Users of Arabic usually write
long vowels but omit short ones, so readers must utilize their knowledge of the language in order to supply the missing vowels. However, in the education system and particularly in classes on Arabic grammar these vowels are used since they are crucial to the grammar. An Arabic sentence can have a completely different meaning by a subtle change of the vowels. This is why in an important text such as the the three basic vowel signs are mandated, like the Arabic diacritics and other types of marks, like the
cantillation signs.
Short vowels In the Arabic handwriting of everyday use, in general publications, and on street signs, short vowels are typically not written. On the other hand, copies of the cannot be endorsed by the religious institutes that review them unless the diacritics are included. Children's books, elementary school texts, and Arabic-language grammars in general will include diacritics to some degree. These are known as "
vocalized" texts. Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called . All Arabic vowels, long and short, follow a consonant; in Arabic, words like "Ali" or "alif", for example, start with a consonant: , .
Nunation Nunation ( ) is the addition of a final to a
noun or
adjective. The vowel before it indicates
grammatical case. In written Arabic, nunation is indicated by doubling the vowel diacritic at the end of the word, e.g. .
Gemination Gemination is the doubling of a consonant. Instead of writing the letter twice, Arabic places a
W-shaped sign called above it.
Vowel omission An Arabic
syllable can be open (ending with a vowel) or closed (ending with a consonant): • open: CV [consonant-vowel] (long or short vowel) • closed: CVC (short vowel only) A normal text is composed only of a series of consonants plus vowel-lengthening letters; thus, the word
qalb, "heart", is written
qlb, and the word
qalaba "he turned around", is also written
qlb. To write
qalaba without this ambiguity, we could indicate that the
l is followed by a short
a by writing a
fatḥah above it. To write
qalb, we would instead indicate that the
l is followed by no vowel by marking it with a
diacritic called
sukūn (), like this: . This is one step down from full vocalization, where the vowel after the
q would also be indicated by a
fatḥah: . The
Qurʾān is traditionally written in full vocalization. The long
i sound in some editions of the
Qur’ān is written with a
kasrah followed by a diacritic-less
y, and long
u by a
ḍammah followed by a bare
w. In others, these
y and
w carry a
sukūn. Outside of the
Qur’ān, the latter convention is extremely rare, to the point that
y with
sukūn will be unambiguously read as the
diphthong , and
w with
sukūn will be read . For example, the letters can be read like English
meal or
mail, or (theoretically) also like
mayyal or
mayil. But if a
sukūn is added on the
y then the
m cannot have a
sukūn (because two letters in a row cannot be
sukūnated), cannot have a
ḍammah (because there is never an
uy sound in Arabic unless there is another vowel after the
y), and cannot have a
kasrah (because
kasrah before
sukūnated
y is never found outside the
Qur’ān), so it
must have a
fatḥah and the only possible pronunciation is (meaning mile, or even e-mail). By the same token, m-y-t with a
sukūn over the
y can be
mayt but not
mayyit or
meet, and m-w-t with a
sukūn on the
w can only be
mawt, not
moot (
iw is impossible when the
w closes the syllable). Vowel marks are always written as if the
i‘rāb vowels were in fact pronounced, even when they must be skipped in actual pronunciation. So, when writing the name
Aḥmad, it is optional to place a
sukūn on the
ḥ, but a
sukūn is forbidden on the
d, because it would carry a
ḍammah if any other word followed, as in
Aḥmadu zawjī "Ahmad is my husband". Another example: the sentence that in correct literary Arabic must be pronounced
Aḥmadu zawjun shirrīr "Ahmad is a wicked husband", is usually pronounced (due to influence from vernacular Arabic varieties) as
Aḥmad zawj shirrīr. Yet, for the purposes of Arabic grammar and orthography, it is treated as if it were not mispronounced and as if yet another word followed it, i.e., if adding any vowel marks, they must be added as if the pronunciation were
Aḥmadu zawjun sharrīrun with a
tanwīn 'un' at the end. So, it is correct to add an
un tanwīn sign on the final
r, but actually pronouncing it would be a hypercorrection. Also, it is never correct to write a
sukūn on that
r, even though in actual pronunciation it is (and in correct Arabic MUST be)
sukūned. Of course, if the correct
i‘rāb is a
sukūn, it may be optionally written. The
sukūn is also used for transliterating words into the Arabic script. The English name "Mark" is written , for example, might be written with a
sukūn above the to signify that there is no vowel sound between that letter and the .
Additional diacritics These diacritics are uncommon in modern publications but are often used in Quran and some manuscripts. ٰThe alif khanjariyyah (, 'dagger ’alif') is written as short vertical stroke on top of a letter. It indicates a long sound for which
Aleph#Arabic| is normally not written. For example: ('
) or ('). The
Wasla or (, '
hamza of connection') is a variant of the letter
hamza () resembling part of the letter Tsade| () that is rarely placed over the letter Aleph| (
ʾalif al-waṣl ()) to form () at the beginning of the word (). It indicates that the Aleph| is not pronounced as a glottal stop (written as the
hamza), but that the word is connected to the previous word (like
liaison in
French). Outside of
vocalised liturgical texts, the is usually not written. e.g. Abdullah can be written with hamzat al-wasl on the first letter of the word but it is mostly written without it . ==Additional letters==
Regional variations Some letters take a traditionally different form in specific regions:
Non-standard letters Some modified letters are used to represent non-native sounds to Modern Standard Arabic. These letters are used as an optional alternative in transliterated names, loanwords and dialectal words. The usage of these letters depends on the writer and their country of origin and their usage is not mandatory. The phoneme (considered a standard pronunciation of in Egypt, Oman, and coastal Yemen) has the highest number of variations when writing loanwords or foreign proper nouns in Literary Arabic, and it can be written with either the standard letters , , , and or with the non-standard letters (used only in Tunisia and Algeria), (used only in Morocco), and (used mainly in Iraq) for example "
Golf" pronounced can be written , , , , , or depending on the writer and their country of origin. On the other hand, is considered a native phoneme in most Arabic dialects, either as a reflex of as in lower Egypt, parts of Oman and parts of Yemen (e.g. ) or as a reflex of as in most of the Arabian peninsula, Iraq, Sudan, and parts of: Egypt, Levant and North Africa (e.g. ). }; the Tunisian cities:
Gafsa written or , and
Gabès written or . Note: The sounds and are non-native to most Arabic dialects (excl.
Anatolian Arabic where "wolf" is pronounced vīp instead of Standard Arabic ), while , and appear as a native phoneme or allophone in many dialects.
Used in languages other than Arabic == Numerals ==