Language Learning

One characteristic of Arabic that makes its writing easy is that it is a phonetic language. That is, there is generally a one-to-one correspondence between the spoken form and the written form. In other words, there are no silent letters as is the case with English and French. This is especially true when writing isolated words. However, in writing natural connected speech, one must take heed. This lesson is about common spelling mistakes that Arabic learners make.

Confusing Short Vowels with Long Vowels:

As explained in a previous lesson, each short vowel in Arabic has a corresponding long vowel. The pronunciation between the two is very slight. That is, a long vowel is a prolonged short vowel. In many cases, short vowels in Arabic are written as long vowels. Therefore, you must be pay heed to the length of the sound. The following examples illustrate the difference and reduce the confusion: (A) فَتْحَة fatHah vs. أَلِف alif:

Short vowel fatHah َ	Long vowel alif ـا
كَتَبَ	كَاتَبَ
عَكَسَ	عَاكَسَ
شَتَمَ	شَاتَمَ
خَلَقَ	خَالَقَ
رَجَمَ	رَاجَمَ

(B) كَسْرَة kasrah vs. ياء yaa’:

Short vowel kasrah  ِ	Long vowel yaa'
سَلِم	سَلِيْم
سِرْ	سِيْر
عَمِل	عَمِيل
سَمِن	سَمِيْن
عَلِم	عَلِيْم

(C) ضَمَّة DHammah vs. وَاو waaw:

Short vowel DHammah ُ	Long vowel waaw
سُر	سُوْر
يَكُن	يَكُوْن
يَقُل	يَقُول
يَطُل	يَطُوْل
ثُم	ثُوْم

Assimilation of Certain Letters:

Another difficulty that most learners encounter is the assimilation of the ل or the ال in some of the words that start with ال (i.e. the definite article in Arabic). If these words are said singly, the ل is written but not pronounced. In connected speech, both ال are written but not pronounced. The learners mistakenly do not write them, since they base their judgment on pronunciation. Assimilation of ل and ال occur in words that begin with sun letters (i.e. ت ، ث ، د ، ذ ، ر ، ز ، س ، ش ، ص ، ض ، ط ، ظ ، ل ، ن). The Arabic alphabet is classified into two types of letters: sun letters and moon letters. This classification will be explained in a future lesson. In list (A), the learners do not write the ل when they should. Similarly, in list (B), they do not write the ال when they must. (A)

Misspelling	Correct spelling
اَشَّمْس	الشَّمْس
اَسَّيْف	السَّيْف
اَثُّوْم	الثُّوْم
اَدَّم	الدَّم
اَتَّمْر	التَّمْر

(B)

Misspelling	Correct spelling
وَشَّمْس	وَالشَّمْس
فَسَّيْف	فالسَّيْف
مِنَثُّوْم	مِنَ الثُّوْم
بِدَّم	بِالدَّم
أَكَلْتُ تَّمْر	أَكَلْتُ التَّمْر

A Problem with the tanween:

Most learners also mistakenly write the tanween as ن, as illustrate in the table below. It is obvious that they rely on pronunciation, and hence write it the way it is pronounced.

Misspelling	Correct spelling
كَتَبَنْ	كَتَابًا
سَيْفُنْ	سَيْفٌ
ثُوْمَنْ	ثُوْمًا
بَيْتِنْ	بَيْتٍ
خُبْزُنْ	خُبْزٌ
شَارِعِنْ	شَارِعٍ