Arabic is written and read from right to left, instead of left to right as in English. Unlike English, there are no capital letters. Arabic words more closely resemble cursive English writing than printing. Each letter is connected to the other letters within the word; each letter is written differently depending upon its position in the word.
There are 28 consonants and 3 vowels used to make words. Vowels may be short or long; long vowels are written within the word, while short vowels are represented by smaller symbols written above or below the word itself. Short vowels are generally dropped in print so you must be able to recognize the word without their aid.
Arabic words have a root made of three, or sometimes four letters. Words that share roots generally share meanings. For example, "al-kitab" has the root k-t-b and it means "book." Yiktib has the root k-t-b and it means " to read." If you can find the root of the word, you can use a dictionary to find its exact meaning.
Arabic has two genders: masculine and feminine. The gender of most words must be memorized, as there is no natural correlation between gender and meaning. Adjectives must be changed to modify the gender of the noun.
Arabic generally follows a verb/subject/object construction, but a conjugated verb can form a sentence of its own. For example, "a"rif" means "I know." Arabic also has more complex sentence structures, but the two main types are nominal and verbal. Nominal sentences are formed when the subject precedes the verb. This structure is used when the subject is the focus of sentence. When the subject follows the verb, this is called a verbal sentence. This is the normal form of a sentence in Arabic and does not occur in English.