There are several general points to be noted:
Arabic is written from right to left – the opposite of English.
One thing you must get used to in the Arabic script is that short vowels, for instance a, i or u (as opposed to the long vowels aa, uu and ii), are not shown in the script. For the moment, get used to the fact that the word 'bank' (which Arabic has borrowed from English), is written b-n-k.
Arabic script is always joined or cursive, ie there is no equivalent of the English text you are now reading, where all the letters have separate forms with spaces between them. There are no capital letters.
In cursive script writing letters are joined together by means of joining strokes (called ligatures). As a result, Arabic letters have slightly different forms, depending on whether they come at the beginning, middle or end of a word. A few letters do not join to the following letter, but all Arabic letters join to the preceding one.
*The letter alif has no sound of its own, and is used only to express the long vowel 'aa' and as a support for the so-called hamza. The hamza is not regarded by the Arabs as a letter of the alphabet, but as a supplementary sign. Its official pronunciation is a glottal stop (as in cockney 'bottle'). It is frequently omitted in speech, but it is common in written Arabic:
