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Tanween
Tanween in Arabic
Tanween
تَنْوِيْن
- ـَ
- ـِ
- ـُ
Doubling of these three short vowels (tanween) looks like:
-
ـً
Tanween with fatha -
ـٍ
Tanween with kasra -
ـٌ
Tanween with damma
Like doubling of short vowels in other tanweens, tanween with damma ـٌ also consists of two dammas. One is regular and the other is inverted. It looks like ـُٗ in handwriting, but computer fonts have their own styles.
Arabic names for these three types of tansweens are:
-
Tanween with fatha ( ـً ) is called Fathatain.
فَتْحَتَيْنِ -
Tanween with kasra ( ـٍ ) is called Kasratain.
كَسْرَتَيْنِ -
Tanween with damma ( ـٌ ) is called Dammatain.
ضَمَّتَيْنِ
Tanween has the grammatical role of setting nominative, objective, or possessive cases for a noun, pronoun, or adjective. So, the same word can have different tanween (tanween damma, tanween fatha, tanween kasra) in a sentence. More, we will discuss this in the grammar section.
Tanween rules
There are three important rules to remember regarding tanween.
Rule 1
Tanween is only placed on the last letter in a word. There is no concept of tanween at the mid or initial position of a word.
Rule 2
Tanweens are combinations of the respective short vowel and the letter noon with sukoon (noon sakin) i.e.
ـَ + نْ ⇜ ـً
اَ + نْ ⇜ اً
ـُ + نْ ⇜ ـٌ
اُ + نْ ⇜ اٌ
ـِ + نْ ⇜ ـٍ
اِ + نْ ⇜ اٍ
However, we can't replace a tanween with noon sakin, because tanween has some grammatical purposes to serve.
(We will shortly see examples of tanween after the explanation of 3rd rule.)
Rule 3
Tanween with fatha is always written with an extra alif ا, i.e.
باً
تاً
داً
However, there are two exceptions to this rule of extra alif with tanween fatha.
-
If the last letter of the word is ta marboota ة, then extra alif would not be written, e.g.
فَتْحَةً
كَسْرَةً
حَرَكَةً -
If the word ends in the letter hamza ( ء ) and the second last letter is alif
( ا ), then extra alif would not be written, e.g.
سَمَاءً
The following word has ء at the end but the second last letter is not ا. So, the above exception doesn't apply here.
شَيئاً
Ta marboota ة
We have just seen a new Arabic letter which we haven't discussed in the alphabet i.e.
حركة or
كسرة.
This is the closed form of the letter ta ت. The Arabic name of closed ta is ta marboota.
It looks like the letter ha ﻩ but ta marboota ة only comes at the end of a word. That's why ta marboota has no initial or medial shapes.
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Final, attached
to right |
Medial, attached
to right & left |
Initial, Unattached
to right, attached to left |
Isolated
form |
| ﺔ | ❌ | ❌ | ة |
Please listen to the two following sounds of the same word:
حَرَكَةً
حَرَكَةً
In the second sound,
حركة
The reason for this similar sound of ta marboota to letter ha is that in the spoken solo word or the word that is at the end of a sentence is spoken as sakin (Sakin = a word with sukoon symbol on it), but in written Arabic, it is not sakin.
When we speak in every day spoken Arabic, we cut the voice of last harakah (short vowel).
For example, in the following sentence, we are not pronouncing the fatah ـَ
on the last letter of the sentense, Qaf
ك.
كَيْفَ حَالُكَ
Similarly, the letter noon
ن
is pronounced as
sakin
ساكن
مُسْلِمَيْنِ
مُسْلِمِيْنَ
However, in this course, we are not making the last letter sakin in sounds, and you should also do the same because these symbols on the last letters have grammatical importance. So, it is necessary to speak the last symbol for learning purposes. Later, when you have learned Arabic you can omit the last harakah in your spoken language.
Tanween examples
ا
|
اً
|
|
اٍ
|
|
اٌ
|
As in the previous lessons, we are practicing reading along with their vowels, here, in this lesson also we will continue the same pattern. If you find reading/learning easier without saying "fathatain, kasratain and dammatain", you can skip these words.
|
اً
|
|
اٍ
|
|
اٌ
|
ب
|
بًا
|
|
بٍ
|
|
بٌ
|
ت
|
تًا
|
|
تٍ
|
|
تٌ
|
ث
|
ثًا
|
|
ثٍ
|
|
ثٌ
|
ج
|
جًا
|
|
جٍ
|
|
جٌ
|
ح
|
حًا
|
|
حٍ
|
|
حٌ
|
خ
|
خًا
|
|
خٍ
|
|
خٌ
|
د
|
دًا
|
|
دٍ
|
|
دٌ
|
ذ
|
ذًا
|
|
ذٍ
|
|
ذٌ
|
ر
|
رًا
|
|
رٍ
|
|
رٌ
|
ز
|
زًا
|
|
زٍ
|
|
زٌ
|
س
|
سًا
|
|
سٍ
|
|
سٌ
|
ش
|
شًا
|
|
شٍ
|
|
شٌ
|
ص
|
صًا
|
|
صٍ
|
|
صٌ
|
ض
|
ضًا
|
|
ضٍ
|
|
ضٌ
|
ط
|
طًا
|
|
طٍ
|
|
طٌ
|
ظ
|
ظًا
|
|
ظٍ
|
|
ظٌ
|
ع
|
عًا
|
|
عٍ
|
|
عٌ
|
غ
|
غًا
|
|
غٍ
|
|
غٌ
|
ف
|
فًا
|
|
فٍ
|
|
فٌ
|
ق
|
قًا
|
|
قٍ
|
|
قٌ
|
ك
|
كًا
|
|
كٍ
|
|
كٌ
|
ل
|
لًا
|
|
لٍ
|
|
لٌ
|
م
|
مًا
|
|
مٍ
|
|
مٌ
|
ن
|
نًا
|
|
نٍ
|
|
نٌ
|
و
|
وًا
|
|
وٍ
|
|
وٌ
|
ﻩ
|
هًا
|
|
ﻩٍ
|
|
ﻩٌ
|
ء
|
ءً / ئًا
|
|
ءٍ
|
|
ءٌ
|
No alif ا after ءً, if hamza is preceeded by alif. We have already covered two exceptions above.
ي
|
يًا
|
|
يٍ
|
|
يٌ
|
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