Detailed description of how to write "hi" in Arabic. The letters, how they connect and some writing rules.

1. Writing Greetings in Arabic
• Mar7aban, Arabic for “hi,” is written this way ‫مرحبا‬
• It consists of five letters ‫ ,ب ,ح ,ر ,م‬and ‫ .ا‬That is meem,
ra, 7a, ba, and alif.
• Because the Arabic script is cursive, the letters change
depending on their position in the word. The following
table portrays the letters used in Arabic to write
mar7aban and highlights the forms used to write the
word.

2. Mar7aban ‫مرحبا‬
• Remember we read from right to left
Final Position
Middle Position
Initial position
Letter
‫ــم‬
‫ــر‬
‫ــح‬
‫ــب‬
‫ا / ــا‬
‫ــمــ‬
‫ــر‬
‫ــحــ‬
‫ــبــ‬
‫ا / ــا‬
‫مـ‬
‫ر‬
‫حــ‬
‫بــ‬
‫ا‬
‫م‬
‫ر‬
‫ح‬
‫ب‬
‫ا‬

3. • So, to write mar7aban ‫ ,مرحبا‬we need ‫م‬
(meem) in the initial position; ‫( ر‬ra), ‫7( ح‬a),
and ‫( ب‬ba) in the middle position; and ‫( ا‬alif)
in the final position.
Final Position
Middle Position
Initial position
Letter
‫ــم‬
‫ــمــ‬
‫مـ‬
‫م‬
‫ــر‬
‫ر / ــر‬
‫ر‬
‫ر‬
‫ــح‬
‫حــ /ــحــ‬
‫حــ‬
‫ح‬
‫ــب‬
‫بــ /ــبــ‬
‫بــ‬
‫ب‬
‫ا / ــا‬
‫ا / ــا‬
‫ا‬
‫ا‬
At the end, you have ‫مـ ــر حـ ـبـ ــا‬
‫مـــر حــبـــا‬

4. Good to know that …
• All Arabic letters connect on both sides except for six of
them ‫ ,ا ,ذ ,د ,ز ,ر‬and ‫( و‬respectively from left to right,
ra, zey, dell, thell, alif, and waw). These letters connect
on the right but not on the left side.
• Because mar7aban contains ‫( ر‬ra) which is one of the
letters that doesn’t connect on the left, then the ‫7( ح‬a)
should be written as if it were in the initial position. It’s
impossible to connect ‫ ح‬to the letter that comes before
it ‫ ,ر‬always speaking from right to left).
• This is also why all the letters in the middle position
can be written in two ways.