The standalone form

لA tall upright stroke and a curve
A little curiosity goes a long way.

Meet the letter

Laam لَام

Laam has a tall stroke and no dots. It joins on both sides. Beside alif it forms the familiar laam–alif combination; the two letters still keep their identities.

Lemon

In the Arabic word لَيْمُون (“lemon”), the first letter is laam. Look for laam at the beginning of the Arabic word.

One letter. Four shapes.

The standalone form is above. Read the three connected forms from right to left.

Beginning

Joins to the left
Lemon

Laam joins to yaa on its left.

Middle

Joins on both sides
Pen

Laam joins to qaaf on the right and meem on the left.

End

Joins to the right
Camel

Laam joins to meem on its right at the end of jamal.

The name stays laam in every shape. A connected form does not add a new sound. Gold highlights this letter in each example.

1Three short vowelsA little mark changes the sound.

The letter’s name is laam. Follow the Arabic tiles from right to left.

2Stretch the vowelLaam with alif, yaa and waaw.

Keep the same consonant and stretch the vowel. These are sound practice units.

3Laam without a vowelSukūn · no following vowel.

The circle above لْ means there is no vowel on this consonant. Here is a complete noun, read when stopping.

Camel
Camel · stopping formjamal
لْ

Listen to the whole word.

Finish with l and no added vowel. The tongue meets the upper gums to make this sound.

4Two letters, one written shapeShaddah · three vowel sounds.

A shaddah joins two of the same consonant. The first has sukūn; the second has the vowel. Read each Arabic sequence from right to left.

Fatḥah · a

لْNo vowel
لَWith a vowel
لَّShaddah

Kasrah · i

لْNo vowel
لِWith a vowel
لِّShaddah

Ḍammah · u

لْNo vowel
لُWith a vowel
لُّShaddah
Hold the doubled consonant, then continue into its vowel. Do not insert a vowel between the two consonants.
5One word, three tanwīn endingsSee the ending in a real word.

Compare three full endings on the same noun. The doubled vowel mark adds an n sound when the ending is pronounced in full.

At a pause, the -un and -in endings are omitted; -an becomes a long ā. Choosing the ending in a sentence comes later.

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