taa maftuha and taa marbuta as well as the haa marbuta are difficult to differentiate. For learners of Arabic as a foreign language, it is always difficult to distinguish between ت/ـت, ة/ـة, and ه/ـه when they occur at the end of words, and so is the case for native speakers. ت/ـت is called taa maftuha (تَاء مَفْتُوحَة) ; ة/ـة is called taa marbuta (تَاء مَرْبُوطَة); and ه/ـه is called haa marbuta (هَاء مَرْبُوطَة). While native speakers’ problem has to do with writing, Arabic learners’ problem is connected with both writing and pronunciation. How is each of these letters pronounced? What are the similarities and differences between them? Does knowing the right pronunciation help with correct spelling? Let’s answer each of these questions.
The taa maftuha التَّاءُ الْمَفْتُوحَة (also known as taa mabsuta) is always pronounced ت /t/ regardless of the type of diacritical mark that accompanies it, that is fatha ـَ, kasra ـِ, dhamma ـُ, or sukuun ـْ (i.e. no vowel) or their corresponding tanween, that is tanween of fatha ـً, tanween of kasra ـٍ, or tanween of dhamma ـٌ.
In the following table, the final ت is, in all instances, pronounced as /t/. The words under (a), (b), and (c) are definite (i.e., they begin with the definite article ال). Grammatically, the final ت is assigned a fatha in (a) to mark the accusative case; a kasra in (b) to mark the genitive case; and a dhamma in (c) to mark the nominative case.
On the other hand, the words in (d), (e), and (f) are indefinite because they don’t begin with the definite article ال. As a result, they are assigned the corresponding tanween (note that tanween is almost always a marker of indefiniteness). Like in (a), (b), and (c), the type of tanween reflects the type of case. In (g), the ت is saakina (not vowelized) indicating a pause on it. Despite the pause, it (i.e., the final ت) is still pronounced /t/, unlike pausing on the taa marbuta, as you will see below.
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | (e) | (f) | (g) |
|
| الْبِنْتَ | الْبِنْتِ | الْبِنْتُ | بِنْتًا | بِنْتٍ | بِنْتٌ | بِنْتْ | girl |
| الصَّوْتَ | الصَّوْتِ | الصَّوْتُ | صَوْتًا | صَوْتٍ | صَوْتٌ | صَوْتْ | sound |
| الْبَيْتَ | الْبَيْتِ | الْبَيْتُ | بَيْتًا | بَيْتٍ | بَيْتٌ | بَيْتْ | house |
| الْأُخْتَ | الْأُخْتِ | الْأُخْتُ | أخْتًا | أُخْتٍ | أُخْتٌ | أُخْتْ | sister |
The taa maftuha التَّاءُ الْمَفْتُوحَة is used with singular nouns, such as بِنْت, صَوْت, بَيْت, and أُخْت; with feminine plural nouns, such as بَنَات ‘girls’, سَيِّدَات ‘ladies’, مُمَرِّضَات ‘ nurses’, and مُعَلِّمَات ‘female teachers’; with perfective (past) verbs as a feminine marker, like ذَهَبَتْ ‘she went’, وَصَلَتْ ‘she arrived’, قَرَأَتْ ‘she read’, and كَتَبَتْ she wrote’; and as part of the root of verbs, such as مَاتَ ‘he died’ and سَكَت ‘he stopped talking.’
We pronounce the taa marbuta (ة/ـة) as هـ /h/ when we pause/stop on it. In Arabic, the letter that we pause/stop on is called saakin (i.e., no vowel is added above/below it). If a short vowel is added above or below the letter, it is called mutaharrik. Therefore, when the taa marbuta is mutaharrika (i.e. vowelized), it is pronounced in the same way as the taa maftuha, that is /t/. As for writing, it retains its original form, that is taa marbuta (ة/ـة), as in these examples:
| Pronunciation of taa marbuta | |||
| pronounced as /t/ | mutaharrika | pronounced as /h/ | saakina |
| ash-shajaratu | الشَّجَرَةُ | ash-shajarah | الشَّجَرَة ‘the tree’ |
| shajaratun | شَجَرَةٌ | shajarah | شَجَرَة ‘a tree’ |
| aT-Tawilata | الطَّوِيلَةَ | aT-Tawilah | الطَّوِيلَة ‘the tall’ |
| Tawilatun | طَوِيلَةً | Tawilah | طَوِيلَة ‘tall’ |
| al-qabilati | الْقَبِيلَةِ | al-qabilah | الْقَبِيلَة ‘the tribe’ |
| Qabilatin | قَبِيلَةٍ | qabilah | قَبِيلَة ‘a tribe’ |
In phrases that are composed of two or more nouns, the taa marbuta of the first nouns is always pronounced even if it is saakina. For more examples and explanations, check out this lesson.
