 28 letters in traditional order.

Your alphabet, extended

Every Hebrew letter has at least one Arabic descendant of the same ancient ancestor. Where a row shows two Arabic letters, Hebrew merged two sounds that Arabic kept apart — those are the “extra” letters, and they are the only truly new thing to learn. Tap any Arabic letter to open its details.

alef

1 Arabic letter

bet

1 Arabic letter

gimel

1 Arabic letter

dalet

1 Arabic letter

vav

1 Arabic letter

zayin

2 Arabic letters

het

2 Arabic letters

tet

1 Arabic letter

yod

1 Arabic letter

kaf

1 Arabic letter

lamed

1 Arabic letter

mem

1 Arabic letter

nun

1 Arabic letter

ayin

2 Arabic letters

1 Arabic letter

tsadi

3 Arabic letters

qof

1 Arabic letter

resh

1 Arabic letter

shin

2 Arabic letters

שׂ

sin (left-dotted)

1 Arabic letter

tav

1 Arabic letter