How to Learn Arabic, Step by Step

To learn Arabic, start with its 28 letters, then read easy texts that show the short vowels. Arabic is written from right to left, and most letters change shape when they join the next letter.

How to Learn Arabic, Step by Step

Start with steps 1 to 3. Steps 4 to 6 are how you keep learning after that.

• 🗺️Choose Your ArabicPick Modern Standard Arabic if you want to read the news, or a spoken kind like Egyptian Arabic if you want to chat with people from Cairo.
• 🔤Learn the Letters and Their ShapesLearn the 28 letters a few at a time, along with the shape each one takes when it joins its neighbors.
• ✏️Read With the Vowel Marks OnBooks for learners show short vowels as small marks, as in كَتَبَ (he wrote). Everyday writing leaves them out, so keep the marks on until common words look familiar.
• 🌱Learn Words in FamiliesMany words grow from three root letters. The root د ر س gives you درس (to study) and مدرسة (school), so one root helps you guess new words.
• 📖Read and Listen at Your LevelSpend most of your study time on Arabic you can mostly understand, in the kind of Arabic you picked.
• 🗣️Talk With a TutorYou learn to speak Arabic by talking with someone who answers you. Book a tutor who speaks the kind of Arabic you picked.

For step 2, Bubblegum's Arabic alphabet course gives each letter a picture to help you remember it, and the letter forms chart shows every joined shape on one page. For step 5, the guide to Arabic you can follow explains how to pick reading that fits.

Find Where You Are

Bubblegum is a language app with Arabic lessons in Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic or Moroccan Arabic. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes them, and each one is set at one of six levels. Read down the list until a sentence describes you, then start with that row.

1. Start With the Alphabet

   I can't read Arabic letters yet.

   Learn a few letters each session with the alphabet course, and read each new letter inside a real word.

   Arabic alphabet course →
2. Level 1

   I can read Arabic letters, but need help with words.

   Read greetings and introductions with the vowel marks on, and play the audio for every line.

   Level 1 greetings in Modern Standard Arabic →
3. Level 2

   I can read simple sentences.

   Try some lines without the vowel marks, and pick up words for food and places from short dialogues.

4. Level 3

   I can read short stories and messages.

   Look for the root letters inside each new word, and start speaking with a tutor in the kind of Arabic you chose.

5. Level 4

   I can read longer texts about everyday life.

   Read news written for learners, and listen to podcasts in the kind of Arabic you chose.

6. Level 5

   I can follow complex topics, but miss some details.

   Read everyday news sites and watch talk shows, and check a word only when the sentence makes no sense without it.

7. Level 6

   I can read almost anything.

   Read novels and poetry, and notice how word choice changes from one region to the next.

Frequently Asked Questions