Things to know about diacritics:

- They are usually only used when reading the Quran and in beginner's lessons. In the real world, you are expected to fill in the gaps mentally as you read, write, and speak.

- There are 8 diacritics. Each one says something different. We will break them up into 3 portions: vowels, consonants, and nunations.

Vowels:

َ  (fatha)

Example: تَ

Pronunciation: a as in cat (full sound is tă)

ِ  (damma)

Example: تِ

Pronunciation: i as in hit (full sound is ti)

ُ (kasra)

Example: تُ

Pronunciation: u as in put (full sound: tu)

Consonants:

ّ (shadda)

Example: وِدّي

Pronunciation: when you see this mark, you transliterate it twice and hold the pronunciation of the marked letter for longer. So the transliteration is "widdii" and you hold the "d" sound for longer. This goes for any letter in Arabic.

** Note: sometimes you'll see ّ next to a vowel diacritic. تَّ is "tta" and تِّ is "tti". Remember that slight difference - it is important!

ْ (sukkuun)

Example: مَسْجِد

Pronunciation: This symbol indicates that there is no vowel between س and ج. I don't usually use these in this book, since they're already implied from the reading, but you may see them if you use another source for learning Arabic.

Nunations:

In Arabic, there is a case system much like Slavic and Celtic languages, in which nouns' endings change based on whether they are subjects (nominative case), objects (accusative case), or possessing another noun (genitive case).

In Arabic, cases end with diacritics, and context will tell you in text whether they are nominative, accusative, or genitive once you get out into the real world. With that being said, let's get into the words.

ٌ (tanween kasra)

Example: لوبنانٌ

The original word is "Luubnaan" (Lebanon). However, because it's the subject, we tack on ٌ to the end, making it "Lubnaanun" (rhymes with "bun").

ً (tanween fatha)

Example: . يُساعد الطَبيبُ رَجَلً

Transliteration: yusaa3d a-tabeebun rajulan.

Translation: The doctor helps a man.

ٍ (tanween damma)

Example: .مَلححظة طَبيبٍ

Transliteration: Malhuuzah tabeebin.

Meaning: A doctor's note. (The doctor possesses the note.)

Let's talk about numerals:

٠ zero (صِفر - Sifr)

١ one (واحِد - waahid)

٢ two (إثنان - ithnaan)

٣ three (ثَلاثة - thalaathah)

٤ four (أربِعة - arbi3ah)

٥ five (خَمسة - khamsa)

٦ six (سِتّة - sittah)

٧ seven (سَبعة - sab3ah)

٨ eight (ثامَنية - thaamaneeah)

٩ nine (تِسعة - tis3ah)

١٠ ten (عَشَرة  3ashara)

A few random notes that I'm not sure where to put....

- There is no indefinite article (a/an in English) in Arabic.

- To say and, put وَ before a word.

- There is no "to be" verb (known as a copula in grammar; is, am, and are in English). So when you say "لوبنان جُمهوريّة"   aka "Luubnaan jumhuuriyyah", you are literally saying "Lebanon republic".

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Want to practice?

1. Download an Arabic keyboard (NOTE: it looks like العربية on the language configuation - don't accidentally pick Farsi instead.)

2. Go to https://quizlet.com/medievalmaide715/modern-standard-arabic/sets. (I'll link it in the comments - go to browser to use link.)

3. Bookmark it (I update the folder regularly and study from it).

4. Use these sets:

- Arabic Writing System for Noobs (every symbol exclusive to Arabic ever).

- Madinah Arabic: Transliterations Lesson 1 (to practice your reading comprehension).

- Madinah Arabic: Transliterations Lessons 2-3 (same as above).

5. Study the words until you can read them with diacritics.

Speaking of which....

Duolingo currently has a beta program for Arabic. It's mostly dealing with transliterations at the moment, as the developers are still working on the grammar. I've bragged on Duolingo before- it's a great language resource.

Another good source if you're looking for beginner's Arabic is https://madinaharabic.com/learn-arabic.html. (Link in comments - go to browser to view.) They go through both the writing system and the language aspect. If you find yourself stuck on the writing portion of Arabic, I would highly recommend going through that course. Afterward, feel free to use the Arabic Language Course alongside this book.

More FREE Arabic Lessons can be found here: www.modernstandardarabic.com/free-msa-lessons/ (Link in comments: go to browser to view).

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Up next: definite articles in Arabic - this is, that is, and the.