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Arabic Alphabet
*Note:in this lesson you'll be taught the Arabic alphabet but with noting the letter name will be in Egyptian Arabic ,although there is no such big difference between the sounds of letter in Standard Arabic and Egyptian Arabic but i prefer to write the Egyptian sound of those letters purposely  to let  your tongue get used to Egyptian dialect.

Notable features:
1-the classical Arabic alphabet contained 22 letters but The Modern Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters, Some additional letters are used in Arabic when writing places names or foreign words containing sounds which do not occur in Standard Arabic, such as :/p/ or /g/.
and additional letters are used for writing languages other than Arabic ,such as Urdu and Persian (Farsi),these additional letters are generally formed by addinf extra dots,lines or other squiggles to existing letters or by combining two letters together.

2- Arabic Words are written in horizontal lines from right to left, Arabic is written with its own alphabet ,the shape and structure of the letters makes it’s natural to write Arabic in this direction.

3-to understand how to write in Arabic ,all what you have to do is knowing its handwriting system and realize it well, just like you connect letters together when you write ,so you will joint  letters when you write Arabic.

4-Most of letters change its form depending on whether they appear at the beginning, middle or end of a word, or on their own.

5-in Arabic language there are just 3 vowels and they are all with long sound :
alif,= /a:/ ------- like “a” in “cat”
yaa= /i:/ -------- like “ee” in “been”
waaw =/u:/ ----------- like “oo” in “moon”

6- these letters have no English equal and may be a problem specially in pronouncing:
Ha / Kha/ Ain / Ghain / Qaph /Hamza

7-the following letters should always be given the correct stress:
Saad,Daad,Tah,Zah
8- the English following sounds have no equivalent in Arabic:V & P.

9-“ain” is articulated by making a sound as far back in the throat as possible,
”Ghain” is preceded by a sound similar to that made in gargling or like the third letter
of the Greek alphabet.

**Greetings**:
-Hello = Ah-lan /(or )/ Merhaban.
**************
-Hello to you = ah-lan beek(when u speak to male).
                     = ahlan beekee(to female).
**************
-peace upon you = Sala-mo alikum.
-(the reply)peace upon you too = wa –alikum- il- salam.
**************
-Good morning = Sa-bah il-khair.
-Good afternoon +Good evening = Ma-saa il khair.
-Good night = Tes-bah ala Khair.
(the reply: wa enta min ahlo=Good night to you too).
**************
-Good Bye = Salam /or/Ma’a- il- Salama.(fi Aman el-lah =be in God’s care)
**************
-Welcome/or/greetings =Ah-lan -wa- sahlan.
-Welcome –   come in = ah-lan - wa sa-hlan-etfaddal (u speak to male)/
                                   ahlan wa sahlan-etfaddali (u speak to female).
      (usually we say it when you invite a guest to come into your place or house)

**************
-How are you?= Iza-yak? (when you speak to male).
                        Iza-yek? (when you speak to female).

*How are you doing?=
’amel eh? (when you speak to male).
’amla eh? (when you speak to female).

The Reply:
*1)I’m fine ,Thanks   =Ana qwa-yes,Shukran (your male form ).
                                   =Ana qwa-yesa,Shukran (your female form).

Ana = i'm (singular form used for boys and for girls)
Qwa-yesa = fine (feminine singular form)
Qwa-yes =fine (masculine singular form)

(“qwa”be pronounced like (qua) in the English word "aqua") .
(“yes” in “yesa’ be pronounced like "yes" but add the sound of "a" at the end of it).

*2)I’m good = Ana Be-khair (for both singular Male &Female).
*3)thanks be to God, good = il hamdoo lil-lah be-khair(for both singular Male &Female).
*4)fine,thanks be to God = qwa-yes,il hamdoo lil-lah (your male  form).
                                       =qwa-yesa,il hamdoo lil-lah (your female form).