Vowels
The Arabic alphabet compromises 28 letters, three of these letters (و, ي, )اfunction as both consonants and long
vowels each of which corresponds with three accent marks that function as short vowels (ُ-, ِ-,-َ). Each one of
the short and long vowels represents one of the main basic vowels in English (a, e, o). Short and long vowels
represent the same vowel sound but differ only in the duration or the length of the vowel. Hence, the length of a
long vowel is double the duration of that of a short vowel.
Short Vowels
Short vowels in Arabic are represented or indicated by three accent markers or
“harakat/ ”تاكرحwhich are placed above or under the letter or consonant rather than
a letter vowel following it as in English (-َ, ِ-, ُ-).
Fat’ha represents the short vowel “a” as in “cat”. It is written above the consonant.
Kas’rah represents the short vowel “i” as in “it” or the short vowel “e” as in “red”. It is
written under the consonant.
Dommah represents the short vowel “u” as in “put” but never as in “cut”, and the short vowel
“o” as in “corn” or “go”. It is written above the consonant. It looks like an English comma
placed above the consonant.
Long Vowels
Long vowels in Arabic are represented or indicated by three letters (the first and the last two
letters) of the alphabet (و, ي, )ا.
Aleph “ ”اpreceded by a Fat’ha, produces an elongated (in duration) “aa” sound as in ”father”
or “spa”.
Yaa “ ”يpreceded by a Kas’rah, produces a long “ii” sound as in “green,” “read,” or “brief”.
Arabic Alphabet Transformations - 1
(Long Vowels continued)
Waaw “ ”وpreceded by a Dommah, produces a long “oo” sound as in “moon” or
“u consonant e” as in “June”, but never as in “look” or “fun”.
Zero Vowel or Sukoon
When there is no short vowel after the consonant letter, it is marked by a small sign above it
that looks like a small zero. It is called sukoon in Arabic (state of rest, or vowel less). When it
is placed above a consonant, it indicates the absence of a following short vowel. Therefore,
one should rest for a second at any consonant with a sukoon above it to mark the end of a
syllable in a word, or the end of a sentence just like a “period”.
Doubled Consonants
It is called “shadda” in Arabic (to stress or strengthen). Hence, when placed above any Arabic
consonant it causes it to be doubled in sound, not in letter, and as a result it will be stressed or
prolonged in its pronunciation.
If the consonant is doubled as in “add”, it is never written twice in Arabic. Instead, it is
marked by a “shadda” which looks like a small “w” above the consonant as in“”َّدـَـع,
(to count or put numbers together).
Indefiniteness / Tanween
In English, indefiniteness is expressed by either placing an ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of a word. How-
ever, in Arabic indefiniteness is expressed by using the Tanween which adds the ending sound
‘an’, ‘en’ or ‘on’ to the end of a word. The adding of ‘an’, ‘en’ or ‘on’ depends upon the case
of the word and its position in the sentence as follows:
Fat’hatan
Two fat’has are placed above the final letter of an indefinite noun in the objective or
accusative cases. It adds the sound ‘an’ at the end of the word. Note: In English, words that
begin with a vowel are preceded by the same sound, as in ‘an’ apple. In Arabic, ‘an’ is placed
at the end of the word rather than in front.
Kas’ratan
Two kassrahs are placed under the last letter of an indefinite noun in the genitive case or in
objects of a preposition. This adds the sound ‘en’ to the end of the word.
Arabic Alphabet Transformations - 2
(Indefiniteness / Tanween continued)
Domatan
Two dammahs are placed above the last letter of an indefinite noun in the nominative case.
It adds the sound ‘on’ to the end of the word.
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© 2006 The Trustees of Princeton University
Created by: Hebatalla Elkhateeb-Musharraf and The Educational Technologies Center
Arabic Alphabet Transformations - 3
