Arabic Character | |||||
/Jīm/ | /Thā’/ | /Tā’/ | /Bā’/ | /Alif/ | Letter Name |
j | th | t | b | a | Letter Sound |
Arabic Character | |||||
/Râ’/ | /Dhāl/ | /Dāl/ | /Khâ’/ | /ħā’/ | Letter Name |
r | dh | d | kh | h | Letter Sound |
Arabic Character | |||||
/đâd/ | /ŝâd/ | /Shīn/ | /Sīn/ | /Zāy/ | Letter Name |
d | s | sh | s | z | Letter Sound |
Arabic Character | |||||
/Fā’/ | /Ghayn/ | /ξayn/ | /Zâ’/ | /ŧâ’/ | Letter Name |
f | gh | ` | Z | t | Letter Sound |
Arabic Character | |||||
/Nūn/ | /Mīm/ | /Lām/ | /Kāf/ | /Qâf/ | Letter Name |
n | m | l | K | q | Letter Sound |
Arabic Character | |||||
/Yā’/ | /Wāw/ | /Hā’/ | Letter Name | ||
y | w | h | Letter Sound | ||
- In Arabic, there are 3 short vowel-marks. We shall learn the long vowel-marks 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 vowel-marks in Arabic below In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The vowel-marks 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 Vowel-Marks:
- The single vowel-marks are the basic vowel-marks which add a sound similar to that of a, i or u in the English language to the letter. Please click on the letters with the vowel-marks to hear the pronunciation.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
Arabic Character | |||
/Đammah/ | /Kasrah/ | /Fatħah/ | Vowel Name |
u | i | a | Vowel Sound |
The 'u' in put | The 'i' in sit | The 'a' in /ba/ | English word with similar sound |
The Double Vowel-Marks:
- 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. Click on the letters with the vowel-marks to hear the pronunciation.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
Arabic Character | |||
/Đammatān/ | /Kasratān/ | /Fatħatān/ | Vowel Name |
'un' | 'in' | 'an' | Vowel Sound |
The 'on' in dragon | The 'in' in sin | The 'an' in ran | English word with similar sound |
- 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. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Fatħah/.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- The /Kasrah/ is the short diagonal stroke below the letters. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Kasrah/.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- 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. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Đammah/.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- 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 /Fatħah's/ above the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Fatħatain/.
- 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:
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- In this lesson we will cover the /Kasratain/ which makes the 'in' sound In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The /Kasratain/ is represented by two /Kasrah's/ below the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Kasratain/.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- In this lesson we will cover the /Đammatain/ which makes the 'un' sound In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing). The /Đammatain/ is represented by a /Đammah/ with a slight inward 'tail' and is written above the letter. Please click on the letters to hear how they will sound with the /Đammatain/.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- In the following 3 lessons, we shall cover the long vowel-marks 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).
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- /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).
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- /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).
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
- 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/.
- Please click on the words to hear how they are pronounced. 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.
Click on Letters to hear pronunciation
Arabic Word | ||||
Nose | From | House | Mosque | Translation |
/Anfon/ | /Min/ | /Baytun/ | /Masĵidun/ | Transliteration |