How Do You Pronounce Alif (ا)?
The long "aa", as in father.
The sound
On its own, alif stretches the "a" sound long, like the a in father. It is the first letter of the alphabet and the tallest stroke on the page.
Alif itself is silent scaffolding. When a word begins with an "a" sound, the sound actually comes from a hamza (ء) riding on the alif, as in أَحَد (ahad). Inside a word, alif simply lengthens the vowel before it.
The four written forms
Arabic letters change shape by position, alone, at the start, in the middle, and at the end of a word.
Alif is one of the six letters (ا د ذ ر ز و) that never connect to the letter after them. It joins from the right only, so its initial form looks like its isolated form, and the letter following it starts fresh.
Alif with harakat
The three short vowels: fatha says "a", kasra says "i", damma says "u".
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