289 shapes of the word No لا in Arabic

:meow-bug: 5 and 6 from the top left corner are how people write it irl. And this is how computers do it لا.

:meow-fiesta: Yalla, let's learn some more Arabic :meow-fiesta:

ل + ا = لا

The letter ل “laam” is just an l and it's transliterated as l

The letter ا "’alif" is the long counterpart of the short vowel fatHa   َ   from 2 days ago.

The ’alif can make two sounds: a “light” aa as in “dad” and a “dark” aa as in “far.”

Final	Medial	Initial	Independent / Isolated
ـل	ـلـ	لـ	ل
ـا	ـا	ا	ا

The ’alif is written from top to bottom ا in the independent position, but if it is connected to a preceding letter, it is drawn from bottom up ـا

The alif is whats called a one-way connector i.e. it only connect to the letter before it, so the letter following it will always be in the initial position :think-about-it: makes sense?

Why? Why is the ‘alif ا a one-way connector?

How else would we tell the ‘alif ا and the laam ل apart? The one that is a straight line ا doesn’t connect to the following letter, while the one that has a tail ل does.

So لا, meaning no, is pronounced laa :bugs-no:

Listen to it here and here

Here is what @bubbalu said about their experience learning Arabic with me, which you probably didn't get to read:

It was a great joy to study with mu3allim last year! They are very committed to language learning and internationalism. Over about four months I was able to get a good grasp of the alphabet, phonics, and simple declarative sentences. I am an early elementary teacher and work with a lot new arrival students and mu3allim helped me build the vocabulary to help them feel at ease and teach English phonics.
I recommend any comrades seriously interested in learning Arabic to take lessons with them!