ج ح خ, د ذ ر ز and the letters that never join forward

Hooks, corners and falling strokes

ج, ح and خ share one body: a stroke along the top, then a deep curve that opens to the left. A dot inside, below, is ج (jīm, j); no dot, ح (ḥāʾ); a dot above, خ (khāʾ). ح is a strong, breathy h pushed from deep in the throat, as if you were fogging a pair of glasses; خ is a rough kh, as in Scottish loch. The dot under a letter in the Latin spelling (ḥ) marks such a deep sound.

The stroke along the top, the deep curve open to the left, then the dot inside it.

The same body with no dot at all.

The same body, then one dot above the top stroke.

د (dāl, d) and ذ (dhāl, th as in this) are a small corner that sits on the line; ذ adds a dot above. ر (rāʾ, a tapped or rolled r) and ز (zāy, z) are a short curve that falls below the line; ز adds a dot above.

One stroke: down and to the right, then a short foot back along the line.

The corner of د, then one dot above it.

One curve that starts on the line and falls below it, to the left.

The curve of ر, then one dot above its top.

One letter, up to four forms

In a word, most letters join to the letter before and the letter after, so a letter has up to four forms: alone (isolated), at the start of a word (initial), in the middle (medial), at the end (final). The initial and medial forms usually drop the tail: ب shrinks to a small tooth, ﺑ, and ج ح خ lose their bowl: ﺟ ﺣ ﺧ. The dots never move. You type one key per letter; the font picks the form.

ب at the start of a word: a short tooth with its dot, ready to join on the left.

ج at the start of a word: the top stroke and a short slant, dot below; no bowl.

ح at the start of a word: the same shape with no dot.

خ at the start of a word: the same shape, dot above.

Six letters never join forward

ا د ذ ر ز و join only to the letter before them, never to the one after. The next letter starts again, in its initial or isolated form, so a word can fall into pieces: دَار (dār, home) is three separate letters, وَرْد (ward, roses) too. In بَحْر (baḥr, sea), ب and ح join, and ر hangs on at the end.

وَرْد وَحِبْرroses and ink

خُبْز وَزَيْتbread and oil