Episode 02 · The tooth family — ب ت ث ن ي

Welcome back to the Book Quarter. Last time, Sam arrived with a suitcase and a sheer panic of the Arabic alphabet, staring at the courtyard walls like they were an impossible code.

But Ustadh Farid sat him down and unlocked the first great secret of reading Arabic: the shapes repeat, it's the dots that do the work.

Today, Sam is sitting at Farid's table, carefully drawing a little curved shape on a piece of paper. It looks like a little flat-bottomed boat, or a tooth.

And he's got an audience. Nour, a little girl from the neighborhood, just slapped her wooden slate down right next to his paper.

أَنا أَعْرِفُ!

She says she knows this. She's learning her letters too, and she is absolutely ready to out-read the new guy.

Ustadh Farid walks over with two cups of tea. He taps the tooth shape Sam drew, then draws a tiny diagonal line floating above it.

That little floating dash is our first vowel mark! It's called a fatḥa, and it makes a short 'a' sound. And this one tooth shape, depending on its dots, can be five different letters.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

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.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

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.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

Say it with me. بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

Perfect. Just remember, the short 'a' sound comes from the fatḥa mark sitting on top.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

Nour isn't about to let Sam get all the praise. She stabs her little finger at the one with three dots on top.

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث — three dots: that makes it "thaa" · tha-LAA-thu ni-QAAT: THA

She just proudly announced: 'Three dots: that makes it thaa.' She knows her stuff.

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث — three dots: that makes it "thaa" · tha-LAA-thu ni-QAAT: THA

The word for three is ثَلاثُ. Notice how it starts with that same soft 'th' sound, just like the English word 'think'. You put your tongue between your teeth.

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث — three dots: that makes it "thaa" · tha-LAA-thu ni-QAAT: THA

And the word for dots is نِقاط. Put it together. Say it with me: ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث.

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث — three dots: that makes it "thaa" · tha-LAA-thu ni-QAAT: THA

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث

ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث — three dots: that makes it "thaa" · tha-LAA-thu ni-QAAT: THA

Nour gives him a slow nod of respect. He got it.

We are reading! Let's lock in what we've seen so far. The tooth letters with a short a: بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ. Again: بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ.

And Nour's favorite rule for the thaa. Three dots: ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث. Once more: ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث.

Now, Farid moves his pencil to the very last tooth in the line. The one with two dots underneath.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. — This is the letter yāʾ. · HAA-dhaa HAR-ful-YAA

He's telling him, 'This is the letter yāʾ.' It makes a 'y' sound.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. — This is the letter yāʾ. · HAA-dhaa HAR-ful-YAA

The word هٰذا means 'this'. And حَرْفُ means 'letter'. Listen to how Farid says it again.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. — This is the letter yāʾ. · HAA-dhaa HAR-ful-YAA

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. — This is the letter yāʾ. · HAA-dhaa HAR-ful-YAA

Try saying it out loud. Introduce the letter with two dots underneath. هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء.

هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. — This is the letter yāʾ. · HAA-dhaa HAR-ful-YAA

Sam looks down at the paper. He can actually read them all now. He mutters them under his breath, tracking with his finger.

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ

بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ — the tooth letters with a fatḥa (short "a") · BA TA THA NA YA

Then, his eyes drift up to the top shelf behind Farid's desk. There's a heavy, closed old book sitting there.

He couldn't read a single mark of it yesterday. But right there on the spine... he sees a tooth shape with two dots on top.

تَ!

Farid just smiles and takes a slow sip of his tea. A door is opening.

Before we find out what's in the book, let's lock in today's breakthroughs. The tooth letters with the fatḥa: بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ. Again: بَ تَ ثَ نَ يَ.

Three dots means thaa: ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث. Once more: ثَلاثُ نِقاط: ث.

And this is the letter yāʾ: هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء. Again: هٰذا حَرْفُ الياء.

You just read your first five letters in Arabic! We'll be back in the Book Quarter to connect them into real words. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday. See you then!