Arabic Virtual Keyboard
Type in Arabic without installing any software. This virtual keyboard helps English speakers write in Arabic with support for all letters, numbers, diacritical marks, special characters, and text-to-speech in Egyptian Arabic.
Your Arabic Text
How It Works
Type Naturally
Most Arabic letters correspond to English letters. Type 'a' for ا, 'b' for ب, 't' for ت, and so on.
Special Characters
Use capital letters for emphatic sounds (S for ص, D for ض) and apostrophes for special letters (s' for ش).
Diacritics & More
Add diacritical marks using combinations like 'a=' for fatha (َ), 'u=' for damma (ُ), and 'i=' for kasra (ِ).
Listen & Learn
Click the Listen button to hear your text pronounced in Egyptian Arabic with native-quality text-to-speech.
Keyboard Reference Guide
This keyboard is a tool that helps English speakers write in Arabic without having a dedicated Arabic keyboard installed on their computer. The keyboard is fully featured and contains support for all letters, numbers, special characters, diacritical marks, and text-to-speech in Egyptian Arabic.
Type your Arabic text using the virtual keyboard, then click the Listen button to hear it pronounced in Egyptian Arabic. If you are not comfortable with the Arabic alphabet yet, please head over to the alphabet learning section.
Letters
More Info
Most letters in the Arabic alphabet have a corresponding letter in English. For example, ا roughly corresponds to the letter a in English.
Arabic has emphatic letters. ص and ض are emphatic versions of س and د respectively. The emphatic letters are represented by capital letters in English, S and D respectively.
There are some letters that have no corresponding letter in English such as ش and ث. These letters can be generated by typing the closest corresponding English letter followed by an apostrophe '. For example s' and t' respectively.
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| a | ا |
| b | ب |
| t | ت |
| t + ' | ث |
| j | ج |
| H | ح |
| x | خ |
| d | د |
| d + ' | ذ |
| r | ر |
| z | ز |
| s | س |
| s + ' | ش |
| S | ص |
| D | ض |
| T | ط |
| Z | ظ |
| g | ع |
| g + ' | غ |
| f | ف |
| q | ق |
| k | ك |
| l | ل |
| m | م |
| n | ن |
| h | ه |
| w | و |
| y | ي |
Special Characters
More Info
Hamza (ء) is a letter in the Arabic alphabet which represents the glottal stop.
To achieve this character, type - in English, and to achieve the hamza below alif (إ) type a-- in English.
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| - | ء |
| a-- | إ |
| A-- | أ |
| A | آ |
| u-- | ؤ |
| y-- | ئ |
| Y | ى |
Diacritics
More Info
In Arabic, diacritic marks are symbols used to indicate the pronunciation of letters and to clarify the correct reading of words. These marks are called "harakat" (حركات) or "tashkil" (تشكيل).
- بَ - Ba with Fatha - Pronounced "ba" as in "bat."
- بُ - Ba with Damma - Pronounced "bu" as in "but."
- بِ - Ba with Kasra - Pronounced "bi" as in "bit."
- بّ - Ba with Shadda - Indicates a doubled or emphasized "b" sound.
- بْ - Ba with Sukun - Indicates that the letter is a consonant with no associated vowel sound.
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| a + = | َ |
| an + = | ً |
| u + = | ُ |
| un + = | ٌ |
| i + = | ِ |
| in + = | ٍ |
| s + = | ّ |
| h + = | ْ |
Numbers
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| 0 | ٠ |
| 1 | ١ |
| 2 | ٢ |
| 3 | ٣ |
| 4 | ٤ |
| 5 | ٥ |
| 6 | ٦ |
| 7 | ٧ |
| 8 | ٨ |
| 9 | ٩ |
Common questions
How do I type Arabic diacritics (harakat)?
Type the vowel letter followed by an equals sign: a= gives fatha (َ), u= gives damma (ُ), i= gives kasra (ِ). Shadda (ّ), sukun (ْ) and the tanween endings each have their own key on the diacritics row. The marks attach to the letter you typed immediately before them, exactly as they would on an Arabic keyboard.
Do I need to install an Arabic keyboard on my computer?
No. This keyboard runs in the browser, so nothing is installed and no system language settings change. Type here, then copy the text wherever you need it.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The on-screen keys work by tap on iOS and Android, and the layout reflows for narrow screens. You can also paste in Arabic text from elsewhere and add diacritics to it here.
Can I type Egyptian Arabic on it?
Yes — Egyptian Arabic uses the same 28-letter alphabet as every other variety. The Listen button reads your text back in an Egyptian accent, which is useful for checking that what you typed says what you meant.
How do I type the emphatic letters like ص and ض?
Use the capital of the matching plain letter: S gives ص, D gives ض, T gives ط and Z gives ظ. Letters with no single-key English equivalent use an apostrophe: s’ gives ش, t’ gives ث.
How do I type Arabic numerals?
Type the ordinary digits 0 to 9 and they become the Eastern Arabic forms ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩. Note that Arabic numbers read left to right even though the surrounding text runs right to left.