Language Learning

Vowels in Arabic Vowels in Arabic are called harakat حَرَكَات, the singular of which is haraka حَرَكَة. Fortunately for the learners of Arabic as a foreign language, vowels in Arabic are simple and limited. They are simple in that they are easily produced which makes the articulation of words straightforward. These vowels are [a], [i], and [u]; and for each short vowel, there …

What is shadda? What is shadda? shadda شَدَّة is a diacritical mark that is indicated by the mark ( ـّ ). It means the doubling of a consonant. In other words, the consonant over which the shadda is placed is to be sounded/uttered twice without inserting a short vowel (i.e.  fatha  ـَ , kasra  ـِ , or dhamma  ـُ , in between. So, instead of writing the same consonant twice, it…

What is taa marbuta? What is taa marbuta? taa marbuta is the taa that always occurs at the end of certain nouns and adjectives. If connected to the preceding letter, it is written like this ـة, as in سَاعَة ‘watch’, فَاطِمَة ‘Fatima (name)’, and خَيْمَة ‘tent.’ If it occurs after one of the letters that do not connect to the following letter (i.e. ا, د, ذ, ر, ز,و) , it is writ…

Silent alif al-wasl Silent alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the conjunctive/connective alif that we do not pronounced in connected speech. When we speak, it is common that we assimilate, drop, or blend certain sounds/letters. In English, for example, we pronounce the phrase does she as dushee in connected speech. In Arabic, the most common assimilation and/or dropping occurs w…

What is hamza in Arabic? What is hamza in Arabic? hamza is the first letter of the Arabic Alphabet (alif, ba, ta, tha, …): the alif اَلْأَلِف. However, the alif can be a hamza and an alif al-madd أَلِفُ الْمَدِّ. This is determined by its shape, its position in the word, and the diacritical mark (i.e., the short vowel that accompanies it). Types of alif: There are two type…

What is Alif al-Wasl? What is alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ? The word وَصْل wasl means ‘connection’. So, alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the ‘connective alif.’ It connects the word in which it occurs with the preceding word. The purpose of this is to make Arabic speech sound natural and connected. It always occurs at the beginning of certain verbs, certain nouns, and the defi…