Arabic Phonetic (SIL) Keyboard

This is a keyboard for entering Arabic phonetically using a standard English keyboard.

Keyboard Layout

The keyboard layout is displayed below in Keyboard graphics.

Base Version

Shift Version

Usage Notes

This keyboard has several shortcuts to make it easier to type phonetically:

• To make a long vowel, type the vowel twice. This is supported for:
  • aa (ا)
  • AA (آ)
  • uu (ؤ)
  • ee (إ)
• Four other multiple key outputs are supported:
  • yx (ئ)
  • ao ( ً )
  • uo ( ٌ )
  • eo ( ٍ )
• To add a Shadda (e.g. shown here on Beh, بّ), type the consonant twice
• To type Allah (لله), type llh
• Type any digit + > to get U+066C (thousands separator)
• Type any digit + < to get U+066B (decimal separator)
• To cycle through different variations of a letter, use the slash key (/). This is currently supported for:
  • alef/ain/fatha (a/)
  • dad/dal (d/)
  • heh/khah/hah (h/)
  • sad/sheen/seen (s/)
  • tah/teh marbuta/theh/zah/thal/teh (t/)