Language Learning

What is shadda? What is shadda? shadda شَدَّة is a diacritical mark that is indicated by the mark ( ـّ ). It means the doubling of a consonant. In other words, the consonant over which the shadda is placed is to be sounded/uttered twice without inserting a short vowel (i.e.  fatha  ـَ , kasra  ـِ , or dhamma  ـُ ), in between. So, instead of writing the same consonant twice, i…

Silent alif al-wasl Silent alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the conjunctive/connective alif that we do not pronounced in connected speech. When we speak, it is common that we assimilate, drop, or blend certain sounds/letters. In English, for example, we pronounce the phrase does she as dushee in connected speech. In Arabic, the most common assimilation and/or dropping occurs w…

What is hamza in Arabic? What is hamza in Arabic? hamza is the first letter of the Arabic Alphabet (alif, ba, ta, tha, …): the alif اَلْأَلِف. However, the alif can be a hamza and an alif al-madd أَلِفُ الْمَدِّ. This is determined by its shape, its position in the word, and the diacritical mark (i.e., the short vowel that accompanies it). Types of alif: There are two type…

What is alif al-wasl? What is alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ? alif al-wasl is the alif without hamza above or below it (i.e., ا not أ or إ), and it always occurs at the beginning of the word. The word وَصْل wasl means ‘connection’. So, alif al-wasl أَلِفُ الْوَصْلِ is the ‘connective alif.’ It connects the word in which it occurs with the preceding word. The purpose of this is …

What is Tanween in Arabic? The tanween (or nunation) in Arabic (also transliterated as tanwin/tenwin) has to do with the sound ن noon. To be precise, it is an acoustic ن (i.e. said but not written). This ن is added to the end of nouns (and adjectives). Only nouns (and adjectives) get tanween, but not all nouns. Certain nouns; all types of pronouns, which are classified as noun…

Simple Arabic Grammar Terms (1) Arabic grammar terms of the previous lessons are listed and explained. Besides the explanation of the terms, examples are given. The noun in Arabic is a word that can be a subject of a verb فَاعِل, a topic of a nominal sentence مُبْتَدَأ, a predicate of a nominal sentence خَبَر, an object of a verb مَفْعُول, or an object of a preposit…