Somebody on Quora just asked: “How come the words Allah and the definite article AL in Arabic start with ALIF, while the rule is that you cannot start a word with an ALIF in Arabic?”

When you see an ALIF at the beginning of word, it’s not just an ALIF. It’s there to carry either a Hamza, a MADDA or a WaSla.

See other episodes on this podcast to find out more about those three.

In the meantime, here are some examples:

Words starting with an ALIF HAMZA:

‏أنا، أكل، إستقلال

Words starting with an ALIF

MADDA:

‏ آكل، آمال، آسيا

Words starting with a WASLA:

في الييت، واستقبل، بعد انقلاب

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