arabictyper
The word
اَلْقاهِرة

alqahira

Cairo
Arabicاَلْقاهِرة
Arabizialqahira
TranslationCairo
TypeFeminine noun
Audio
Native speaker, MSA
Letter by letter

The word, broken down.

اَلْقاهِرة reads right to left. Below, in reading order, each letter — its sound, its shape, its place in the syllable.

01
Letter
ا
alif
ā

A long 'a' vowel — a single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.

Type:H
02
Diacritic
ـَ
fatḥa
a

A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.

Type:Shift+Q
03
Letter
ل
lām
l

A plain 'l' — a tall upright stroke with a curved foot.

Type:G
04
Letter
ق
qāf
q

A deep 'k', made far back in the throat.

Type:R
05
Letter
ا
alif
ā

A long 'a' vowel — a single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.

Type:H
06
Letter
ه
hāʾ
h

A soft 'h', as in the English word 'hat'.

Type:I
07
Diacritic
ـِ
kasra
i

A short 'i' — a small stroke written below the letter.

Type:Shift+A
08
Letter
ر
rāʾ
r

A rolled 'r' — closer to Spanish than English.

Type:V
09
Letter
ة
tāʾ marbūṭa
a

The 'tied tāʾ' — marks a feminine ending, sounded as a soft 'a'.

Type:M
← First letter shown leftmost; the actual word is read right-to-left in script.
How to type it

The keystrokes, in order.

On a standard Arabic 101 / Arabic-PC layout — 10 key presses. Diacritics sit on the Shift keys. The on-screen keyboard on this site highlights each key as you go.

Practice typing this word →
Sequence
  1. 01Hا
  2. 02Shift+Qـَfatḥa
  3. 03Gل
  4. 04Shift+Xـْ
  5. 05Rق
  6. 06Hا
  7. 07Iه
  8. 08Shift+Aـِkasra
  9. 09Vر
  10. 10Mة
Composedاَلْقاهِرة
اَلْقاهِرة
Practice

Type اَلْقاهِرة until your fingers know it.

Or practice it inside the full Travel & places session.

Practice just alqahiraStart the Travel & places set