The Comprehensive Guide to Arabic Connecting Letters

Dr Shazli Rajab
March 29, 2024
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The Arabic language is the language of the Holy Quran. The language of the letter Dhad. This unique letter is not found or pronounced in any other language except the Arabic language. The Arabic alphabet consists of twenty-eight letters divided into two parts from the writing perspective, Connecting Letters and non-connecting letters. In this article, we will differentiate between them. It is worth mentioning that, we are not discussing the phonetics of the Arabic letters but we are talking about the writing skill of the Arabic alphabet by demonstrating the Arabic connecting or joining letters. Keep reading

What are The Arabic Connecting Letters

It is worth mentioning that what is meant by the connecting letters is the written form, not the phonetic form. In other words, the term of connecting letters is concerned with teaching the way of writing or typing the Arabic language alphabet in the correct form. So, a connecting letter is a letter that can be joined to the preceding letter and the following letter. i.e. the Arabic letter Meem, (م) can be joined to the letter that comes before it, and the letter that comes after it, for example:

يم / من

The Reason Behind Joining Letters in the Arabic Language

There are many opinions about the origin of Arabic writing, the great linguist Makhoul Al-Hudhali narrated: “The first of those who set the Arabic calligraphy and the connected or joined writing style were Nafes, Nadur, Taima and Doma tribes, they were sons of Ismail bin Ibrahim.

It is narrated that they set the style of Arabic writing in joined form, the letters are connected except for some letters such as El- Alf letter and Al- Raa letter, they were separated.

It is said that the sons of Al-Muhsin bin Jandal, had descended as guests at Adnan bin Ad, and their names were Abjad, Huz, Hote, Kalman Safas, and karsht, and when they found letters that were not in their names Such as the letters Thaa and Kha, they added them to the Arabic alphabet. The alphabet was thus fulfilled.

It is also narrated that the cursive Nabataean writing style changed to the Arabic writing style. Most of these writings have been on perishable materials, such as papyrus, and because they were written in cursive handwriting, they were liable to change and to be in connecting or joined letters.

The Nabataean alphabet has 22 phonemes, but the Arabic alphabet has 28 consonant phonemes; thus, when we write the Arabic language, six of its letters must stand for two phonemes:

d also stands for ð,

ħ stands for kh,

ṭ also stands for ẓ,

ayin also stands for gh,

ṣ also stands for ḍ,

t also stands for þ.

As the cursive Nabataean writing style evolved into Arabic writing, the writing became largely in joined-up or connected shape.

When an Arabic letter comes at the end of a word, it often develops an ending loop, and as a result, most of them have two shapes or more.

Arabic Connecting Letters Chart

The connecting letters are twenty-two letters. Here is a full chart that demonstrates all Connecting Letters in all their positions in a word, i.e. when they come at the beginning of a word, in the middle of a word, at the end of a word, or their original shapes as isolated letters.


Final, attached to right	Medial, attached to right & left	Initial, Unattached to right, attached to left	Isolated form

ـب ببب	ـبـ ببب	بـ ببب	ب
ـت تتت	ـتـ تتت	تـ تتت	ت
ـث ثثث	ـثـ ثثـث	ثـ ثـثث	ث
ـج ججج	ـجـ ججج	جـ ججج ‎	ج‎
ـح ححح	ـحـ ححح	حـ ححح	ح
ـخ خخخ	ـخـ خخخ	خـ خخخ	خ
ـس سسس	ـسـ سسس	سـ سسس	س
ـش ششش	ـشـ ششش	شـ ششش	ش
ـص صصص	ـصـ صصص	صـ صصص	ص
ـض ضضض	ـضـ ضضض	ضـ ضضض	ض
ـط ططط	ـطـ ططط	طـ ططط	ط
ـظ ظظظ	ـظـ ظظظ	ظـ ظظظ	ظ
ـع ععع	ـعـ ععع	عـ ععع	ع
ـغ غحغ	ـغـ حغغ	غـ غغح	غ
ـف ففف	ـفـ ففف	فـ ففف	ف
ـق ققق	ـقـ ققق	قـ ققق	ق
ـك ككك	ـكـ ككك	كـ ككك	ك
ـل للل	ـلـ للل	لـ للل	ل
ـم ممم	ـمـ ممم	مـ ممم	م
ـن نـنـن	ـنـ نـنـن	نـ ننن	ن

ـه ههه	ـهـ ههه	هـ ههه	ﻩ
Some linguists consider “Hamza” the twenty-ninth letter of the Arabic alphabet. It is not connected.			ء
ـي لـي	ـيـ بيأ	يـ يا	ي

How Letters Change Shape (Initial, Middle, Final, and Isolated Forms)

The above chart demonstrates the shapes of each letter and how its shape changes when it comes at the beginning of a word in the middle of a word at the end of a word or even when it comes isolated.

What is a word segment?

It is worth mentioning that word segmentation is completely different from the voiced or pronounced syllables. Syllables are concerned with the uttered form whereas segment is concerned with the written form.

Here is an example of the word segment:

The Arabic word واحب (wagib), in Arabic, it is written as:

➜ واجب

The Arabic spelling of the word is:

و ا ج ب

but there are three segments in this word.

Letters و)) in its isolated form.
Letter (ا ) in its isolated form.
Then we have a combination of two letters (جب)

So, there are three segments in the word واجب.

Segment 3	Segment 2	Segment 1
جب	ا	و

It is worth mentioning that Some Arabic words are divided into segments and others are not. The process of divining a word into segments depends upon the arabic non-connecting letters. Since most of the Arabic alphabet joins to their following letters, except some letters that can’t be joined, this is the cause of dividing a word into two or more than two segments.

