qalam alustadha
the professor's penThe word, broken down.
قَلَم اَلْأُسْتاذة reads right to left. Below, in reading order, each letter — its sound, its shape, its place in the syllable.
A deep 'k', made far back in the throat.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
A plain 'l' — a tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
A plain 'm'. A small round head with a tail.
A long 'a' vowel — a single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
A short 'a' — a small stroke written above the letter.
A plain 'l' — a tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A glottal stop carried on an alif.
A short 'u' — a small loop written above the letter.
A plain 's'. Three small teeth in a row.
A plain 't'. The same body as bāʾ, but with two dots above.
A long 'a' vowel — a single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
The 'th' in 'this'. Like dāl, with one dot above.
The 'tied tāʾ' — marks a feminine ending, sounded as a soft 'a'.
The keystrokes, in order.
On a standard Arabic 101 / Arabic-PC layout — 18 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 →- 01R→ق
- 02Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 03G→ل
- 04Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 05L→م
- 06Space→
- 07H→ا
- 08Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 09G→ل
- 10Shift+X→ـْ
- 11Shift+H→أ
- 12Shift+E→ـُḍamma
- 13S→س
- 14Shift+X→ـْ
- 15J→ت
- 16H→ا
- 17`→ذ
- 18M→ة