Vowel Marks & Diacritics
Short vowels: fatḥa, ḍamma, kasra, sukūn, shadda, tanwīn
Can read Arabic with diacritical marks and understand tanwīn
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
كَتَبَ
he wrote
كُتُب
books
كِتابٌ
a book
مُعَلِّم
teacher (m)
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
الحركات: فَتْحَة ضَمَّة كَسْرَة
Arabic script writes only consonants and long vowels. Short vowels are diacritical marks (حَرَكات):
| Mark | Name | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ◌َ | فَتْحَة fatḥa | a | كَ = ka |
| ◌ُ | ضَمَّة ḍamma | u | كُ = ku |
| ◌ِ | كَسْرَة kasra | i | كِ = ki |
| ◌ْ | سُكون sukūn | ∅ | كْ = k (no vowel) |
شَدَّة (◌ّ) doubles a consonant: كَتَبَ (kataba) vs. كَتَّبَ (kattaba). تَنْوين adds -n: ◌ً (-an), ◌ٌ (-un), ◌ٍ (-in), marking indefinite nouns.
Common Error Patterns
Applied wrong short vowel mark
Review: fatḥa=a (above), ḍamma=u (above), kasra=i (below)
Forgot to double a consonant marked with shadda
Shadda means the consonant is pronounced twice
كَتَبَ
he wrote
kataba — three fatḥa marks give a-a-a pattern. Root: ك-ت-ب.
كُتُب
books
kutub — two ḍammas give u-u pattern. This is a 'broken plural' of كِتاب.
كِتابٌ
a book
kitābun — tanwīn ٌ (-un) marks indefinite: 'a book' not 'the book'.
مُعَلِّم
teacher (m)
muʿallim — shadda on ل doubles it: mu-ʿal-lim (not mu-ʿa-lim).
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises