This was originally posted by Selma-Ibrahim.
WELCOME TO MY ARABIC LESSONS مرحباً بكم إلى دروسي للّغة العربيّة
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Before I even begin, let me just say that I'm not sure I'll keep doing this. I might get bored 
And . . . Arabic can get tricky for native speakers too.
- This is MSA
INTRODUCTION
I - THE ALPHABET
There's not really much I can do to help you learn the alphabet, you need outside sources, like this video
to help you learn it.
http://www.myeasyarabic.com/site/arabic ... _learn.htm
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But here are some notes:
Arabic is written from right to left
There are no uppercase or lowercase letters in Arabic
Everything is written in what I could simply call cursive.
Take this for example: حب (Hob)
This is the Arabic word for "love". It's made up of 2 letters: ح - ب
But combined, the first letter, ح, changes its shape, and connects itself to the ب.
Therefore: حب
It is absolutely wrong not to connect the letters. Most Arabs wouldn't be able to read what you've written.
Because letters connect to each other, all letters have more than one form.
For example, if you were to switch the ح and ب in the word حب, this is what it would look like:
بح
Now compare them: بح/حب
Unfortunately, the forms of the letters simply need to be memorized =(
- Some letters don't attach to the letters after them.
Like in the word "ana" - أنا (which is Arabic for "I")
It's made up of 3 letters, أ-ن-ا
The first and last letters are both the same = alif (the first letter of the alphabet)
The alif (أ) doesn't attach to letters after it, only letters before it. The ن attaches to both letters after it and before it.
This is why the word "ana" is written this way: أنا.
Here's some calligraphy that you'll one day be able to read 
This says: Life is good
Now let's get to the fun part:
Arabic has no "verb to be". So you don't have to waste your time learning conjugations like you probably did with German, Spanish, French etc . . .
Don't get too excited though, there's verb to be in other tenses, just not the present
That said, if you want to say, "I'm a boy," you'd take the word for "I", which is أنا, and the word for "boy" which is ولد (walad)
Put these two words together: أنا ولد.
Congratulations! You just formed your first Arabic sentence!
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Vocabulary:
Pronouns:
I = أنا
You (male): أنتَ (anta)
You (female): أنتِ (anti)
(YES, we do have different "you" forms based on the gender of the person =D)
Random words just so you'd be able to say you're these things:
Happy: سعيد (for male, saEEd) - سعيدة (for female, saEEda)
Cat: قط (for male, KiTT) - قطة (for female, KiTTa)
- Note on word order: In Arabic, like many other languages, the adjective comes after the noun. Ex: She is a pretty girl would be: She is a girl pretty.
Now, can you form these basic sentences?
I am a happy boy.
You (male) are a happy cat.
Write them in the comments below.
!إلى اللّقاء
Lesson 2 (viewtopic.php?p=5792#p5792)
PS: If you want to know how to write your name in Arabic, ask me =)