Arabic Letters Laam, Meem and Noon

The Letters Laam, Meem and Noon

·        The next letters of the Arabic alphabet are Laam, Meem and Noon

·        Laam, Meem and Noon are really nothing alike
But we group them together anyways

·        Laam is pretty much like L
Meem is equivalent to M
Noon is equivalent to N

Listening & Pronouncing

·        Laam sounds pretty much like L
But it’s just a bit different

·        Here’s how you pronounce Laam:
Pronounce the L sound
Notice that the tip of your tongue (and maybe a bit more) touches the roof of your mouth (close to your teeth)
Now make a bit more of your tongue touch your mouth
In other words, make your tongue a bit flatter against the roof of your mouth

·        Compare L and Laam in the recordings below

·        There’s nothing much to say about Meem and Noon

·        Exercise: repeat the words you hear

·        Exercise: repeat what you hear

Reading & Writing

·        Remember that Aleph and Laam look similar
But Aleph does NOT connect to the next letter
That’s enough to tell them apart

·        Also, when Aleph comes after Laam, Aleph becomes slightly curved

لا

·        Meem has a tiny loop

·        The loop of the Meem is smaller
And you write the loop of the Meem starting from the bottom
You can tell it’s written starting from the bottom
But the loop of Faa and Qaaf is very round

·        Remember that you write the loop of Saad/Daad starting from the top
But the loop of Meem starts from the bottom

·        Note that when Noon is by itself or at the end, the body is a deep curve
But when it’s in the beginning or middle, the body is identical to Baa/Taa/THaa

·        You can think of the Noon body (by itself or at the end) as a deep curve
Or as the loop at the end of the Saad/Daad body with a dot on top

Or as a Zaal with the body rotated almost 90 degrees

·        Use the single-dot of Noon to differentiate between it and Baa, Taa and THaa

·        Exercise: copy the following words
(Optional) try to read the ones you can

جوعان، ريان، لامك، نعمان

معن، سلم، حِنْثِ، رَيالُ

أَلَسْكَنْدَرْ، مِقْدارُ، منوال، بِنْتَ

·        Exercise: beside each word below, put the letter of the recording that matches it

Proceed to lesson 19