Arabic Letters, Tajweed Marks and Punctuation: A Reference Guide

The Arabic Alphabet at a Glance

Connecting vs Non-Connecting Letters

Most Arabic letters join smoothly to the letter before and after them within a word, changing shape slightly at the start, middle, or end of that connection. Six letters are the exception: alif, dal, dhal, ra, zay and waw only connect to the letter before them, never to the one after. This is why you'll sometimes see a small gap partway through an Arabic word, it isn't a mistake, it's simply one of these six letters doing what it always does.

How Letters Change Shape in Context

A connecting letter typically has up to four slightly different shapes: standing alone, joined only to the letter after it, joined on both sides, and joined only to the letter before it. This can look daunting written as a rule, but it becomes automatic with practice, in much the same way that recognising joined-up handwriting in English becomes automatic once you've seen enough of it.

Harakat: The Basic Vowel Marks

Tanween: The Doubled Marks

Tanween is a doubled version of fatha, kasra or damma, written at the end of certain words to add a short "-n" sound. It's common enough, and has its own set of Tajweed rules, that it gets a full explanation in our guide to tanween.

Why Punctuation Marks Matter for Recitation

Unlike English punctuation, these marks aren't optional extras, they change the actual sound and sometimes the grammatical meaning of a word. A letter with a fatha sounds and often means something different from the same letter with a kasra or sukoon. Learning to read these marks quickly, rather than pausing to work each one out, is really what separates fluent Quran reading from slow, careful decoding.

To practise the alphabet itself, our Noorani Qaida Lesson 1 includes a simple daily drill, and once the letters feel familiar, our guide to sun and moon letters shows how they change the word "al-".

How Mariam Quran Tutor Teaches This

Letter shapes and harakat are the foundation of our Noorani Qaida course, taught one-to-one so every letter and mark is practised until recognition becomes automatic. From there, students move naturally into our Tajweed course for correct pronunciation. You can book a free trial lesson with no card required to see exactly where you'd start.