بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ
the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a")
Common trap for English speakers The little stroke above (fatḥa) is a SHORT 'a' like the vowel in 'cat', not the English letter-name — and it is obligatory: without a ḥaraka the consonant has no sound. English speakers tend to ignore the mark and drop the vowel.
In the story
Salma
بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ
Salma
He's just unlocked the whole 'tooth' family for Sam. Five letters, all wearing the fatḥa, all the exact same base shape, just different dots.
Salma
Let's read them with Farid. One dot below is بَ. Two dots above is تَ. Three above is ثَ. One above is نَ. And two dots below is يَ.
Learn it in the story
This phrase appears in the lesson:
Level pre-A1 · Lesson 2