Reading Arabic road signs

Arabic is read right to left, most letters join the next one and change shape a little as they do, and short vowels are usually not written. That sounds hard, but town names are short, and a few dozen letter shapes cover almost all of them.

Not every sign repeats the name in Latin letters, and in GeoGuessr reading the Arabic line tells you which town you are near. The quiz uses towns from countries where Arabic road signs meet Street View.

Arabic at a glance

Arabic script is used across the Middle East and North Africa. It is read right to left, and most letters join the next one, so a letter changes its shape a little with its place in the word.

Only the long vowels are written; the short ones you add yourself.

Dots make the difference

Many letters share one shape and differ only in their dots: ب has one dot below, ت two above, ث three above, ن one above and ي two below.

• بb
• تt
• ثth
• نn
• يy, ī

Letters that never join on

Six letters never join the letter after them, so they leave a small gap inside a word.

• اā
• دd
• ذdh
• رr
• زz
• وw, ū

Families of shapes

More letters come in families: one shape, with or without dots. Learn the shape once, then look for the dots.

A dot under a Latin letter (ḥ, ṣ, ṭ) marks a heavier sound; English names just write h, s, t.

• جj
• حḥ
• خkh
• سs
• شsh
• صṣ
• ضḍ
• طṭ
• ظẓ
• عʿ
• غgh
• فf
• قq

A few more letters

ك, ل, م and ه complete the alphabet. ة only comes at the end of a word and is read ‘a’. ى at the end is a long ‘a’. ء, and the small sign on أ and إ, is a catch in the throat.

One pair has a shape of its own: ل followed by ا is always written لا, lā, with the ا leaning over. Look for it in names like بيت جالا, Beit Jala.

• كk
• لl
• مm
• هh
• ةa
• ىā
• أa
• إi
• ءʾ
• لاlā

Only the long vowels

Only long vowels are written: ا for ‘ā’, و for ‘ū’ or ‘ō’, ي for ‘ī’. The short ‘a’, ‘i’ and ‘u’ you supply yourself; in the reading after each sign they are shown pale.

و and ي are also the consonants w and y.

The article al-

Many names start with ال, al-, "the". English names often drop it: الشارقة is Sharjah, and العقبة Aqaba.

Name parts worth knowing

Some pieces come back again and again. Spot them and half the name is read.

In Tunisia names are often spelled the French way, and ق is said g there and in much of the Gulf: قابس is Gabès. When you type, the reading counts too.

Try it

Which city is on the sign?

All the letters

Alphabet

• ا ‍اā
• ب ‍ب‍b
• ت ‍ت‍t
• ث ‍ث‍th
• ج ‍ج‍j
• ح ‍ح‍ḥ
• خ ‍خ‍kh
• د ‍دd
• ذ ‍ذdh
• ر ‍رr
• ز ‍زz
• س ‍س‍s
• ش ‍ش‍sh
• ص ‍ص‍ṣ
• ض ‍ض‍ḍ
• ط ‍ط‍ṭ
• ظ ‍ظ‍ẓ
• ع ‍ع‍ʿ
• غ ‍غ‍gh
• ف ‍ف‍f
• ق ‍ق‍q
• ك ‍ك‍k
• ل ‍ل‍l
• م ‍م‍m
• ن ‍ن‍n
• ه ‍ه‍h
• و ‍وw, ū
• ي ‍ي‍y, ī

Other signs

• ءʾ
• أa, u
• إi
• آā
• ةa
• ىā
• الal-
• لاlā

Digits

• ٠0
• ١1
• ٢2
• ٣3
• ٤4
• ٥5
• ٦6
• ٧7
• ٨8
• ٩9

Each letter is shown alone and in the shape it takes joined inside a word. Six letters ( ا د ذ ر ز و ) never join to the one after them.

Short vowels are not written. و and ي are w and y, or the long vowels ū and ī.

ق is said g in much of the Gulf and southern Tunisia.

The 200 places in the quiz

The quiz has 200 towns in Tunisia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the West Bank and Qatar.