Vowels / Motives
There are three types of vowels in Arabic:
1. Short vowels
2. Double vowels
3. Long vowels
Short Vowels
There are three types of short vowels:
1. Fatha ( ) َـ
It is a small stroke above a letter. It is pronounced as “a”.
Eg:
َب: ba
َت: ta
2. Kasra ( ) ِـ
It is a small stroke below a letter. It is pronounced as “i”.
Eg:
ِب: bi
ِت: ti
3. Damma ( ) ُـ
It is a small stroke above the letter (like a small waaw )ُـ. It is pronounced as “u”.
Eg:
ُب: bu
ُت: tu
Other Sub-Vowels
Sukoon ( ) ْـ
When one letter in a word is with the vowel sign and the following letter is “sukoon”, it
could be read together and thus produce a joint sound.
Eg:
َمْن: Man
ِمـْن: Min
ُمْن: Mun
Shadda ( ) ّـ
It means doubling of letters. It is a symbol of assimilation of two same letters into one
letter.
Eg:
ُأ
ٌّم: Ummun
Long Vowels
There are three Long Vowels:
1. Alif ()ا
Alif comes after Fatha and is pronounced “aa” as in "father".
Eg:
َباب: Baab
2. Ya ()ي
Ya comes after Kasra and it is pronounced "ee" as in "sheep".
Eg. َح ِليب: Haleeb
3. Waaw ()و
Waaw comes after Damma and it is pronounced "oo" as in "moon".
Eg. َخ ُر وف: Kharoof
Double Vowels
There are three double vowels.
1. Double Fatha (ً )
It is double Fatha (ً ) over a letter. It is pronounced as "an".
Eg: ًبا: ban
ًتا: tan
2. Double Kasra (ٍ )
It is double Kasra under a letter. It is pronounced as "in".
Eg ٍب: bin
ٍت: tin
3. Double Damma (ٌ )
It is a double Damma over a letter. It is pronounced as "un".
Eg: ٌب: bun
ٌت: tun
