Arabic Alphabet Course: Lesson 2 - Short Vowel Marks

October 3, 2020 – Al-Dirassa Institute

In our previous lesson, we delved into letter pronunciation within the Arabic alphabet. Now, in this second lesson on learning Arabic, we'll explore a new aspect: short vowel marks.

Arabic Alphabet's Short Vowels

There are 3 Short Vowels in Arabic:

Short Arabic vowel marks correspond to English vowels "A, " "OO, " and "EE." In Arabic, these three vowels are used to articulate letters, making Arabic seem simpler in this aspect compared to English. They are:

Fatha: representing the sound "A"

ـَ

kasra: representing the sound the sound I

ـِ

damma: representing the sound the sound OO

ـُ

Hence, you'll observe that vowels are represented by small symbols positioned either above or below the letters. Let's explore an example using the letter "Ba" to understand their application:

بُ	بِ	بَ	Arabic letter
/Đammah/	/Kasrah/	/Fatħah/	Name of the vowel
oo	i	a	The sound of the vowel
The sound 'oo' in "loop"	The sound 'i' in "a bee"	The sound 'a' in "apple"	Equivalence in English

Now, let's examine the complete Arabic alphabet, each letter paired with one of these three short vowels:

Exploring the Arabic Alphabet with Short Vowels

*Damma*	*Kasra*	*Fatha*
أُ	إِ	أَ
بُ	بِ	بَ
تُ	تِ	تَ
ثُ	ثِ	ثَ
جُ	جِ	جَ
حُ	حِ	حَ
خُ	خِ	خَ
دُ	دِ	دَ
ذُ	ذِ	ذَ
رُ	رِ	رَ
زُ	زِ	زَ
سُ	سِ	سَ
شُ	شِ	شَ
صُ	صِ	صَ
ضُ	ضِ	ضَ
طُ	طِ	طَ
ظُ	ظِ	ظَ
عُ	عِ	عَ
غُ	غِ	غَ
فُ	فِ	فَ
قُ	قِ	قَ
كُ	كِ	كَ
لُ	لِ	لَ
مُ	مِ	مَ
نُ	نِ	نَ
هُـ	هِـ	هَـ
وُ	وِ	وَ
يُ	يِ	يَ

Conclusion

This Arabic lesson has come to an end. In the next session, we'll dive into the topic of "tenwine, " focusing on the doubling of the final vowel.

At Al-dirassa Institute, we provide you with the opportunity to effortlessly study the Arabic language under the guidance of experienced and qualified instructors. If you're interested, please don't hesitate to reach out to us for more information.

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