The formal prayer, salah, has its set words and Arabic, and you are learning it. But there is another kind of prayer with no script at all, and it may be the one that saves you on the hard nights: du'a, simply talking to Allah. Telling Him what you fear, what you want, what you are sorry for, in your own words.
Many new Muslims do not realise they are allowed to do this, freely, constantly, in any language. You are. It is not a lesser prayer. It is the marrow of worship, and the door to it is never closed.
Just for today
Tonight, in your own language, out loud or in your heart, say one real thing to Allah. Not a memorised formula, just the truth: a worry, a thank-you, a plea for help. Speak to Him as the Near One who is listening, because He is. That honest sentence is du'a, and it is worship.
He told you to ask
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ٱدْعُونِىٓ أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
“And your Lord says, 'Call upon Me; I will respond to you.' Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell rendered contemptible.”
Ghafir 40:60 Read 40:60 with tafsir
You might fear that bothering God with your small needs is presumptuous. The opposite is true. Allah does not merely permit you to ask; He commands it, and promises an answer:
In any language, any words
Here is the freedom no one may have told you: du'a does not have to be in Arabic, and it does not have to be beautiful. The set Arabic is for the formal salah; your personal conversation with Allah can be in English, or your mother tongue, or broken half-sentences through tears. He understands all of it, because He understands the heart before the words.
You can make du'a anywhere and anytime, walking, driving, lying awake, washing dishes. There are beloved memorised du'as from the Prophet ﷺ that you will gather over time, and they are treasures. But never let learning the formal ones stop you from talking to Allah right now, today, exactly as you are.
He is near, and He remembers you
فَٱذْكُرُونِىٓ أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَٱشْكُرُوا۟ لِى وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.”
Al-Baqarah 2:152 Read 2:152 with tafsir
When you turn to Him, you are not calling across a vast distance to someone who might not be listening. You are speaking to the One who is closer than your own pulse, and who answers a relationship of remembrance with remembrance:
When it feels unanswered
Sometimes you will ask and ask and seem to get silence. Hold onto what the Prophet ﷺ taught: no sincere du'a is ever wasted. Allah either gives you what you asked, or holds it back and gives you something better, or stores its full weight for you on the Day you will need it most. The answer is always yes; only the form and the timing are His.
So keep asking, and lean into the moments He made especially open: the last third of the night, the time you are in prostration, the moments before you break a fast, while it rains, between the call to prayer and the prayer itself. And ask Him for everything, the enormous and the tiny, because a Lord who tells you to call on Him is not waiting to be impressed. He is waiting to be asked.