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Now, you should be wondering about the letter "Hamza" that was the last letter in the table back in lesson 1, well.. this lesson is all about it:

The "Hamza" is one of the three kinds of vowels in Arabic (vowel marks were explained in the previous lesson). It may be the most complicated subject in Arabic scripting, I think that it needs a tutorial on its own (even some Arab natives can't get it right in dictation in some cases). Anyway I'll try to make it as easy as possible giving only the basics, so here we go:

First, the "Hamza" is the pronunciation of "U" as in "UGH" (that was the first appropriate word that came to my mind) where ever it is used in a word, this means that the word should be cut at the "Hamza" and an "U" should be pronounced whenever it appears. Let's have an example on this:

Click to listen to the word:

Audio	The example	Pronunciation
		Mar-aa
		lu-u-lu-u
		Bi-er
		Dif-e

Notes:

• When the "Hamza" comes at the beginning of the word, it is always written over an "Alef " or under it depending on the "Tashkeel" of the "Hamza" itself, if it was "Fat-ha" or "Dhama" then the "Hamza" is written over the "Alef". If the "Tashkeel" was "Kasra" then the "Hamza" Is written under the "Alef". The following word "Ana" (which means "me") is written like this :


Click to listen to the word:
The word "Eeman" (which means "faith") is written as follows:

Click to listen to the word:


• You should have noticed from that table above that the "Hamza" is written in four different cases depending on the "Tashkeel" of the "Hamza" itself and the "Tashkeel" of the letter just before it. I think that this is what you need to know as a beginner. If you want to learn the rules of writing the "Hamza " then ask me and I'll send them to you via email.


• Some sources don't consider "Hamza" neither a letter nor a vowel mark, it may be in a category of its own!!!

By now you should have learned all the basics of Arabic language script and some words and sentences, and you should be able to read or write some Arabic words. Now, what is left for you to do is learn Arabic vocabulary and some grammar to be able to create sentences. These tasks need more than a simple on-line tutorial, they need some time and work from you! For vocabulary, I highly recommend getting an Arabic electronic dictionary.

If you have any questions on something included in this tutorial (or not !!) just send me a message and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as possible. If you have any thoughts, questions or ideas just tell me about them.

1- Try writing your name using the the Arabic alphabets forms in the table in lesson 2. Just copy and paste the letters in any image editor and you will have Arabic words as GIF files ,unless you have Arabic fonts installed in your system).

If you liked this tutorial, and you have the time and capabilities of translating it into your own language, then please contact me now. It is already available in English, Spanish, Deutsch, French, Portuguese, Italian, Indonesian and Greek. I look forward to seeing it in other languages.

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Fadi's Arabic Tutorial. 1999 (Fadi S.)

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