Nuun, haa, waaw, and yaa
Finish all 28 letters and meet the letters that can write ii and uu.
Look at the letter then pronounce it
Nuun and yaa resemble the early dot family when joined. Haa changes strongly in the middle. Waaw breaks a connection to the following letter; yaa can join on both sides. Later we will distinguish consonant w/y from long uu/ii.
ن ه و ي
nuun / haa / waaw / yaa
nuun
One dot above a bowl; joined forms have one tooth. n as in net.isolated: نinitial: نـmedial: ـنـfinal: ـن
ن
nuun
haa
A looped form with no dots; the middle form has two small loops. h as in hat, lighter than the throat sound ḥ in ح.isolated: هinitial: هـmedial: ـهـfinal: ـه
ه
haa
waaw
A small loop with a descending curved tail and no dots. w as in wet; after ḍamma it can instead write long uu.isolated: وfinal: ـو
و
waaw
yaa
Two dots below in this standard spelling. y as in yes; after kasra it can instead write long ii.isolated: يinitial: يـmedial: ـيـfinal: ـي
ي
yaa