Sunday, June 23, 2019

Arabic Vowel Marks

ARABIC VOWELS

There are 2 types of Vowels in Arabic
1- Short Vowels 
2- Long Vowels 

Short Vowel have 2 types 
The Single Vowel and the The Double Vowel: 

ARABIC SHORT VOWEL- OVERVIEW 
 
    In Arabic, there are 3 short vowels. We shall learn the long vowels in a later lesson In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The short vowel-marks enable the letter to make a sound in a similar way to the English language. In the same way a word cannot be made in the English language without one of the 5 vowels (a, e, i, o or u), in Arabic one cannot make a word without a vowel being used. 
 
We will cover the 3 short vowels in Arabic below In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The vowels are the marks below or above the letter /Dāl/ in the examples below. The letter / Dāl/ has been used to give you an idea of where the vowel is placed. 
 
The Single Vowels: 
 The single vowels are the basic vowel-marks which add a sound similar to that of a, i or u in the English language to the letter. 
 
The Double Vowels: 
 The double vowel-marks signs are an extension of the single vowel-marks. The double vowel signs add the '-n' sound to the single vowel. Please see the letters below. The /Dāl/ has been used to enable us to see the position of the double vowel sign which is called /tanwīn/.  /Tanwīn/ refers to the double form of any vowel, the specific name of the double vowel sign e.g.: double Fatħah/ (Fatħatān) is also given below as this is unique for each vowel.

01 - SINGLE & DOUBLE VOWELS


For your kind information the vowels will change the entire meaning of the words and sentence so be careful about  it and you must practice it while Learning Arabic Grammar 
For example:
Kitab/كِتَابْ means book and while in grammar we say 
Kitabun/كِتَابٌ (with two damma) means a book, 
Kataba/كَتَبَ  means Wrote
Kitabi/ كِتَابِى  means my book
Kitabuka/كِتاَبُكَ  means your book for male
Kitabuki/ Kitabuki means your book f8or female. 
Al-kitabu/ الْكِتَابُ  means The Book

Click the below Image for complete Notes on Arabic Alphabets and Vowels 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O_9_6KIQXlJjb6FwSRN3VcVHaANjYMqd/view?usp=drivesdk
Arabic Alphabets and Vowels.


02 - SHORT VOWEL - FATĦAH

In the following 3 lessons, we will learn the Short vowel-marks pronunciation In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). This lesson will also help us to revise the letters we have already learnt in the previous lessons. The /Fatħah/ is the short diagonal stroke above the letter. 


03 - SHORT VOWEL - KASRA

The /Kasrah/ is the short diagonal stroke below the letters. 


04 - SHORT VOWEL – DAMMAH

The /Đammah/ is the letter which is similar in shape to the Arabic character /wāw/ which we learnt earlier. It is placed above the letter. 


05 - SHORT VOWEL – FATĦATAIN (DOUBLE FATHA)

In the following 3 lessons, we will learn the doubled forms of the three vowel-marks, In-Shā’-Allâh(God-Willing). These differ in pronunciation from the normal vowel-marks in that there is an added '-n' sound e.g. whilst the /Fatħah/ makes the 'a' sound, the Fatħatain makes the 'an' sound.

In this lesson we will cover the /Fatħatain/ which makes the 'an' sound In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The /Fatħatain/ is written as two /Fatħahs/ above the letter. 
Unlike the /Kasratain/ and the /Ðammatain/, the /Fatħatain/ has to be followed by Alif in the Arabic writing. Therefore we connect an /Alif/ after each of the letters below when it is signed with /Fatħatain/, as in the following table:

06 - SHORT VOWEL - KASRATAIN (DOUBLE KASRA) 

In this lesson we will cover the /Kasratain/ which makes the 'in' sound In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The /Kasratain/ is represented by two /Kasrahs/ below the letter.


07 - SHORT VOWEL - ĐAMMATAIN (DOUBLE DAMMAH)

In this lesson we will cover the /Đammatain/ which makes the 'un' sound. The /Đammatain/ is represented by a /Đammah/ with a slight inward 'tail' and is written above the letter.


08 - THE LONG VOWEL - ALIF AL-MADD 

In the following 3 lessons, we shall cover the long vowel In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The long vowel-marks are basically a combination of:

The single vowel.

A letter used to lengthen the sound of the vowel. 

The /Alif al-madd/ is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the /Fatħah/ from 'a' into 'aa'. We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letters lengthening the sound. 

We shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling).


09 - THE LONG VOWEL - YAA’ AL-MADD

Yaa al-Madd/ is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the /Kasrah/ from 'i' into 'ee'. We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letters lengthening the sound, and we shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling).


10 - THE LONG VOWEL - WAAW AL-MADD

Waaw al-Madd/ is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the /Đammah/ from 'u' into 'oo'. We have not covered the joining of letters yet, so just read the letter lengthening the sound, and we shall cover the way the letters change shape when joining in a later lesson In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling).


11 - THE LONG VOWEL - SUKUUN AND SHADDAH

    In this lesson we will cover one more diacritical mark (i.e. a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation) in the Arabic language called the /Sukūn/ In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling). The /Sukūn/ is in the shape of a circle and is written above a letter to show that there is no vowel on the letter. Hence, we emphasise the letter by stopping in our pronunciation of it. This will require us to join letters. Although we have not covered the rules relating to joining of letters (covered in a later lesson). We will use simple words to demonstrate the usage of the /Sukūn/. 

 This is a good opportunity for you to learn how to read basic Arabic words. Please don't worry if you find it difficult to read the words by putting the letters together. We will go over reading words in more detail later In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling). At this stage focus on the principle of the /Sukūn/ and try your best to read the words.

We will now cover the /Shaddah/ In-Shā’-Allâh (God wiling). The /Shaddah/ is a diacritical mark written above a letter to show that the letter has been doubled and therefore increases in emphasis. Once again, please don't worry if you find joining the letters and vowel-marks or reading difficult. Try your best to join the sounds and letters at this stage and pay attention to the sound of the letter which has the /Shaddah/ on it.