Hold aa, ii, and uu
Distinguish short vowels from long vowels and consonant w/y.
Three lengthening patterns
Fatḥa followed by alif writes long aa; kasra followed by unvowelled yaa writes ii; ḍamma followed by unvowelled waaw writes uu. Hold the vowel longer without adding a new syllable. Aa, ii, uu are also written ā, ī, ū in some books.
بَا بِي بُو
baa / bii / buu — practice syllables
Letters can do two jobs
Waaw and yaa can also be consonants w and y when they carry their own vowel. Alif is not always a long vowel: أ and إ carry hamza, the catch between the two parts of uh-oh. The hamza sign is a spelling extension, not a new member of our 28-letter list.
وَ يَ أَ
wa / ya / a preceded by a glottal stop
A word you can stretch
Keep the vowel long in door. Word examples use the pronunciation at a pause, without grammatical case endings. There are no new base letters in these examples.
بَاب
baab — door