How to Read & Write Arabic 15: DAAD

This week we'll look at the letter 'Daad', another letter which has no equivalent sound in English. 

Speaking Daad
Like Saad the sound needs to come from your lungs rather than your mouth. Use the same technique you used to make the sound of Saad, but this time begin the sound with a ‘d’. Remember, like Saad the sound must be low. 

The sound for Daad needs to come from your lungs rather than your mouth and is made using the same technique as when you blow on your glasses to clean them. Blow on your glasses/sunglassses to make them steam up and make a sort of 'hhrrrh' sound whilst you’re doing it. Once you can do this, add an ‘D’ to the beginning of the sound and keep it deep and low. You should now be making a 'Daarrrh' sound.

Once you can make the 'Daarrrh' sound change the 'rrrh' at the end to a ‘d’ and make the Daaad sound; Daarrrd. Make sure when you say the letter 'Daad' you keep the sound as low as possible and that your tongue touches your top teeth.


Reading & Writing Daad
Daad is written in exactly the same way as Saad – a loop followed by a short vertical stroke, but this time you’ll need to add a dot above the loop. Always write the dot last:

independent


initial


medial

final



Photos of Daad
Here are some photos of words containing the letter Daad

Initial
remember, even though a letter is in the middle of a word if it follows a non-connector it will be written in its inital form



ground floor [al TarbaQ al ar-D'ee]






Medial
I can't quite remember where I took this sign for the Hippodrome, but I think it was Jerash or Petra, but definately somewhere in Jordan

This photo below is probably the most useful for learning Arabic; guest rooms or literally translated, room guest [gur-fa al Daa-wee-oof].  In Arabic the adjective always comes before the noun:



Independent
Another useful word in this sign, Sharah [shar-raH] or road:




Whilst this road sign says the same thing, without the word 'road'



Practice
This week's practice is the same as the previous weeks, except there is no hide and seek this week, finding the letter Daad has been difficult and I've used up all the photos I have of this particular letter!  You'll have noticed I'm sure there were no images of Daad in its final form ~obviously not a popular letter~

Anyway, should you wish to practice Daad, try the following:
1. Using lined paper write the letter 'Daad' in its four forms, as many times as you can; initial, medial, final and independent. A minimum of 20 repetitions is suggested.
2. Re-read the previous wgaw blog posts {wgaw subject/ labels 'How to Read and Write Arabic} and try to find the letter Daad in the postings. Then decide which form the letter 'Daad' appears.


What's Next?
Next week we’ll look at THAA, the next letter of the alphatet and another letter which doesn't have an equivalent sound in English.