Tajweed Class - 3 ( Vowels)

Arabic Letters

The correct recitation of the Qur'an that is achieved by giving each letter its due (using the organs of speech) through:

• The vowel movements - Harakaat
• Prescribed point of exit (where the sound of each letter should come from) - Makhraj
• The manner of articulation (the characteristics of the letters and recitation) - Sifaat

Vowels (Harakaat)

There are three vowels in Arabic called Harakāt (حَرَكَات), which literally means “movements”. They can be both short and long. The three long vowels are considered as letters in their full right and feature as such in the alphabet: ā = ا, ū = و, ī = ي. While their corresponding short vowels known as diacritic signs,  are symbols

َ  ,  ِ  ,  ُ  written either above or below a particular consonant. There is also a concept of “vowel quality” which can be interpreted as the different ranges of sounds each vowel can produce in conjunction with other letters. Similar to the way “d” can sound very differently depending on the word it’s in, like in “deep” (dēp) or “dam” (dăm).

Summer = سمر

Tender = تندر

 But =  بت

Short Vowels:

1- Fatha (فتحة)(zabar)

The first example above (summer) there is an a sound after the s, but it is short and slight. This is the first short vowel we have in Arabic which is fatha.

Fatha is a small diagonal line which appears above the letters to indicate short a sound.

Example:

سَمَر

سَ

2- Kasrah (كسرة)(Zer)

In the second example above (tender) there is an e sound after the s, but it is short and slight. This is the second short vowel we have in Arabic which is kasrah.

Kasrah is a small diagonal line which appears below the letters to indicate short e sound.

Example:

تِندر

 تِ

This Video is For Both Fatha(Zabar) & Kasrah( Zer)

3 Damma (ضمة)(Pesh)

In the third example above (bull) there is an o sound after the b, but it is short and slight. This is the third short vowel we have in Arabic which is called damma.

Damma is a loop over which looks like a comma, appears above letters to indicate a short o sound.

Example

بُل

 
This Video is For Damma

The three long vowels are :

ا  - ي  - و

* When the first long vowel ( ا ) comes after; for example, d sound it will be pronounced as in the English word dance.

This English word looks like this in Arabic letters:

دانس = dance

The same (long a) sound must be pronounced when this long vowel appears after any consonant letter.

* When the second long vowel ( ي ) comes after; for example, d sound it will be pronounced as in the English word december.

The English word looks like this in Arabic letters:

ديسمبر = december

The same (long e) sound must be pronounced when this long vowel appears after any consonant letter.

* When the third long vowel ( و ) comes after; for example, d sound it will be pronounced as in the English word doom.

The English word looks like this in Arabic letters:

دوم = doom

The same (long o) sound must be pronounced when this long vowel appears after any consonant letter.

 

Try compare these pairs below and try to pronounce them loudly to get the difference between long and short vowels :

Sami – سامي  #  Summer – سَمَر

Tina – تينا # Tender تِندَر

Boon – بون  #   Bull =بُل

 

MISCELLANEOUS

Sukoon / Saakin(سُكُون):

ْ

When a letter is followed by a short vowel which is also called ḥaraka (حَرَكَة) in arabic, which means a “movement”, singular of ḥarakāt (حَرَكَات) as mentioned at the beginning of this post. That letter is called a “moving letter” حَرْفٌ مُتَحَرِّك pronounced [ḥarfun motaḥarrik]. However, when it is not followed by any vowel, it is called a “still letter” حَرْفٌ سَاْكِن pronounced [ḥarfun Sākin]. The symbol of “stillness” is called Sukūn.

 

Sukūn is the absence of a vowel sound. It is represented by a circle above a consonant. In this example you would say the letter بْ (b) just like in تِبْن pronounced “tibn”, which means hay in Arabic

The sukuun (absence of a vowel) is a diacritic that indicates the end of a syllable. Put another way, a consonant with a sukuun above it is not followed by a vowel. This only occurs when the consonant itself follows a vowel. The sukuun is written as a circle above the consonant.

Using left-to-right English 'words' as examples, the word "bata" would be spelled "b/t/"; however "bat" would be spelled "b/to".

The only time that one consonant immediately follows another is when they are in different syllables; in which case, the first consonant would have a sukuun.

Again using English 'words' as examples, we could write "vista" as "v/sot/." The sukuun indicates that the "s" is not followed by a vowel. Otherwise, the word could have been "visita", "visata", or "visuta".

The sukuun cannot be used to combine consonants into single sounds. For example, "...sot..." could only be combined in such a combination as the English "mister" ("mis-ter"), not as in "stair". Combinations such as "stray" are not posible at all in Arabic.

examples:

مَدْ mad	دْ d	مَ ma
شَكْ shak	كْ k	شَ sha

 

Tanween:(fathatain ,dammahtain ,kasratain)

The tanween is an "n" sound added to the end of the word in certain circumistances, usually it functions just like the "a" and "an" in English. The word tanween, usually translated as "nunation", means "to 'n'", or "'n'ing"; making an "n" sound.Tanween is indicated by doubling the short vowel at the end of the word. If a word ends with a "kesra" tashkeel, then the tanween is indicated by writing two "kesra"s (one above the other), same with the "dhamma", you write two dhammas, one beside the other . However, with the "fatHa", you don't only double the "fatHa", but you add an "Alif" and put the double fatHa's on the "alif" letter. (remember, the "Alif" is the first letter in the alphabet). So, we can say there are three types of tanween:

• Fatha tanween:The fatHa tanween is pronounced "en", as in "then", "when", "men", etc. Even though a lot of native Arabic speakers would use "an" to indicate it, since "a" maps to the "aaaa" sound. However, "en" is probably more accurate.

example:

len = fatha tanween + laam

ل +ً = لً

• Dhammah tanween :The dhamma tanween is pronounced as a short "oo" followed by an "n". This sounds like the short "un" in "uno" as pronounced in Spanish, not like the long "oon" in "soon".

example:

lun = dhammah tanween + laam

ل +ٌ = لٌ

• Kasra tanween:The kesra tanween is pronouced "in", as in "in", "sin", "fin", "min", etc. Again, some native Arabic speakers might indicate a kesra tanween with an "en", thinking that "e" sounds like the Arabic "yaa" letter ("ii" vowel). This is a mistake that stems from not knowing how native English speakers pronounce the "e" sound.

example:

lin = kasra tanween + laam

ل + ٍ =لٍ

Shadda(Tashdeed – (شٙدّة):

ّ‎ ّ

The shadda is a diacritic which replaces a double-consonant, but only where the first consonant has a sukuun on it, and the second one is followed by a vowel. If the word "vista" above were instead "vitta", then we could put a shadda over the "t". If it were "vitata", however, we could not.

The double-consonant doesn't work the same way as in English. In English, a doubled letter modifies the sound of the preceding vowel. For example: "mated" is pronounced with a long "a", whereas "matted" is pronounced with a short "a".

In Arabic, as mentioned above, a consonant only follows another if the first one ends the previous syllable, and the second one begins the next syllable. As such, both letters are pronounced. In English, this tends to only occur when the two letters are in separate words, as in "big guy".

When reading transliterations of Arabic words, any double letter should be read with a hyphen in it. So "shadda" is pronounced not as "sha-da", but as "shad-da".

examples:

مَدّ madda	دّ dda	مَ ma
شَكّ shakka	كّ kka	شَ sha