Free Arabic learning resources
23 free resources, checked and categorised.
Every link is usable without paying. Some ask for a free account or keep extras behind a paid tier, and those are labelled.
The first decision in Arabic matters more than any resource choice: Modern Standard Arabic or a spoken dialect. MSA is the language of news, books and formal writing, and almost nobody speaks it at home. A dialect (Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf) is what conversation actually happens in. Most people want both eventually; starting with both at once is what stalls learners.
The script is less trouble than it looks and takes a couple of weeks. Short vowels are usually unwritten, which means reading fluency depends on already knowing the word, so vocabulary and reading grow together rather than one enabling the other.
Root-and-pattern morphology is Arabic's great efficiency: once you recognise a three-letter root, whole families of related words open up at once. It is worth learning that system explicitly and early, because it turns vocabulary from memorisation into pattern recognition.
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YouTube video lessons introducing Arabic reading, writing, and script sounds in English for non-native speakers, with guidance on connecting letters and basic pronunciation
Blog posts with short Arabic lessons, vocabulary, and grammar practice on practical topics like childhood, numbers, and the future tense
A YouTube playlist from the channel Arabic 101 (https://www.youtube.com/@Arabic101).
Browse 192 Arabic-language comic books online by genre and date, with page-by-page reading and free downloads for Golden Age and Silver Age issues
HTML/JavaScript Arabic dictionary interface for searching root-based and alphabetical reference books, including offline downloads for desktop and mobile use
Searchable Arabic reader and dictionary interface for browsing available books, adjusting reading and swipe settings, and looking up words while reading
Digitized English-Arabic dictionary book on Internet Archive for looking up Arabic equivalents of English words and phrases, with scanned pages to browse or read
Public-domain FSI Levantine Arabic course with an introduction, student text, and tape/transcript sections for studying pronunciation and lessons.
Public-domain FSI Arabic course with student texts and audio tapes for learning the writing system and reading modern printed Arabic across three volumes
Blog posts with detailed notes on Algerian Darja morphology, word formation, numerals, and usage examples from spoken and written sources
Free Arabic learning site with leveled articles, grammar notes, blogs, tests, and courses for practicing reading and language skills
Arabic writing lesson with clickable alphabet pronunciation, explanations of letter forms, and links to count, phrases, and exercises
(“Arab world's largest open platform for books”) - Arabic literature to read online or to download as a pdf file for free.
A YouTube playlist from the channel Arabic 101 (https://www.youtube.com/@Arabic101)
An Arabic-English dictionary from the XIX century, in case you'd like to read the Koran or classic Arabic literature.
A website/app for mobile and tablet where you can learn different Arabic dialect, grammar and comprehension through all the skills and all the levels.
Free Arabic learning site with news-style articles, grammar explanations, blogs, tests, and level-based reading practice from beginner to proficiency
A six-hour Wikimedia Commons video/audio file of an Arabic Swadesh list, showing Arabic words for the first 100 basic vocabulary items
Searchable German-Arabic dictionary with about 50,000 entries and phrases, for looking up translations and usage labels in standard and colloquial language
Polish-Arabic Quizlet course.
Learn it there, practise it here
Free resources are great for input: reading, listening, explanations. They are weaker at the two things that actually move you forward: speaking Arabic out loud, and remembering what you met once. That is what OwnSlides is for.
Say it out loud
Talk to an AI tutor that answers back, or get matched with other learners and native speakers for a text chat.
Practise what you read
Turn a grammar point or article into exercises, so it moves from recognised to usable.
Keep the words
Save new words to My Words and let spaced repetition bring them back before you forget them.
This directory began from a community-built list of free language resources, a year of collecting and checking by Joanna (u/chlebka) and dozens of contributors who suggested links, shared freely. See the original list. We have since expanded, re-checked and re-categorised it, and we keep the per-resource credits where the original list recorded them.