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Volume 1 · Lesson 6 · Letters
Dal, Dhal, Fa, Hamza
pages 17–20
د
Letter 1 of 4
Arabic د is a dental "d" - your tongue touches your upper TEETH, not the ridge behind them like in English. This makes it slightly different from the English "d".
The letter د (Dal) is pronounced like the "d" in "door" or "day". It is a voiced dental stop - your tongue touches your upper teeth.
☀ SUN LETTER (حرف شمسي): Dal is a SUN LETTER. When the definite article "ال" precedes it, the "l" ASSIMILATES into the د sound. Example: الدَّرْس = "ad-dars" (the lesson) - you hear "ad-dars" not "al-dars"
NON-CONNECTOR: Dal is a NON-CONNECTING letter - it NEVER connects to the letter that follows it. Like ا، ر، ز، و، ذ.
Dal and Dhal have the SAME base shape! The difference:
Memory trick: "Dal is plain D, Dhal has a Dot for the TH sound"
How the letter changes with its place in a word, shown inside real words.
د is a non-connector: it joins the letter before it but never the letter after it, so its beginning form looks like the isolated one and the next letter starts fresh.
د
دَ
da
د
دَرَسَ
darasa
he studied
ـد
No example word in this lesson yet
ـد
وَلَدٌ
waladun
boy/child
Short vowel marks change the sound that follows the letter.
دَ
دُ
دِ
دْ
دً
دٌ
دٍ
دَّ
دُّ
دِّ
Read each word; the new letter is highlighted.
دَرَسَ
darasa
he studied
وَلَدٌ
waladun
boy/child
دَ
da
دُ
du
دِ
di
دً
dan
دَبَ
daba
بَدَ
bada
Check what you have learned, then read the practice words aloud.
Identify
Which word contains د?
Read each word, peek at the reading if you need to, and tick it off.
دَ
دُ
دِ
دْ
دً
دٌ
دَبَ
بَدَ
دَمَ
مَدَ
دِينَ
دُودَ
Trace each form over the guide, then try it freely.