How to type Arabic characters

Arabic characters can be entered in three ways:

  1. Click with the mouse on the keys of the online keyboard
  2. Write "phonetically" with your own keyboard: Select keyboard input "phonetic" - see conversion rules
  3. Write "international" with your own keyboard (qwerty layout): Select keyboard input "international"

conversion rules

LatinArabic
aا
aaآ
a-إ
-aأ
lل
sس
ssش
LatinArabic
yي
yyى
yyyئ
wو
wwؤ
mم
nن
LatinArabic
laلا
bب
hه
hhة
rر
fف
kك
LatinArabic
Sص
SSض
Tط
TTظ
Hح
HHخ
jج
LatinArabic
dد
ddذ
tت
ttث
gع
ggغ
qق
LatinArabic
zز
qqڨ
kkڭ
pپ
vڢ
ffڤ
cچ
Latin x. xw xa xi xu xan xin xun -
Arabic ْ ّ َ ِ ُ ً ٍ ٌ ء

Arabic script

The following applies to the Arabic script of the Arabic language:

  • it is written from right to left
  • the alphabet contains only consonants and 3 letters for long vocals
  • the letters in a word are connected to each other
  • each letter has a different shape at the beginning, middle and end of a word.
The Arabic script is also used in other languages such as Persian and Urdu but with the addition of vowels and other consonants.

Arabic virtual keyboard

On this Arabic keyboard you can type Arabic characters. The Arabic keyboard contains all Arabic letters of a real keyboard.

Usefull keyboard tools

Tool Description
Text2Speech You can listen to your Arabic text
Grammar checker You can run a grammar check on your Arabic text.
Microphone Voice input Your voice is converted into Arabic text while you speak (Possible with the browsers: Chrome, Edge and Safari)
  Arabic translation You can use the Arabic translator to translate the text into a variety of other languages, such as German, Spanish etc.

Arabic audio samples

en.ar.play
dog كلب (كَلْب) play
work عمل (عَمَلٌ) play
to make عمل (عَمِلَ) play
beautiful جميل (جَمِيلٌ) play
keyboard لوحة المفاتيح (لوحة المفاتيح) play
en.ar.play
cat قطة (قِطَّة) play
war
peace
حرب (حَرْب)
سلام (سَلاَمٌ)
play
to buy اشترى (اِشْتَرَى) play
large كبير (كَبِيرٌ) play
to translate يترجم (يُتَرْجِم) play

The Arabic script

Contents
* The Arabic Alphabet (Introduction)
* Auxiliary signs in the Arabic script
* Shapes of the letters
* All letters with all shapes
* Frequency of Arabic letters
* Arabic numerals
* Arabic words in English

The Arabic Alphabet

The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters: Three of them are long vowels, the rest are all consonants. Auxiliary signs can be used for short vowels.

The three long vowels are:

  • long a: Alif ا (in the final position also short a: ى )
  • long i or e: Ya ي
  • long u or o: Waw و

Ya and Waw are also called semivowels and semiconsonants, respectively, because they are pronounced at the beginning of a syllable like the German j ي and like the English w و, respectively.

In Arabic, letters are written and read from right to left. Although there is no distinction between upper and lower case, the individual letters are nevertheless of different sizes.

The Arabic alphabet is also used for other non-Arabic languages such as Persian and Urdu, only with slight changes and additions to the alphabet. For example, the Persian alphabet includes four additional letters. In addition, two letters of the basic Arabic alphabet have been slightly modified. See Persian keyboard.


Auxiliary signs in the Arabic script

The auxiliary signs have different functions, they are placed above or below the Arabic letter.
As auxiliary signs there are:

3 Vowel signs

Fatha
(short a)
above
Kasra
(short i or e)
below
Damma
(short u or o)
above
َ ِ ُ

1 Gemination sign

The sign shadda is used to mark long consonants or double consonants and is placed over the consonant:
ّ

3 signs for nominal endings

Fathatan (-an) Kasratan (-in) Dammatan (-un)
ً ٍ ٌ

Other signs

Other signs such as the sukun above a consonant to indicate that the consonant is not followed by a vowel:
ْ

Examples with vocalization

Arabic نبل نلبث للبنت
Arabic
vocalized
نَبْلُ نَلْبَثُ لِلْبِنْتِ
transliteration nablu nalbathu lilbinti

Shapes of the letters

Each letter has up to four different shapes: Isolated shape, initial shape, medial shape and final shape.

For example, the letter kāf ك has these four shapes, depending on where it is in the word:

  • Isolated shape: ك
  • Initial shape: كـ
  • Medial shape: ـكـ
  • Final shape: ـك

For example, the letter Alif ا has only two shapes: One shape, which is isolated and used for the beginning of a word, because Alif is basically not connected to the left, and a second shape , which is used in the medial and at the end of the word.

Other letters that have only two shapes (isolated/initial vs. medial/final) are: Dhāl ذ, Dāl د, Zāy ز, Rā’ ر und Wāw و

So the mentioned 6 letters have no explicit initial and medial shape. At the beginning and in the middle of the word, the isolated shape without the connecting stroke to the left is used instead. The writing flow, of the otherwise continuous italic writing, is interrupted. This serves to be able to distinguish the individual letters from each other when reading the word:

If, for example, the Alif ا existed with an initial shape (with a connecting stroke to the left), then it would not be possible to distinguish it from the initial shape of the Lām لـ.

All other letters have four shapes. They are presented in the next section.

Knowing these shapes is important when reading or handwriting the Arabic script. When writing on the computer, it is not necessary to know the different shapes, because the font provided by the browser or the program automatically takes over the transformation of the isolated shape into the correct shape.


All letters with all shapes

Arabic forms
Screenshot with examples:
4 different shapes of an Arabic letter
On the Wikipedia page about the Arabic Alphabet, all forms of all letters are presented in detail. For each Arabic letter, their pronunciation is also given, including their spelling with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Frequency of Arabic letters

By far the most commonly used Arabic letters are:

  • Alif (ca. 12 %)
  • Lām (ca. 12 %)

It is the two letters that appear in the word Allah الله.

ا
Final shape Medial shape Initial shape (!) Isolated shape
Hā' Lām Lām Alif

Ligature Lām-Alif

In an Arabic word, when the Lām is directly followed by the Alif , together they form the ligature لا (Lām-Alif). The font handles the conversion of Lām and Alif to Lām-Alif. The Lām-Alif also exists with auxiliary signs. You can find this ligature as a separate key on the keyboard.

This ligature is obligatory in the printed script. In handwritten script, other ligatures are used that allow for smoother writing.

Other common letters with a frequency of 4-7% are:

Bā'ب
Rā'ر
ʿAinع
Mīmم
Nūnن
Hā'ه
Wāwو
Yā'ي

Arabic numerals

Before the introduction of Indian numerals into the Arabic script in the 9th century, the Arabic letters were also used for numerical values. Some letters stood for digits, some for tens, some for hundreds.

Today's Arabic numerals are written from left to right in Arabic. Our Arabic numerals (0..9) in the Latin alphabet come from the Western Arabic numerals of that time. The numerals in the Arabic script, on the other hand, come from the Eastern Arabic numerals of the time - which is why they look somewhat different from the numerals in the Latin alphabet.

0123456789
٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩


Arabic words in English

The table shows examples of English words of Arabic origin.

English sugar safari
transliteration sukkar safar (engl. journey)
Arabic سكر سفر
Single
letter shapes

There are numerous other words of Arabic origin in English, including Alcohol, General, Hashish, Coffee, Mattress, Magazine, Sofa.

Arabic language tools

Text translator English to Arabic

If you want to translate an English text to Arabic, you can use the translator on fluentwords.net:

Text translator English-Arabic

Text translator Arabic to English

If you want to translate an Arabic text to English, you can use the translator on fluentwords.net:

Text translator Arabic-English

English-Arabic and German-Arabic Proverbs

On fluentwords.net you will find many billingual idioms and proverbs English-Arabic and German-Arabic. You can also listen to the proverbs.

Idioms English-Arabic Idioms German-Arabic