Harakaat (Letter Pronunciations)
- Unlike in English, letters in Arabic can be changed and pronounced in different ways, depending on their Harakaat (حركات) (or their letter pronunciations).
- There are four Harakaat in the Arabic language, and they are what changes the pronunciation of Arabic letters:
1) فتحة (Fat-ha):
4) سكون (Sokoon):
3) كسرة (Kasra):
2) ضمة (Damma):
- The Fat-ha makes the letter sound like "aa".
- It is a small sign that is placed on top of the letter, represented as a small diagonal line.
For example:
- فَتَحَ (Fataha) (meaning "opened")
As you can see, the Fat-ha is the small diagonal line on top of the letters of the word "فَتَحَ". The "a" letters in the word (Fataha) represent the Fat-ha in the Arabic word "فَتَحَ".
- The Damma makes the letter sound like "o".
- It is a small sign that is placed on top of the letter, represented as a small "و" letter, which is a letter in the Arabic alphabet (pronounced as waw).
For example:
- سُفُن (Sofon) (meaning "ships")
As you can see, the Damma is the small "و" on top of the letters of the word "سُفُن". The "o" letters in the word (Sofon) represent the Damma in the Arabic word "سُفُن".
- The Kasra makes the letter sound like "ee".
- It is a small sign that is placed under the letter, represented as a small diagonal line.
For example:
- طائِرة (Ta'ira) (meaning "airplane")
As you can see, the Kasra is the small diagonal line under the the word "طائِرة".
- The Sokoon is the only Harakaa that has no sound at all. The Sokoon is used to indicate a stop or pause in the word, meaning that the letter it is placed on is plainly pronounced as it is, without any different pronunciations for it (like the Fat-ha, Damma, and Kasra).
- It is a small sign that is placed on top of the letter, represented as a small circle.
For example:
- لعْبة (Lo'ba) (meaning "toy")
As you can see, the Sokoon is the small circle on top the the word "لعْبة". The apostrophe in the word (Lo'ba) represents the Sokoon in the Arabic word "لعْبة".
Emphasizing the Harakaat
In most situations, when trying to use a Harakaa at the end of a word, the Harakaa becomes emphasized, and it looks and sounds different. This emphasis is called "تنوين" (Tanween).
Emphasizing Fat-ha:
Emphasizing Damma:
Emphasizing Kasra:
- To emphasize a Fat-ha at the end of a word, it changes from a Fat-ha to "تنوين فتح" (Tanween Fat-h), meaning the emphasis of Fat-ha.
- Tanween Fat-h is looks just like the normal Fat-ha (a small diagonal line on top of the letter), but instead of one diagonal line on top of the letter, Tanween Fat-h looks like two small diagonal lines on top of each other, both on top of the letter.
- Also, when adding Tanween Fat-h at the end of a word, add an "أ" (Alif) (a letter in the Arabic alphabet pronounced as "a"), and place the Tanween Fat-h on top of the "أ", BUT, there's an exception to this rule.
- There are two letters that are exceptions to the rule above about Tanween Fat-h. They are the "ء" (Hamza) and "ة" (Taa' Marboota). When a word ends with either of these letters, the Tanween Fat-h is applied above the letter (either one of them), WITHOUT the addition of the "أ" letter.
For example:
- "كلباً " (Kalban) (meaning dog). As you can see, to apply the Tanween Fat-h at the end of the word, an "أ" is added, with the Tanween Fat-h on top of it.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Kalban) represents how the Tanween Fat-h is pronounced.
- "سيارةً" (Sayyaratan) (meaning car). As you can see, this is an exception, due to having "ة" letter at the end of the word. In this case, there is no "أ" letter added, but only the Tanween Fat-h is added on top of the last letter of the word.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Sayyaratan) represents how the Tanween Fat-h is pronounced.
- To emphasize a Damma at the end of a word, it changes from a Damma to "تنوين ضم" (Tanween Damm), meaning the emphasis of Damma.
- Tanween Damm is looks just like the normal Damma (a small "و" on top of the letter), but there is an additional small curved line attacked to the end of the small "و".
- Unlike Tanween Fat-h, to apply Tanween Damm to a word, you need to just simply place the Taween Damm symbol on top of the last letter in the word.
For example:
- "مفتاحٌ " (Miftahon) (meaning key). As you can see, to apply the Tanween Damm at the end of the word, a small "و" letter with a curve at the end of it is added, on top of the last letter of the word.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Miftahon) represents how the Tanween Damm is pronounced.
- "سرعةٌ" (Sor'aton) (meaning speed). Once again, to apply the Tanween Damm, all you have to do is to simply add the symbol of Tanween Damm on top of the last letter of the word, as shown above.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Sor'aton) represents how the Tanween Damm is pronounced.
- To emphasize a Kasra at the end of a word, it changes from a Kasra to "تنوين كسر" (Tanween Kasr), meaning the emphasis of Kasra.
- Tanween Kasr is looks just like the normal Kasra (a small diagonal line under of the letter), but instead of one diagonal line under the letter, Tanween Kasr has two diagonal lines on top of each other, under the letter.
- Unlike Tanween Fat-h, to apply Tanween Kasr to a word, you need to just simply place the Taween Kasr symbol under the last letter in the word.
For example:
- "حقيبةٍ " (Hakibatin) (meaning bag). As you can see, to apply the Tanween Kasr at the end of the word, two small diagonal lines on top of each other are added under the last letter of the word.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Hakibatin) represents how the Tanween Kasr is pronounced.
- "كبيرٍ" (Kbeerin) (meaning big). Once again, to apply the Tanween Kasr, all you have to do is to simply add the symbol of Tanween Kasr under the last letter of the word, as shown above.
- Also, the "n" letter in the word (Kbeerin) represents how the Tanween Kasr is pronounced.
Emphasizing Sokoon:
There's no way of emphasizing Sokoon, or in other words, there is no Tanween Sokoon in Arabic.