As for its usage, the taa marbuta is used as a feminine marker of proper nouns. That is, almost all proper nouns that end in taa marbuta are feminine forms, as in فَاطِمَة ‘Fatimah’, سَارَة Sarah, and سَمِيرَة ‘Samirah’. Furthermore, it is used to derived feminine forms from masculine forms, namely nouns and adjectives. To do this, we simply append the taa marbuta to the end of the masculine form, as in the following table.
| الْمُؤَنَّث the feminine form | الْمُذَكَّر the masculine form |
| أُسْتَاذَة ‘a female teacher’ | أُسْتَاذ ‘a teacher’ |
| طَبِيبَة ‘a female physician’ | طَبِيب ‘a physician’ |
| طَالِبَة ‘a female student’ | طَالِب ‘a student’ |
| ذَكِيَّة ‘a smart (girl/woman)’ | ذَكِيّ ‘a smart (boy/man)’ |
| مَاهِرَة ‘a skillful (girl/woman)’ | مَاهِر ‘a skillful (boy/man)’ |
The haa الْهَاء (ه/ـه) is always pronounced as ه/هـ /h/ regardless of whether it is accompanied by a short vowel (ــَ , ــِ , ــُ) or a tanween (ــً , ــٍ , ــٌ) or is unvowelized, as in these examples:
| Pronunciation of haa marbuta | |||
| pronounced as /h/ | mutaharrika | pronounced as /h/ | saakina |
| al-miyahu | الْمِيَاهُ | al-miyah | الْمِيَاه ‘the water’ |
| miyahun | مِيَاهٌ | miyah | مِيَاه ‘water’ |
| al-wajha | الْوَجْهَ | al-wajh | الْوَجْه ‘the face’ |
| wajhan | وَجْهًا | wajh | وَجْه ‘a face’ |
| al-ittijahi | الْاتِّجَاهِ | al-ittijah | الْاتِّجَاه ‘the direction’ |
| ittijahin | اِتِّجَاهٍ | ittijah | اِتِّجَاه ‘a direction’ |
| minhu | مِنْهُ | minh | مِنْه ‘from him’ |
As for its function in the word, the haa can be part of the root, as in وَجْه. Furthermore, it is a possessive pronounce appended to the end of nouns to indicate possession, as in كِتَابُهُ ‘his book’ and أُستَاذُه ‘his teacher.’ If added to the end of verbs, it is always an object pronoun, i.e. the receiver of the action, as in ضَرَبَهُ ‘he hit him’ and حَبَّتْهُ ‘she loved him.’ When appended to prepositions, it functions as the object of a preposition, as in بِهِ ‘with it’ and إِلَيهِ ‘to him.’
To sum up, the taa maftuha (ت/ـت) and taa marbuta (ة/ـة) are pronounced in the same way (i.e. /t/) when the taa marbuta is accompanied by the short vowels or the tanween marks. The taa marbuta is, however, pronounced as هـ /h/ when we stop on it. As regards the taa marbuta and the haa marbuta, we pronounce them in the same way (i.e. /h/) when they are saakina (i.e., not vowelized). The taa marbuta is, on the other hand, pronounced as /t/ when it is vowelized.
With respect to how they are written, to distinguish between taa maftuha and taa marbuta, use taskeen تَسْكِين (addition of a sukuun) as a test. If you add sukuun to the taa marbuta, it is pronounced as هـ /h/ rather than ت /t/, hence written as ة/ـة. If the pronunciation remains /t/ despite the taskeen, then it is a taa maftuha not taa marbuta, thus written as ت/ـت.
In like manner, to distinguish between taa marbuta and haa, use tahreek تَحْرِيك (addition of a short vowel or a tanween). If you add a short vowel or a tanween to the taa marbuta, it pronounced as ت. Conversely, if you use taskeen, it is pronounced as ــه. This way we know whether it a taa marbuta or a haa. As mentioned above, we always pronounce haa as هـ /h/ regardless of the taskeen or tahreek.
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