أشكال الحروف: من الراء إلى الشين
Arabic · Early Years · The School
Eight new friends
ر (rā), ز (zāy), س (sīn), ش (shīn), and before them ذ (dhāl) — plus د (dāl) which you met. Look at ر and ز: the same little curve, and the dot on top makes it "z". Look at س and ش: the same three teeth, and three dots on top make it "sh". Once again, dots do the work.
The letters that will not hold hands
Six letters join to the letter BEFORE them but never to the letter after: ا د ذ ر ز و. That means the word breaks after them, leaving a little gap. This is not a mistake in the printing — it is a rule. Spotting these six explains most of the gaps you see inside Arabic words.
Sounds to practise
ر is a tapped r, like a Spanish "pero" — the tongue flicks the roof of the mouth once. ش is "sh" as in ship. س is a clean "s". Say ra-za-sa-sha slowly, then faster. Making the sound correctly now is much easier than fixing it later.
Write سَرَ and then سَشَ. In the first, look at what happens after ر — the next letter has to start again, so there is a visible gap. In the second, ش joins straight on. The six non-joiners are ا د ذ ر ز و. Now look at the word زَوْراء and count the gaps: they are all after one of the six. Once you know the six, the gaps stop looking random.