That is the letter ت, pronounced same as t
Yalla, let’s learn some Arabic
There are 2 other letters that look exactly the same except for the dots, here is how to tell the three apart:
The (b sound) ب has the dot below its shell
The word “below” starts with the sound b.
Transliterated as b
The (t sound) ت has two dots above its shell
The word “two” starts with the sound t.
Transliterated as t
The ث (th sound) has three dots above its shell
The word “three” starts with the sound th.
Transliterated as th
mnemonic | pronunciation | letter |
---|---|---|
dot below | b | ب |
two dots | t | ت |
three dots | th in three | ث |
:read-theory:
Remember: these three letters have the exact same shape, only the dots are different. The only reason dots exist in Arabic is so we can easily tell letters like these apart.
Since they have the same shape, they behave the same way when we write them in cursive, which is the only way to write in Arabic. You’ll see what this means when we talk more about the script.
Pronunciation examples:
ب (b sound) :
باب door baab
ت (t sound) :
توت mulberry tuut
ث (th sound, as in three) :
In this example the ث is ثـ
ثَوب garment thawb
Check the comments.
Thank you! Can I suggest adding a note along the lines of “ث becomes ث in the example”?
I had to do some unicode trickery for that. Do Arabic keyboards have a zero-width joiner key or some other method for forcing particular forms?
And please add me to your ping list.
That is a good idea, will do.
Not zero-width no but we have this connecting line ـ
spoiler
Actually no you’ll just have to wait for the next lessons