ب — baa
«baa» is a consonant of the Arabic script, read as “b”. A plain b as in "book". For example, in the word “باب” — door. The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters in total. A boat-shaped skeleton with one dot underneath. It appears, for example, in the word “مرحبا” — hi.
In short
| Character | ب |
| Name | baa |
| Sound | b |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 4th of 31: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ي and ت, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How to type ب
- On a phone: add the Arabic keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0628 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0628.
- Unicode code point: U+0628. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A plain b as in "book"
Other written forms
The same character is written differently on a shop sign and in a book. Here are all the forms you may meet.
| Form | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| initial | بـ | — |
| medial | ـبـ | — |
| final | ـب | — |
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- بابбаабdoor
The character in the “ب ت ث — one skeleton, dots count to three” group
The most legible family of the script: one skeleton, and the difference is the number of dots. One underneath, two on top, three on top. Learn it first — here you can see how the whole writing system works.
Words with this character
- مرحباмархабаhi
- صباح الخيرсабаах аль-хейрgood morning
- تشرفت بمعرفتكташаррафту би-маʿрифатикnice to meet you
- ببطءби-бутʿslowly
- تصبح على خيرтусбих аля хейрgood night
- خبزхубзbread
- أربعةарбаʿаfour
- بكم هذا؟би-кам хаза؟how much is it?
- سبعةсабʿаseven
- الحساب من فضلكаль-хисааб мин фадликthe bill, please
- حليبхалибmilk
- جبنةджибнаcheese
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «baa» it is “b”, as in the word “باب”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 28 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Arabic character ب read?
As “b” — it is a consonant of the Arabic script. A plain b as in "book". For example, in the word “باب” — door.
What is the letter ب called?
Baa. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Arabic script: it is called “baa” and reads as “b”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.