All of the Diacritics(كل التشكيل)
The word diacritic refers to all of the markings that can appear above and below letters to alter their pronunciation. In Arabic there are 8 diacritic markings. The three short vowels:
The three short vowels doubled, called tanween :
The tanween looks like a doubling of the short vowels, and really just adds an "n" or ن sound to the end of the word. They only ever occur at the end of a word and are not often written out. In basic Arabic, one does not need to know the usage of tanween, only be able to recognize them. Such as in the example above with ahlan أهلًا , there are many basic expressions that contain tanween, and it's important to know tanween in order to pronounce them. above with ahlan أهلًا , there are many basic expressions that contain tanween, and it's important to know tanween in order to pronounce them.
The shadda which represents a doubled consonant:
And last the sukuun, which is like a short vowel, except that instead of indicating the presence of a short vowel noise, it indicates the absence of one. For example, in the English word "football" there is no noise between the "t" and the "b", you just proceed from one consonant into the next. "Football" happens to be a cognate and, so is shown in the example below.
| Name | Symbol | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fatha | ’ — | short "a" | حببتَ | Hababta |
| damma | ُ — | short "uu" | حببتُ | Hababtu |
| kasra | — ´ | short "i" | حببتِ | Hababti |
The three short vowels doubled, called tanween :
| Name | Symbol | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tanween fatha | " often اً " — | "an" | أهلً | ahlan |
| tanween damma | ُ ُ ُ —oُr— | "un" | سريرٌ | sureerun |
| tanween kasra | — ٍ | "in" | سريرٍ | sureerin |
The tanween looks like a doubling of the short vowels, and really just adds an "n" or ن sound to the end of the word. They only ever occur at the end of a word and are not often written out. In basic Arabic, one does not need to know the usage of tanween, only be able to recognize them. Such as in the example above with ahlan أهلًا , there are many basic expressions that contain tanween, and it's important to know tanween in order to pronounce them. above with ahlan أهلًا , there are many basic expressions that contain tanween, and it's important to know tanween in order to pronounce them.
The shadda which represents a doubled consonant:
| Name | Symbol | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shadda | ّ — | doubled consonant | الشدّة | ashadda |
And last the sukuun, which is like a short vowel, except that instead of indicating the presence of a short vowel noise, it indicates the absence of one. For example, in the English word "football" there is no noise between the "t" and the "b", you just proceed from one consonant into the next. "Football" happens to be a cognate and, so is shown in the example below.
| Name | Symbol | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sukuun | ْْ — | absence of a short vowel | فوتْبول | futbol |
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Related Links: Arabic Sun and Moon Letters(حورف شمسية و قمرية) Hamza and Taa Marbuuta(ء and ة / ة) |