baa# باء

baa' This is an Arabic B.

Writing the baa# باء

To write this letter, first draw a tooth and then a baa# باء tail, and put a dot under the tooth.

baa' head and baa' tail

When the baa# باء is not the last letter, there's no tail. Draw the tooth, join it to the next letter, draw the next letters, and add the dot below the tooth, like this:

a baa' before a miym

The figure shows a baa' followed by a miym ميم.

Ways NOT to Write the baa# باء

Show this Arabic B to your friends:

baa'

and ask them to copy it. Most of them will draw something like this:

two badly drawn baa's

They will draw this from left to right, the two sides will look the same, and the dot will be exactly in the middle. This looks UGLY.

The problem is that many Roman letters are symmetrical (M, T, V, X, W, Y, H, U, O, A, B, C, D, E) so your hand likes symmetric shapes. Well, that won't work with Arabic. first yo draw a vertical short stroke on the right, then add a curved tail.

Another common error:

[ yet another bad baa' ] ]]

The corner on the right is OK, but the one on the left should be rounded, not a corner. Ah, just in case you forgot: never write left to right, even if you find it easier.

To know if you've written a baa# باء correctly, look at the back of the paper. As you are using thin paper (¿aren't you?), some ink will show thru. a bad takeoff The ink is darker in the points where the marker stopped. You'll probably see three dark spots. The first two have to be there, but the third is an error: it means you stopped at the end of the tail, instead of taking off.

Always Dot Your baa#s

The dot of a baa# باء can always be placed just below the tooth, or a bit to the left of that.

If the baa has a tail, anywhere between just below the tooth and below the middle of the tail is OK.

See also the section "drawing the dots".

In printed Arabic, all final baa# باءs have the dot under the exact middle of the tail. There's no need to wory so much.

Reading the baa# باء

Beginners confuse the baa# باء with other letters which look like it. Check the cheatsheet, just in case.

Copyright (c) 2001-2009 Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/net/arabe/b.en.html
Last revised: 2008-04-12

taa# تاء

Alphabet Table

writing_arabic -> alphabet -> baa#