The Vowels

اَلبَابُ الاوَلُ
Vowels


There are 6 vowels , 3 short , 3 long ; and two diphthongs  in Arabic ; namely , u , a , I , ā , ī , ū  ; au and ai .
While the letters و  (wāw ) ,  ا  (alif ) ,  and ي (ʾ)  have to do duty as long vowels , short vowels are indicated by signs above below the consonants carrying them . Unfortunately in most modern written and printed Arabic no vowels signs are given ,  and the reader has to deduce them .
Short Vowels

Vowels
Name of vowels
Discription
a
fatha فَتحَةٌ
Is indicated  by a small diagonal stroke above the consonant ,  as    مَ. This vowel is the neutral a sound as in “man”

i
Kasra   كَسْرةٌ
Is a similar stroke but under the letter , as  مِ  . Its approximates sound is the i in “did” .

u
Damma   ضَمّة
Is written like a miniature و  )waw(  above the letter . as مُ . This is pronounce like the u in “bull” . , not like that in “bun”

















The absent of the vowel sign is indicated  by a small circle over the letter , thus _ْ_      ,  and is termed ) sukkun( سُكّون   , or )jazma(  جَزمَة  eg ;  هُمْ  (hum)
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 /Dal/ has been used to enable us to see the position of the double vowel sign which is called /tanwin/. /Tanwin/ refers to the double form of any vowel, the specific name of the double vowel sign e.g.: double /Fathah/
(Fathatan) is also given below as this is unique for each vowel.

بٌ
بٍ
بً
Arabic Character
Dammatan
Fathatan
Kasratan
Vowel Name
'un'
'in'
'an'
Vowel Sound
The 'on' in dragon
The 'in' in sin
The 'an' in  ran
English word with similar



The three short vowels given above do not really represent all the sound heard . For example , after the emphatic letters  ظ , ط  , ص ,  ض  the fatha appears to take on something of the  o  sound . For example , ضَرَب  (daraba)  seems to sound like  doraba” . After the guttural letters , the fatha seems to lose its neutrality and have more of the English  a”  sound about it , e.g.      عَرَب ) Araba) . Again the fatha seems to partake of the nature of the letter “e” when associated with the ل   (lam) . For example , مَلك  (malik) sound like “melik” ,   كَلبٌ (kalbun) sound like “kelbun”, قَلبٌ  (qalbun) sound like “qelbun” . The lengthen these three vowels , they are followed by the letters ا  , ي  ,  and  و   . As in  مال  (mal) , فيل (fiil) , and حدود (huduud) .
There are two diphthongs , ai as in بَيت  (baitun) – approximately the i in site . and au as in   يَومٌ (yaumun) ,  The previous consonant has fatha , and the ي (ya) and  و (waw) must have sukkun . In classical arab  , the two component parts of these diphthongs are not thoroughly coalesced . But in modern spoken Arabic this coalescence take place , and  may sound like (bet) and (youm) as in main and home  as pronounced in the north of England .

Alphabets in Arabic

اَلبَابُ الاوَلُ
The Alphabet


Arabic is written from right to left. The script , which has been adopted and adapted from many languages spoken by muslim nations , is cursive , and there is no separate printed form of the letters as there is in European languages .  Two methods of writing are common : the naskh  نسخor naskhi  نسخىnormally used in print ,  and the ruqعah رقعة .  The beginner is advised to use the naskh as exemplified in this writing .
The  alphabet (  هجَاء ) consists  of 28 letters (  حرف  harf    حروفpl huruf ) 29 if hamza is counted  as a separate letter ) which are all consonants ; three of them , however  اalif ,   و waw and ي  ya ,  are also used  as long vowels or diphthongs . The following table shows the various forms of the letters .  While this indicates variants forms according to whether the letter is isolated , initial , medial or final ,  it should be noted that in practically every case the letter has a simple basic form . When final or isolated , however , many letters have a final flourish or hook added to the basic form .

Names of the letters
Isolated form

Transcript-ion
From When Joined to
Final
Medial
Initial
   alif ألف
ا
ʾ(a)
_
_
      ʾباء  
ب
b
    ʾتاء
ت
t
   āʾثاء
ث
  ǧīm جيم
ج
ǧ
  āʾحاء
ح
   kāʾخاء   
خ
   dāl دال
د
d
_
_
   āl ذال
ذ
_
_
    ʾراء
ر
r
_
_
  zāy زاي
ز
z
_
_
   sīn سين
س
s
  šīn شين
ش
š
ād  صاد
ص
ād    ضاد
ض
ﺿ
  āʾطاء
ط
  āʾظاء
ظ
  ʿayn عين
ع
ʿa
   ġayn غين
ġ
  ʾفاء
f
   qāf قاف
q
  kāf كاف
k
  lām لام
l
   mīm ميم
m
  nūn نون
ن
n
   ʾهاء
ه
h
   wāw واو
و
w
_
_
   ʾياء
ي
y
  hamza همزة
ء

ء
_
_




Finally, to master the different forms of joining will take some time and it is important to practice writing whilst learning the Arabic language to become familiar with the script. This will come with practice , so it is not necessary to have mastered all the letters joining
forms before moving on.