The Serto Script
Syriac is written right to left in 22 letters, all consonants — vowels are small signs added above or below the line. Maronites use the Serto style (“a line” or “stroke”), the rounded Western script you see throughout this site. Like Arabic, letters connect to each other and change shape slightly depending on their position in a word.
The alphabet
Section titled “The alphabet”The transliteration column shows how each letter appears in this site’s transliterations. Letters marked “soft” change sound when they follow a vowel (see below).
| Letter | Name | Sound | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|---|
| ܐ | Olaf | silent carrier of a vowel, like the Arabic alif | (the vowel alone) |
| ܒ | Beth | b; soft: v | b |
| ܓ | Gomal | g as in “go”; soft: like Arabic ghayn | g, soft gh |
| ܕ | Dolath | d; soft: th as in “this” | d |
| ܗ | He | h | h |
| ܘ | Waw | w | w |
| ܙ | Zayn | z | z |
| ܚ | Heth | strong h, like Arabic ح | h |
| ܛ | Teth | emphatic t, like Arabic ط | t |
| ܝ | Yudh | y | y |
| ܟ | Kof | k; soft: kh like Arabic خ | k, soft kh |
| ܠ | Lomadh | l | l |
| ܡ | Mim | m | m |
| ܢ | Nun | n | n |
| ܣ | Semkath | s | s |
| ܥ | ’E | deep throat sound, like Arabic ع | ’ |
| ܦ | Fe | f (older: p) | f |
| ܨ | Sodhe | emphatic s, like Arabic ص | s |
| ܩ | Qof | deep k, like Arabic ق | q |
| ܪ | Rish | r (rolled) | r |
| ܫ | Shin | sh | sh |
| ܬ | Taw | t; soft: th as in “thin” | t |
Hard and soft letters
Section titled “Hard and soft letters”Six letters — Beth, Gomal, Dolath, Kof, Fe, Taw — have a hard and a soft pronunciation, a feature Syriac shares with Hebrew. As a rule the letter is hard at the start of a syllable and soft after a vowel. In Maronite chant the softening survives most clearly in Gomal (gh) and Kof (kh): compare malko (king) with malakhé (angels) — the same Kof, hard in one word and soft in the other.
Small signs you will see in hymn texts
Section titled “Small signs you will see in hymn texts”- Two dots above a word (syomé, ܣܳܗ̈ܕܶܐ) mark a plural: sohdé, “martyrs”. Without the dots the word could be read as singular.
- A short line under or over a letter (linea occultans) silences it: ܐܰܢ̱ܬ is read at, not ant.
- A dot above or below a verb distinguishes tenses; it does not change the sound.
Practice
Section titled “Practice”Open any hymn — for example Qadichat Aloho — and match each Syriac word to its transliteration, letter by letter, from right to left. Because every vowel is written, hymn texts are among the easiest Syriac you can learn to read.