Lesson 2
Compound Letters
الحروف المركبة
Six Arabic letters never connect to the letter that follows them. Learn which they are and how the special laam-alif (لا) compound is written.
Letters That Do Not Connect Forward
In Arabic, most letters connect to the next letter in a word. But six letters never join what comes after them they always stand slightly apart:
ا
د
ذ
ر
ز
و
Alif · Dāl · Dhāl · Rāʾ · Zayn · Wāw
When one of these letters appears in the middle of a word, the word is effectively split into two connected sections. Example:
رَزَقَ
razaqa
"He provided" the rāʾ breaks the connection
The Laam-Alif Compound (لا)
When lām (ل) is followed by alif (ا), the two letters merge into a single compound shape that must be written as one unit:
FormComponentsHow it appears
لال + اPlain alif most common
لأل + أAlif with hamzah above
لإل + إAlif with hamzah below
لآل + آAlif with maddah elongated
The laam-alif does not connect to what follows it (because alif is one of the six non-connecting letters).
Practice Words
لَاlā "no / not"
لأَمْرli-l-amr "for the matter"
وَلَدwalad "boy" (wāw breaks nothing here; lām connects)
وَرَدwarada rāʾ breaks the word
Key Points
- The six non-connecting letters: ا د ذ ر ز و memorise this group.
- Laam-alif (لا) is a mandatory compound you cannot write ل then ا separately in handwriting.
- The four laam-alif forms differ only in what appears on the alif always look at the seat carefully.