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]
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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!