Arabic Vowels Sounds - Arabic Diacritics/ Harakat 

Diacritics are often overlooked; however, they are crucial to learning Arabic pronunciation. The literal meaning of diacritics is Tashkil/ Forming. These are necessary for non-Arabic speakers to pronounce Arabic letters & words correctly. Therefore, it is essential to learn Arabic Diacritics/ Harakat to read Arabic accurately.

Arabic letters are marked with diacritical marks above or below them to indicate whether they are spoken with a short vowel, a Tanween (a short vowel plus a /n/ sound), or not at all with a vowel (Sukoon). 

Sometimes they are not written in modern standard Arabic, since Arabic speakers know them naturally. But often, they are always there in the holy Quran, or at least they exist in areas where a reader can mispronounce a letter or word. 

This post provides the essential information you need to know about Arabic Diacritical marks. Remember that to learn these harkaat, you must first be able to read Arabic letters to get the most out of this post. 

Basic Arabic Diacritics/ Harakat 

Fatha/ Zabr 

Fatha/ Zabr is always placed above a letter and corresponds to the /a/ Arabic vowel.

Kasra/ Zair

Kasra/ Zair is always placed below a letter and corresponds to the /i/ Arabic vowel.

Dammah/ Paish

Dammah/ Paish is placed above a letter and corresponds to the /o/ Arabic vowel.

Tanween

Tanween is a less common diacritical mark. There are three types of Tanween where vowels are read and followed by an /n/ sound.

Tanween with Fatha/ Double Fathah

It is placed above the last letter in a word. It is pronounced as ‘an’.

Tanween with Kasra/ Double Kasrah

It is placed below the last letter in a word. It is pronounced as ‘in’.

Tanween with Dammah/ Double Dammah

 
It is placed above the last letter in a word. It is pronounced as ‘un’

Long Vowels

Standing Fatha/ Kharri Zabar

Standing fatha is the first long vowel. It is stretched a second longer than regular fatha. However, it has 'aa' sound. It is upright, drawn on the top of an Arabic letter.

Standing Kasrah/ Kharri Zer

Standing Kasrah is the second long vowel and stretched a second longer and has the 'ee' sound. It is an upright line drawn on the bottom of an Arabic letter. 

Inverted Dhammah/ Kharri Pesh

Inverted Dhammah or Standing Pesh are also known as vowels of Maddah. It is stretched a second longer and has ‘oo’ sound.

Sukoon & Shadda

Sukoon is a small circle placed above a letter. This sign gives a stopping or silent sound for the letter it comes upon. It indicates the absence of the three short vowels to be pronounced.

Shaddah is the doubling of a sound of a letter. It is indicated with a mark like the letter seen ??. It is placed above a letter and always comes accompanied by one of the vowels mentioned above. Both Shaddah and Sukoon cannot be placed at the beginning of a word.

Madd

Madd means to stretch a sound and there are three madd letters which are , ? and ?. 

Short Madd

The short Madd looks like a thin wavy line. With madd the Arabic letter is stretched/ lengthened for 2-3 seconds if there is a madd. 

Long Madd

The long Madd is thick and semi-circle in appearance. It lengthens for 4 seconds.

Sign	What is it called?	Sound
	Fathah/ Zabar	a
	Kasrah/ Zair	i
	Dhammah/ Paish	u
	Double Fathah/ Zabar	an
	Double Kasrah/ Zair	in
	Double Dhammah/ Paish	un
	Standing Fathah/ Zabar	aa
	Standing Kasrah/ Zair	ee
	Inverted Dhammah/ Paish	oo
	Shaddah	double letter
	Sukoon Jazam	absence of vowel
	Madd	aaaa (Longer Sound)

Start Learning the Basic Arabic Grammar in our Noorani Qaida Course!

Learning Arabic diacritics & sounds is essential to fully understand the wide range of pronunciations accompanying a single Arabic letter. Arabic diacritics are the basics of Arabic pronunciation & grammar to practice Arabic and become stronger and more familiar with the language. Once a person becomes an expert in diacritics, they can even read Arabic without diacritics.

If this post helped you learn Arabic Harakat/ diacritics better, look at our introductory Noorani Qaida course and online Quran recitation classes at our online Quran Academy, where our experienced Quran tutors will help you read and memorize the holy Quran with Tajweed rules. Our online Quran classes focus on benefitting people who want to learn Al Qur'an and Arabic online.

At Quran Focus Academy, our qualified scholars have devised a syllabus customized to the needs of non-Arabic speakers to read and recite the holy Quran accurately and fluently by mastering basic Arabic grammar rules. 

We strive to provide an excellent online Quran learning experience for beginners, kids, and sisters from the comfort of their homes. We have been a trusted online Quran academy since 2010, offering online Quran tutoring services for students worldwide.

Sign up for a 5-day free trial of the Noorani Qaida course!