‫س‬

Sīn
s
‫ﻣﺲ‬ ‫ﻣﺴﺎ‬ ‫ﺳﺎ‬
Sīn (pronounced seen) is the first of the next set of twin sister letters. Sīn’s head
stays above the line, whereas its tummy goes below the line and then reaches
back up to the line. The transliteration symbol for this letter is s.
 ‫ش‬
Shīn
sh
‫ﻣﺶ‬ ‫ﻣﺸﺎ‬ ‫ﺷﺎ‬
Shīn (pronounced sheen) is the twin sister of sīn. Its head stays above the line,
whereas its tummy goes below the line and then reaches back up to the line. Shīn
has 3 dots just like the letter thāʾ. The transliteration symbol for this letter is sh.
 ‫ص‬
Ṣād
ṣ
‫ﻣﺺ‬ ‫ﻣﺼﺎ‬ ‫ﺻﺎ‬
Ṣād (pronounced saad) is from the next set of twin sisters. Its head is almost like a
fish and stays above the line, whereas its tummy goes below the line and then
reaches back up to the line. Ṣād is like a heavier version of the letter sīn. The
transliteration symbol for this letter is ṣ (note the dot under the s to remind you
that this letter has a heavy s sound).
 ‫ض‬
Ḍād
ḍ
‫ﻣﺾ‬ ‫ﻣﻀﺎ‬ ‫ﺿﺎ‬
Ḍād (pronounced daad) is the twin sister of ṣād. Its head is almost like a fish with
a dot on top and the head stays above the line, whereas its tummy goes below
the line and then reaches back up to the line. Ḍād is like a heavier version of the
letter dāl. The transliteration symbol for this letter is ḍ (note the dot under the d
to remind you that this letter has a heavy d sound).
 ‫ط‬
Ṭāʾ
ṭ
‫ﻣﻂ‬ ‫ﻣﻄﺎ‬ ‫طﺎ‬
Ṭāʾ is from the next set of twin sister letters. Its head is similar to the head of the
ṣād and ḍād. Its head sits on the line and its body goes upwards. It has the same
height as the letter alif. No part of this letter goes below the line. This letter is like
a heavy version of the letter tāʾ. The transliteration symbol for this letter is ṭ
(notice the dot underneath the t to remind you that this is a heavy t sound).
 ‫ظ‬
Dhāʾ
dh
‫ﻣﻆ‬ ‫ﻣﻈﺎ‬ ‫ظﺎ‬
Dhāʾ is the twin sister of ṭāʾ. Its head is similar to the head of the ṣād and ḍād. Its
head sits on the line and has a dot, whilst the rest of its body goes upwards. It has
the same height as the letter alif. No part of this letter goes below the line. This
letter is like a heavy version of the letter dhāl. The transliteration symbol for this
letter is dh (notice the line underneath to remind you that this is a heavy dh
sound). NB: We use a line in transliteration for this letter instead of dots because
dots on both the d and h may get confusing, allowing us to mistake them for a ḍād
and ḥāʾ next to each other.