Long vowels lengthen the sounds of short vowels. They produce sounds of double a (aa), double i (ii), and double-u, o (uu) (oo). The three long vowel sounds in Arabic are represented by the following three letters:

1. Alif حرف الألف 
2. Waaw – حرف الواو
3. Ya’ – حرف الياء

Sounds of long vowels seem similar to short vowels, but they are stretched longer than short vowels.

We know the short vowels Fatha ـَ, Kasra ـِ, and Damma ـُ. Long vowels came in combination with short vowels. Long vowels have no harakat. Let’s see:

1- Alif حرف الألف  ALIF AL-MADD

ALIF AL-MADD is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the Fatha from ‘a’ into ‘aa’. The long vowel ا always comes in combination with the short vowel Fatha _َ. That means the letter before the long vowel ا must have the short vowel Fatha  _َ on it.

For example مَا – “ What ”.

2- Waaw – حرف الواو WAAW AL-MADD

WAAW AL-MADD is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the Damma from ‘u’ into ‘uu’.

The long vowel و always comes in combination with the short vowel damma ـُ. That means the letter before the long vowel و must have the short vowel damma ـُ on it.

For example: تُوت “ blueberry ”

3- Ya’ – حرف الياء YAA’ AL-MADD

YAA’ AL-MADD is the long vowel lengthening the sound of the kasra from ‘i’ into ‘ii’. The long vowel ي always comes in combination with the short vowel kasra ـِ , which means the letter before the long vowel ي must contain the short vowel Kasra  ـِ below it.

For example أبِي “ my dad ”.

Alif 

• There are two types of Alif: the “hamza” and “Alif madd”.
• In Arabic grammar, the “hamza” is the first letter of the alphabet, while “Alif madd” is the long vowel “ ا ”.
• Alif is the first letter in the Arabic alphabet. It has many usages, shapes, and forms.
• Alif is like the shape of a stick or number one 1.
• Alif can be presented as: Initial ا, Medial ـا, Final ـا .
• Alif is one of the three letters  Alif  ا, Wow و, Ya ي  which might be either a consonant or a vowel letter. If Alif comes with Hamza ( ء ) on the top أ or below إ, it is considered as a consonant letter. And if Alif comes without Hamza, it is considered as a vowel letter.
•  Alif is a vowel and hamza is a consonant.
• Vowels in Arabic would be the Fatha (a), Damma (u), and Kasra (i).

Consonant Alif always comes at the beginning of a word. But Alif with a Hamza might be seen at the middle or the end of the word so that it is not recognized as an Alif in Arabic, and it is just called Hamza.

The right sound depends on the position of the Hamza (on top – below) or the small marks written (above – below) the letters which are called Diacritics ”Tashkeel”.

Alif with a Fatha: أَ

We put the fatha on the top of the Hamza ءَ. It sounds like A in Apple.

Alif with a Kasra: إِ 

We put the Kasra under the Hamza ءِ. It sounds like E in Exercise.

Alif with a Damma:  أُ 

We put the Damma on the top of the Hamza ءُ. It sounds like O in Opera.

Vowel Alif usually comes in the middle or at the end of a word. It always comes with Sukoon and the letter before it always comes with a Fatha:

Medial Vowel Alif: ( ا ) ( ـا )

It depends on whether the letter before it is connectable or not. It sounds like “a” on Sat.

Final Vowel Alif : ( ا ) ( ى ) ( ـا ) ( ـى )

It depends on whether the letter before it is connectable or not. It sounds like “a” in Cinema. The final vowel Alif might come in a strange form like ( ى ) ( ـى ). This is called Alif Maqsoura or Alif Layyennah.

Initial Vowel Alif: ( آ )

It is the initial Alif with a special mark called Madd mark ( ~ ), it is like the Hamza on the top of Alif. It’s pronounced as two long vowel Alifs in a row.

Kinds of “Hamza”

There are two Kinds of Hamza, Hamzat Aq-qat and Hamzat Al-Wasl:  

1- Hamzat aq-qat : همزة القطع

• Written as a hamza over the Alif letter.
• Always the sound of the hamza is written, heard, and pronounced.

Example:

• “ father” ab = أب.

2- Hamzat al-wasl: همزة الوصل

• Written as an ālif without a hamza on it .
• Always the sound of the hamza is heard and pronounced but not written.

Example:

• “Door” bab = باب

Position of the “Hamza”

• The “hamza” comes at the beginning of the word as “ أ, إ, ا ”.
• The “hamza” comes in the middle of the word as “ ـأ, ـئـ, ئـ, ـؤ”.
• The “hamza” comes at the end of the word as “أ, ـأ, ـيء, ـئ, ـؤ, ء”.

Let’s Read some Words Together:

Please read from right to left. Pay careful attention to how letters are joined. Remember letters can have different shapes depending on whether they are in the beginning, middle, or end of a word:

Most Arabic Letters have their Equivalent in the English Alphabet such as:

Y = ى

W = و

N = ن

L = ل

K = ك

F = ف

Some Arabic Letters are so difficult to find their equivalent in the English Alphabet such as:

ع – غ – خ

• We may write “ʿ ” as “ع”.
• We may write “gh” as “غ”.
• We may write “kh” as “خ”.

Tips for learning Arabic

After we have covered the Arabic Alphabet, let’s know some tips for learning:

1- Arabic Reading Practice:

In Arabic, more experienced readers do not require the “harakat” or “diacritical” marks to read the word, by practising it they can read well. So the more you practice the more you will be experienced:

• Make Arabic reading a daily habit.
• Try to practice reading more words every day.
• Always remember that the more you practice, the better your Arabic will be.

2-   Arabic Handwriting Practice:

After you have practised reading words and learning phrases and grammar. It is very important to learn how to write Arabic while you are learning the language.

If you want to learn to write Arabic Alphabet, you should practice handwriting well:

• Write the isolated, initial, medial and final form variations.
• Start by tracing the letters, it helps you to quickly memorize letters and to be able to write them with punctuation.

Writing Arabic naturally forces you to become familiar with the shapes of the letters. And that will improve your ability to understand the Arabic alphabet much quicker.

Numbers in the Arabic Alphabet

Numbers are probably one of the easiest words to incorporate into your day. We can’t live without counting. Let’s learn them together: