Arabic letters usage in Literary Arabic

Contextual forms
Name

alif

Translit.

(also
)

Value (IPA)

Isolated
Final

Medial

Initial

various,
including /a/ [a]

/b/
(sometimes /p/ in loanwords)[b]

/t/

th

th (also )

//

jm

j (also , g
)

[dd] ~ [] ~ [] [c]

//

kh

kh (also , )

/x/

dl

/d/

dhl

dh (also )

//

/r/

zayn / zy

/z/

sn

/s/

shn

sh (also )

//

sd

/s/

dd

/d/

/t/

[] ~ [z]

ayn

(also )

//

ghayn

gh (also , )

//
(sometimes // in loanwords)[c]

/f/
(sometimes /v/ in loanwords)[b]

qf

/q/
(sometimes // in loanwords)[c]

kf

/k/
(sometimes // in loanwords)[c]

lm

/l/

mm

/m/

nn

/n/

/h/

ww

w / / aw

/w/, /u/, /aw/,

sometimes /u/, /o/, and /o/ in loanwords

[d]

[d]

y / / ay

/j/, /i/, /aj/,

sometimes /i/, /e/, and /e/ in loanwords

[e]