sh (shīn)

s (sād) stressed s, always transliterated as bold s

d (dād) stressed d, always transliterated as bold d

t (tā') stressed t, always transliterated as bold t

z (zā') stressed z, always transliterated as bold z

Explanation

Here comes the largest chunk of Arabic letters that only can be written in two variants: Standing alone, following another letter. None of these allows any subsequent letter to join. This involves that the writer will have to lift his pencil up from the paper, and write that subsequent letter as if it was the first in a word.

The last letter, the hamza, is not really a letter, there is no sound to it, and in transcriptions, no Latin letter is used, only an apostrophe. What the hamza indicates is a pausal stop in the pronunciation. No sound, simply a little stop. However, the hamza is no big obstacle for the Arabic student. Few Arabs emphasize the hamza when they speak themselves.