ا

See also: أ [U+0623 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA ABOVE]‎, ٵ [U+0675 ARABIC LETTER HIGH HAMZA ALEF]‎, اً‎, ٱ [U+0671 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WASLA]‎, آ [U+0622 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH MADDA ABOVE]‎, إ [U+0625 ARABIC LETTER ALEF WITH HAMZA BELOW]‎, and ا-‎

ا - Arabic

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /ʔa.lif/
(phoneme): IPA: /ʔ/

Letter

ا / ‍ا‎ • (ʔalif)

Although usually considered to be the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the small hamza (ء‎ (ʔ)) that sits on top of أ‎ (ʔ) is really the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and the tall column is its bearer. This entry only deals with the lower part, the bearer, which is called أَلِف‎ (ʔalif) and, without the hamza, is used to lengthen a preceding a.

Symbol

ا • (ʔalif)

The first letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is followed by ب‎ (b).

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

Pronunciation

After fatha: ـَا — IPA: /aː/

- عَار‎ (ʕār, “shame”)

Combined with fatha: اَ — IPA: /ʔa/

- اَلْيَوْمَ‎ (al-yawma, “today”)

Combined with kasra: اِ — IPA: /ʔi/

- اِبْن‎ (ibn, “son”)

Combined with damma: اُ — IPA: /ʔu/

- اُكْتُبْ‎ (uktub, “write”)

ا - Balti

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɑ/, /ə/, /e/, /o/

Letter

ا (â)

The first letter of the Balti alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

ا - Burushaski

Pronunciation

IPA: /aː/, [aː]

Letter

The first letter of the Burushaski alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script

ا - Chinese

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA: /a/, [ɑ]

Letter

The first letter of the Xiao'erjing abjad.

ا - Kashmiri

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /əlif/
(phoneme): IPA: /a/, /aː/

Letter

ا • (a,ā)

The first letter of the traditional alphabet chart of Kashmiri.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

ا - Kazakh

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /æˈlip/
(phoneme): IPA: /ɑ/ (back)
(phoneme): IPA: /æ/ (front)

Letter

ا • (a, ä)

The first letter of the Kazakh in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А or Ә.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

Usage notes

Represents the back-vowel sound /ɑ/, unless a small ء is placed at the beginning of the word. In Kazakh, the Hamza marks that all vowels in the following word are fronted. If ا is the initial letter of a word and is representing a front vowel, it is combined with the hamza and the variant ٵ is used.

ا - Khowar

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /alif/
(phoneme): IPA: /a/

Letter

ا (ālif)

The first letter of the Khowar abjad.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

ا - Kyrgyz

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /aˈlif/
(phoneme): IPA: /ɑ/

Letter

ا • (alif)

The first letter of the Kyrgyz in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter А

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

ا - Malay

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA: [alef]
(Phoneme) IPA: [ä], [ɐ], [ə]

Letter

ا / ‍ا‎

The first letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

ا - North Levantine Arabic

Suffix

ـا • (-a, -wa, -ya) f

Alternative spelling of ـها‎ when it is not pronounced as “-ha”

ا - Pashto

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /aˈlif/
(phoneme): IPA: /ɑ/, /ʔ/

Letter

ا • (alif)

The first letter of the Pashto alphabet.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

Usage notes

At the start of the word, the letter ا (alif) represents the consonant /ʔ/.
In the middle or end of a word, ا represents the vowel /ɑ/.

ا - Persian

Pronunciation

Phoneme:
- (Dari) IPA: /ɑː/, /a/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/
- (Iranian Persian) IPA: /ɒː/, /æ/, /e/, /o/
Letter name:
- (Dari) IPA: [alɪf], [alɛf]
- (Iranian Persian) IPA: [ælef]

Letter

ا • (a, a, e, o)

The first letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. Its name is اَلِف (alef).

Usage notes

The phonemes /a/, /ɪ/, and /ʊ/ no longer exist in Iranian Persian and should only be pronounced in Dari or Tajik. The short-vowels /a/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, or /æ/, /e/, /o/ are only denoted with alef in the beginning of a word. If a word-initial Alef is representing the sound /ɑː/ or /ɒː/ it's usually written as آ

Suffix

ـاً • (-an)

Used to form adverbs from nouns or adjectives.

Usage notes

This suffix mostly occurs with Arabic loanwords, but it is used somewhat peculiarly in Persian. Firstly, it also written out after words which, in Arabic, end in the feminine suffix ـَة‎ (-a), e.g. نسبتاً‎ (nesbatan, “relatively”). More importantly, it may at times occur with native Persian words and with Arabic words in which the ending would be ungrammatical, e.g. ناچاراً‎ (nâčâran, “inevitably”), اقلاً‎ (aqallan, “at least”).

Derived terms

Persian terms suffixed with ا (adverbial)

Pronunciation

IPA: /æ/

Preposition

ا • (a)

(dialectal, Hamadan, Harat) from, since

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɒː/

Suffix

ـا • (-â)

an adjective forming suffix
a noun forming suffix

Alternative forms

یا‎ (-yâ) (following a vowel)

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɒː/

Suffix

ـا • (-â)

(chiefly literary) a vocative suffix
- ‏خداوندا‎ ― xodâvandâ ― O Lord!

ا - Punjabi

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /əlif/
(phoneme): IPA: /ə/, /ɑː/, /äː/, /∅/

Letter

ا • (a)

The first letter of the Punjabi written in the Shahmukhi script.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

ا - Rajasthani

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /ɑlif/
(phoneme): IPA: /ɑ/

Letter

ا (ảlif)

The first letter of the Rajasthani abjad.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

ا - Urdu

Pronunciation

(letter name): (Standard Urdu) IPA: /ə.lɪf/
(phoneme): (Standard Urdu) IPA: /ə/, /ɑː/, /ʔ/

Letter

ا • (ālif)

The first letter of the Urdu abjad.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا

Alternative forms

انـ‎ (an-) (before vowels)

Prefix

اـ • (a-) (Hindi spelling अ-‎)

A negating prefix. non-, un-, a-, an-, etc.
- Synonyms: غَیر‎ (ġair), ناـ‎ (nā-)

Usage notes

This form is used before words that begin with consonants.

Derived terms

Urdu terms prefixed with ا

ا - Yoruba

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA: /a/
(phoneme): IPA: /a/

Letter

ا (a)

The first letter of the Yorùbá alphabet in the Ajami Script.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form
ا	ـا