Arabic Language / Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha) / Modern Standard Arabic: Basic Foundations

Modern Standard Arabic: Basic Foundations

From the Arabic Alphabet to Everyday Sentences

Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha) Basic

What you'll learn

• Identify and name all 28 Arabic letters and recognize their available isolated, initial, medial, and final forms.
• Explain and apply right-to-left directionality and the joining rules of connecting and non-connecting letters.
• Decode fully vocalized words containing short vowels, long vowels, sukūn, shadda, and tanwīn with at least 80% accuracy.
• Pronounce the major sound contrasts of Modern Standard Arabic, including ح / ḥ, خ / kh, ع / ʿ, غ / gh, ص / ṣ, ض / ḍ, ط / ṭ, ظ / ẓ, ق / q, and ك / k.
• Read and understand at least 65 practical words and fixed expressions related to greetings, identity, objects, family, places, actions, and numbers.
• Exchange greetings and basic personal information using short, memorized Modern Standard Arabic expressions.
• Form simple nominal sentences with personal pronouns, demonstratives, nouns, and adjectives.
• Use basic question words, the yes-or-no question particle, possessive forms, and common prepositions in controlled sentences.
• Produce simple present-tense statements about studying, working, living, going, and wanting.
• Read and understand short, fully vocalized signs, descriptions, and dialogues without relying entirely on transliteration.

Curriculum · 19 lessons + final exam

• 1. Right-to-Left Writing: أَلِفٌ، بَاءٌ، تَاءٌ، ثَاءٌ (ʾalif, bāʾ, tāʾ, thāʾ) ▶ video
  Learn how Arabic moves from right to left, how letters sit on a baseline and join, and how to recognize and write the first four letters. You will also read short a with fatḥa and long ā with alif.
• 2. Kasra and Long Ī: نُونٌ، يَاءٌ (nūn, yāʾ)
  Learn the letters نُونٌ and يَاءٌ in their joining forms. Read the short i vowel made by كَسْرَةٌ and distinguish it from long ī written with يَاءٌ.
• 3. Ḍamma and Long Ū: دَالٌ، ذَالٌ، رَاءٌ، زَايٌ، وَاوٌ (dāl, dhāl, rāʾ, zāy, wāw)
  Learn five new Arabic letters, the short u vowel, and the long ū vowel. You will compare dotted and undotted letters, see how these letters affect joining, and decode simple syllables and the name زُوزُو.
• 4. The Bowl-Shaped Family: جِيمٌ، حَاءٌ، خَاءٌ (jīm, ḥāʾ, khāʾ)
  Meet three connecting letters built from the same bowl-shaped base. Learn how dots distinguish جِيمٌ، حَاءٌ، and خَاءٌ, recognize their four positional forms, and pronounce their different sounds.
• 6. Emphatic and Throat Sounds: طَاءٌ، ظَاءٌ، عَيْنٌ، غَيْنٌ (ṭāʾ, ẓāʾ, ʿayn, ghayn)
  Learn to recognize, connect, and pronounce four new Arabic letters: emphatic طَاءٌ and ظَاءٌ, and the throat sounds عَيْنٌ and غَيْنٌ. You will compare their shapes, read short vowel patterns, and practice controlled letter strings.
• 7. Fāʾ, Qāf, and Kāf: فَاءٌ، قَافٌ، كَافٌ (fāʾ, qāf, kāf)
  Learn to recognize, connect, and pronounce فَاءٌ، قَافٌ، and كَافٌ. Compare their shapes and decode short syllables with short and long vowels.
• 8. Completing the 28 Letters: لَامٌ، مِيمٌ، هَاءٌ (lām, mīm, hāʾ)
  Complete the Arabic alphabet with لَامٌ، مِيمٌ، and هَاءٌ. Learn their sounds and positional forms, distinguish هَاءٌ from حَاءٌ, and decode connected strings containing new and previously learned letters.
• 9. Hamza, Sukūn, Shadda, Tanwīn, and Full-Script Review
  Review the complete 28-letter Arabic alphabet and the positional forms of لَامٌ، مِيمٌ، and هَاءٌ. Then recognize hamza, sukūn, shadda, and the three tanwīn marks; read the lām-alif connection; and distinguish final هَاءٌ from تَاءٌ مَرْبُوطَةٌ.
• 10. Greetings and Courtesy
  Consolidate hamza, sukūn, shadda, tanwīn, and the positional forms of the 28 Arabic letters. Learn to recognize final alif maqṣūra and use essential Modern Standard Arabic greetings and courtesy expressions.
• 11. Names and Personal Introductions
  Use six essential Modern Standard Arabic greetings, courtesy expressions, and leave-taking phrases. Introduce yourself with اِسْمِي followed by your name, and complete a short greeting exchange.
• 12. This Is: Objects and Demonstratives
  Learn five singular personal pronouns and use the correct form of “What is your name?” when speaking to a man or a woman. Then complete a short three-turn introduction using familiar names and expressions.
• 13. The Definite Article: Moon and Sun Letters
  Learn how to say “This is…” in Modern Standard Arabic. You will classify four common object nouns as grammatically masculine or feminine and choose هٰذَا or هٰذِهِ correctly.
• 14. Describing People and Things
  Learn how Arabic distinguishes an unspecified person or thing from a specific one. You will add the definite article الْـ, recognize selected moon and sun letters, and pronounce the article correctly with familiar nouns.
• 15. Simple Questions and Useful Answers
  Learn four common adjectives, place them after nouns, form their feminine singular versions, and match adjectives with nouns in gender and definiteness. Then use the phrases in simple yes-or-no questions with هَلْ and short answers with نَعَمْ or لَا.
• 16. Family and Simple Possession
  Ask simple Modern Standard Arabic questions about people, identity, objects, and location. This lesson introduces مَا, مَنْ, and أَيْنَ, and reviews هَلْ, نَعَمْ, and لَا in short, practical exchanges.
• 17. Places and Location
  Learn five basic family words and describe family relationships and possessions with the suffix ـِي, meaning “my,” and the expression عِنْدِي, meaning “I have.”
• 18. Everyday Present-Tense Actions
  Learn six common place words and describe where people and things are using فِي, عَلَى, أَمَامَ, خَلْفَ, and questions with أَيْنَ.
• 19. Numbers and Contact Information
  Learn five high-frequency Modern Standard Arabic verbs for saying what you study, where you work or live, where you go, and what you want. You will also compare first-person forms with two selected third-person forms.
• 20. Integrated Review: A First Arabic Conversation
  Learn the Arabic-Indic digits and number words from zero through ten. Then use individual digits to read and exchange a model phone number and room number in a short Modern Standard Arabic conversation.
• 🎓 Final exam