Arabic typing 101.
The beginner course, in three levels. They are split by how long the word is rather than how advanced the Arabic is, so most people should start at the bottom whatever they have already studied. Early on the thing slowing you down is your hands.
The 101 isn't just a nickname for the beginner stuff, incidentally. It is the name of the layout you are learning: Arabic 101 is the standard Arabic layout on Windows and the one most Arabic keyboards are printed with, and it's what every session here drills. If you want the topic order instead of the difficulty order, that's the Arabic typing practice hub, sixteen lessons from the alphabet to travel phrases.
Three levels, graded by how much word you have to hold.
Difficulty here is about typing, not about how advanced the Arabic is. A four-letter word is easier to type than a nine-letter one even when you know both, so the levels follow length: short single words, then longer ones, then phrases with spaces in them.
Short enough that you can hold the whole word in your head while you hunt for the keys.
Long enough that you stop reading letter by letter and start typing in chunks.
Real phrases with spaces in them, which is where rhythm starts to matter.
Sixteen lessons, in the order that makes sense.
You can dip into any set you like, but this is the run we would put someone through. The alphabet comes first because there is nothing to translate and your whole attention can sit on the keys. Travel comes last because its entries are the longest on the site.
- 01The alphabetNames spelled out letter by letter. Nothing to translate, so the whole job is finding keys.DrillsNames like بوب and جودي, so it's mostly the long vowels ا و ي and a handful of consonants. Look at your hands the whole time. That's the point of this one.22 words
- 02Greetings & introductionsWhat you would say in the first ten seconds of meeting someone. Also the biggest set here.DrillsThe home row (ا ل ي ب ن ت م ك) carries most of it, and you meet your first hamza: أَخْبار starts with Shift+H, and a bare ا there is marked wrong.124 words
- 03NumbersOne to ten, plus counting and the handful of words that hang around numbers.DrillsSmall set, heavy on ع, which is U on the top row, and on the verb تَعُدّ (you count) in three persons. The digits ٠ to ٩ have pages of their own.21 words
- 04FamilyMother, father, brother, and the possessive endings that turn each into mine or yours.DrillsThe endings ي (my) and ك (your) close nearly every noun, so D and the semicolon key get drilled without you noticing.71 words
- 05Food & drinkRestaurant vocabulary, mostly. Short nouns and quick wins.Drillsط on the apostrophe key turns up in مَطْعَم, بَطاطا and سَلَطة, and حَليب puts ح on P. Short nouns, so this is the first set where speed is fair game.104 words
- 06HomeRooms, rent, furniture. Where two-word phrases start turning up.DrillsThe definite article. ال is G then H, and with thirteen phrases and a dozen al- words in the set you type that pair until it feels like one key.78 words
- 07Daily routineVerbs in the first person: I eat, I shower, I go out. The same prefix over and over.DrillsNineteen of the seventy-two words open with the first-person أ, so Shift+H stops being a reach. The rest leans on س (S) and ف (T).72 words
- 08TimeHours and days, and the small set of words that pin something to a moment.DrillsClock times as whole phrases: اَلْسّاعة then the hour, so ال and ة over and over. The verb ذَهَب brings in ذ, the backtick key that nobody finds on their own.24 words
- 09ClothesColours and garments together, so adjectives start trailing their nouns.DrillsColours in pairs, masculine then feminine (بُنِّيّ, بُنِّيّة), so the ة on M closes every second word. أَزْرَق puts ز and ق, both far from home, in one short word.51 words
- 10DescriptionsAdjectives, and a second copy of most of them carrying a taa marbuta for the feminine.DrillsAdjectives bare and then with ة, one after the other. It's the second biggest set and mostly home row, so it's where most people first feel fast.105 words
- 11WeatherHot, cold, raining. Short and useful, and a breather after the adjectives.DrillsNine of the twenty-five words carry ط, the emphatic t on the apostrophe key that most people avoid until now. Short set, quick to finish.25 words
- 12Health & the bodyWhere it hurts and how to say you feel off. Small set, high stakes.Drillsح on P shows up in eight of twenty-six words, and there are set phrases (اَلله يُسَلِّمَك) you type as one run.26 words
- 13Jobs & workProfessions plus the longer study-and-work verbs. Words get noticeably longer from here.Drillsص (W) in nineteen words and ح (P) in twenty-two, one reach for each hand. The كون verbs put و on the comma key. First set to try without looking down.87 words
- 14EducationSchools and subjects, and a few proper nouns worth being able to spell properly.DrillsFourteen of twenty-one words end in ة (M), and إِسْلامِيّة opens with إ, the hamza below: Shift+Y, not Shift+H.21 words
- 15HobbiesWhat you like doing, plus the countries and languages that come up when people ask.DrillsVerbal nouns with the article (الْنَّوْم, sleep) and country names like إيطالْيا, where the runs of ي and ا test whether you can type a long vowel without counting.44 words
- 16Travel & placesThe biggest set, and last for a reason: long place names and whole phrases.Drills176 words, the most of any set, and the widest spread: ط, ض, خ and every hamza, including آ (Shift+N) in آسْيا. Whole phrases, so rhythm across the space bar matters as much as accuracy.176 words
How to practise so it sticks.
Short sessions, most days
Eight words takes a couple of minutes. Two of those a day will move you faster than one long sitting on a Sunday, because what you are building is a motor habit and habits want repetition more than they want volume.
Accuracy before speed
Wrong keys learned quickly are still wrong keys. Go slow enough that you rarely miss, and the speed arrives on its own. Words you fumble get flagged during the session so you can see the pattern in what trips you.
Want a number instead of a feeling? The Arabic typing test gives you words per minute and accuracy over a fixed minute. And if you have no Arabic layout installed at all, the online Arabic keyboard will type into any text box in the meantime.