Dāl, dhāl, rā’, zāy and wāw

Most letters join on both sides. Six do not: they join to the letter before them, but the letter after them starts again, as if at the start of a word. You met the first of them, alif, in lesson 1. This lesson teaches the other five.

The letters

Each has only two shapes, alone and at the end, because it is never joined to anything after it.

Two pairs and a wāw

• Dāl is a small angle, open to the left. Dhāl is the same with one dot above.
• Rā’ is a short curve that drops below the line. Zāy is the same with one dot above.
• Wāw is a small round head with a tail that curves down below the line.

Dāl sits on the line; rā’ falls below it. That is how to tell the two pairs apart when the dots are the same.

Like alif, wāw also stands for a long vowel, ū. Lesson 13 shows how.

A word in pieces

Because these six letters do not join forward, a single word can be written in two or three pieces, with small gaps inside it. The gap after one of these letters is not the end of the word: the space between words is wider.

This word has a dāl in its middle. The dāl joins to the letter before it, and the letter after it begins again.

This word has two zāy. Each one ends a piece of the word.

In the Qur’ān

Recall

• Which six letters never join to the letter after them?
• How do you tell rā’ from dāl?
• Is a gap after rā’ inside a word the end of the word?

Answers: alif, dāl, dhāl, rā’, zāy and wāw; rā’ drops below the line and dāl sits on it; no, the space between words is wider.

Next

The next lesson teaches four letters with teeth and loops: sīn, shīn, ṣād and ḍād.