Transcript Slide 1

Vowel Markup System
In Arabic, the vowels are marked by symbols
(as opposed to separate letters like for instance
English or Spanish).
• These are generally the
vowel markups you’ll be
dealing with:
• All of these symbols can
be doubled. Doubling
occurs only at the end
of word.
• َ Fat-7a
• َ Dhamma
• َ Kasra
• َ double Fat7a
• َ double Dhamma
• َ double Kassra
• “Doubling,” is called “tadh3eef” (‫ )تضعيف‬in
Arabic. So, you call these marks as following:
• tadh3eef fat7a (‫)تضعيف فـتـحـة‬,
• tadh3eef dhamma )‫ (تضعيف ضـمـة‬, and
• tadh3eef kassra (‫)تضعيف كـسـرة‬
• Here’s the terminology to express the ending:
• Fat7a → mansoub ‫مـنـصـوب‬
• Dhamma → marfou3 ‫مـرفـوع‬
• Hasra → maksour, majrour ‫ مـجـرور‬،‫مـكسور‬
• The final default setting of any given noun be
it masculine or feminine; singular, dual, or
plural, human or non-human is Marfou3.
• Typically a marfou3 is expressed using one or
two dhammas.
• Other than the dhamma to mark it, the
marfou3 can be also expressed by [Alif +
“noon”] or [waw + noun]
‫•‬
‫•‬
‫•‬
‫•‬
‫•‬
‫رجـل ‪ -‬رجـالن ‪ -‬رجـال‬
‫بـنـت ‪ -‬بـنـتـان ‪ -‬بـنـات‬
‫مـسـؤول ‪ -‬مـسـؤوالن ‪ -‬مـسـؤولـون‬
‫كـتـاب ‪ -‬كـتـابـان ‪ -‬كـتـب‬
‫طـاولـة ‪ -‬طـاولـتـان ‪ -‬طـاوالت‬
• The ending on a given word changes
depending on its function in a sentence.
Alternatively said, the ending of a word or the
vowel markup at the end of any word depends
on the grammatical function of that word. It
can take marfou3, manssoub, or makssour.
• If you listen to the news in Arabic and/or
converse with a native speaker, you’ll notice
the tendency to end certain words, but not all,
in Sukuun.
• Such strategy is used to maintain a certain
level of formalness. Anecdotally, articulating
all the ending would sound more or less like
speaking Shakespearean.
• Native speakers don’t usually mark the
vowels. Therefore a learner of Arabic,
especially a non-native, should rely on a lot of
active and rigorous practice to master the
grammar.
Don’t Give Up!
Practice Makes Better!