The Influence of Connecting Letters on Typography

The Arab nation is rich in its Typography that is undeniable, This starts with the ancient Arabic calligraphy and even some new attempts to develop it, but we notice that Western nations reproach their designs in Latin topography to create a new identity.

Language is the body of cultures. A people’s language is a vocabulary that reflects a number of specific meanings related to the customs and traditions of the society. When they are replaced by a translation or phrases from another language, they do not reflect the same meanings even if the translation is correct, and the corresponding words are the same.

The Arabic language develops with the life and prosperity of its science, literature, and knowledge that is created by its people in various fields. The Arabic language is strengthened by scientific, intellectual, and cultural output despite the demand of the call for imitation transfer or bilingualism in education and media.

That leads to dependency and does not lead to creativity. Arab designers can move from dependency to innovation and creativity by sticking to their language, which are rooted in their culture through many ages.

The Arabic language and the Arabic calligraphy are the true self-identity, authentication, the past, the present, and the future. They are considered as a mirror that reflects the culture of the nation, they are the real national wealth.

Despite the wealth of the Arab nation’s heritage in calligraphy, there were many attempts to distort the Arabic language by replacing it with a slang language or a vernacular language containing words not related to the Arabic language.

Recently, there has been a phenomenon known as Franco Arab among Arab youth, which poses a real danger to the Arabic language as it has been writing Arabic words with Latin letters.

This phenomenon is known by many names “Franco”, Franco Arab, Anglo-Arab, and Arabi, which is one of the images of the war against the Arabic identification.

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The Reason Behind This Phenomenon

It’s hard to type in Arabic on a keyboard.
A rejuvenation that attracts young men’s souls.
The number of social networking sites that have helped to spread the phenomenon such as “Facebook, Twitter” and others.
Reducing speech and using abbreviations in speech. Simple letters can lead to the meaning needed. This phenomenon leads to the weakening of people’s deep expression for using the deep meaning of the speech.

How Has Digitalization Affected the Way Arabic Connecting Letters Are Displayed?

Printing using Arabic types faced a lot of challenges since its early start in the sixteenth century. One of the main challenges was related to the difficulty of capturing the full beauty and attractiveness of the handwriting of the Arabic alphabet.

Attempts to improve the Arabic printing models faced a lot of difficulties because of the huge number of symbol combinations for each Arabic letter, in addition, different combinations of some of the Arabic letters were not available, especially in the form of using ligatures.

Subsequently, typing Arabic scripts on computers improved and became joined or in cursive form, i.e. the English text you are reading now has no equivalent in Arabic writing form, whereas all the letters are typed in separate shapes with gaps between them.

Later, typing on a computer using the Arabic alphabet developed and became in cursive style. Letters are joined together using horizontal attachments (called ligatures).

Joining Letters Rules Every Beginner Must Know

Here is the most important ruler related to forming Arabic words:

Formation of an Arabic word:

All Arabic letters can be joined to the preceding letters (letters come before them).

Most letters also can be joined to the following letters (letters come after them), except six letters that can’t be joined to the following letters (letters come after them).

Examples of the non-connecting letters:

أسد

وجه

دُمية

ذًهب

زَمان

رُمان

In these examples, the initial letter in each example is a non-connecting letter, so it doesn’t connect to the following letter.

Tips For Mastering the Art of Joining Letters

There are some important points you should follow to improve the quality of your Arabic writing skill especially, with joining letters, the most important of which is:

It is important to give examples of each joining letter you connect.
There are many learning applications that teaches joining letters.
Join an authentic academy to learn the Arabic language.
You can use some tutorials and learning games that help you master joining letters.
Many learning booklets are available in libraries.
Arabic is not an easy language, so find a good tutor.

Writing Practice

Divide the following words into individual letters. Practice with a pen and paper many times.

قَطة / مَانجو/ تُفاحة / طفل / واجب / ذرة / دُمية / رزق / أفضل/ زبيب

Exercise 2

Form words from the following letters.

م/ ط/ ن/ و/ أ / ق/ ل/ ع/ ي/ س

FAQs

What’s the main reason behind connecting letters in Arabic?

It is narrated that the Arabic language derived its writing style from the cursive Nabataean writing style. Most of these writings have been on perishable materials, such as papyrus, and because they were written in cursive handwriting, they were easy to change and to be in connecting or join letters.

Which Arabic letters cannot be joined?

Six letters, they are:

أ / و/ د / ذ / ر / ز

How has digitization affected the way Arabic connecting letters are displayed?

In the field of printing by digital devices such as computers and smart phones, the Arabic printing models faced a lot of difficulties because of the huge number of symbol combinations for each Arabic letter.

Subsequently, it improved and the letters became joined or in cursive form. Later, typing on a computer using the Arabic alphabet developed and became in cursive style. Letters are joined together using horizontal attachments (called ligatures).

How are connecting letters taught to children in the Arabic-speaking world?

There are many ways to teach children in an Arabic-speaking world the connecting letters, Here are some of them:

Using flashcards with different colors to distinguish the connecting letters.
Using real objects as a model to differentiate between connecting and non-connecting letters.
Using teaching games to teach them.
Use many online teaching tutorials and learning applications to teach them.
Using flyers and practicing booklets with many learning exercises

Can mastering connecting letters help in understanding the Arabic language better?

Sure, because connecting letters is a main part of the writing skill, which is one skill out of the four skills of any language. It helps to read Arabic scripts effectively, thus understanding the meanings of the Arabic language.