There are six vowels in Arabic: three long vowels and three short vowels. In Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, there are four additional diphthongs: “ow” like “o” in “home,” “ey” like “ai” in “jail,” “aw” like “ou” in “count,” and “ay” like “y” in “fly.”
The abjad writing system represents consonants. In Arabic and Semitic languages in general, consonants are the primary carriers of meaning, while vowels play other important roles, such as forming verbs, nouns, plurals, and other derivatives from the consonantal root.
Table of Contents
- Long Vowels in Arabic
- Short Vowels in Arabic
- Effect of Preceding Sound on Vowels
- سُـكـون (Sukūn)
- Stressed Consonants
- Stressed Consonants with Short Vowels
- Stressed Consonants with Long Vowels
- Diphthongs
- Level I – Beginner I (A1)
Long Vowels in Arabic
Remember that the abjad letters are all consonants. To form the long vowels, we reuse the three consonants ﺍ (alif), ﻮ (w), and ﻱ (y). When adapted as long vowels, these letters are pronounced as: ﺍ (ā), ﻮ (ū), and ﻱ (ī). Let us apply the three long vowels to the consonant ب (b):
| Letter | Romanized | Vowel | Description of the Vowel Sound |
| بـا | bā | ﺍ (ā) | بـا (bā) sounds like “ba” in “bat.” |
| بـو | bū | ﻮ (ū) | بـو (bū) sounds like “boo” in “boot.” |
| بـي | bī | ﻱ (ī) | بـي (bī) sounds like “bee” in “beet.” |
A long vowel is also known as مَـدّ (madd) in Arabic. The name of each مَـدّ (madd) is as follows:
- ﺍ (ā) is called مَـدّ أَلِـف (madd ’alif), i.e., ‘long ā’ vowel.
- ﻮ (ū) is called مَـدّ واو (madd wāw), i.e., ‘long ū’ vowel.
- ﻱ (ī) is called مَـدّ يـاء (madd yā’), i.e., ‘long ī’ vowel.
Short Vowels in Arabic
On the other hand, short vowels are often not written in most Arabic texts but are inferred from context. Nevertheless, as students begin learning Arabic, short vowels are used until new words become familiar. Short vowels are denoted by diacritics called حَـرَكَـات (ḥarakāt), with the singular form being حَـرَكَـة (ḥarakah), written above or below consonants. The process of adding these حَـرَكَـات (ḥarakāt) is called تَـشْـكِـيـل (tashkīl). Let us apply the three short vowels to the consonant ب (bā’) ‘b’:
| Letter | Romanized | Vowel | Description of the Vowel Sound |
| بَ | ba | ـﹷـ (a) | بَ (ba) sounds like “be” in “bet,”or short “ba” in “bat.” |
| بُ | bu | ـﹹـ (u) | بُ (bu) sounds like “bu” in “bull.” |
| بِ | bi | ـﹻـ (i) | بِ (bi) sounds like “bi” in “bit.” |
Let us compare long and short vowels side by side, applied to the consonant ب (bā’) ‘b’:
| Short | Romanized | EN Example | Long | Romanized | EN Example |
| بَ | ba | like “bet” | بـا | bā | like “bat” |
| بُ | bu | like “bull” | بـو | bū | like “boot” |
| بِ | bi | like “bit” | بـي | bī | like “beet” |
The name of each حَـرَكَـة (ḥarakah) in Arabic is as follows:
- ـﹷـ is called فَـتْـحَـة (fatḥah), representing a ‘short a.’
- ـﹹـ is called ضَـمَّـة (ḍammah), representing a ‘short u.’
- ـﹻـ is called كَـسْـرَة (kasrah), representing a ‘short i.’
Effect of Preceding Sound on Vowels
The quality of the ‘short a’ and ‘long ā’ vowels in Arabic is affected by the preceding sound. For example, if the preceding consonant is emphatic, the ‘short a’ and ‘long ā’ vowels tend to sound more retracted. In other words, the ‘short a’ sounds like the “u” in “but,” rather than the “e” in “bet.” On the other hand, the ‘long ā’ sounds like the “a” in “father,” rather than the “a” in “cat,” when following an emphatic sound.
| Following an emphatic sound Short ‘a’ sounds like ‘u’ in ‘but’ Long ‘ā’ sounds like ‘a’ in ‘father’ | Following an unemphatic sound Short ‘a’ sounds like ‘e’ in ‘bet’ Long ‘ā’ sounds like ‘a’ in ‘bat’ | ||
| ص (ṣ) | صَـحِـيْـح ṣaḥīḥ) ‘correct’ | س (s) | سَـعِـيْـد sa‘īd ‘happy’ |
| ض (ḍ) | ضَـارّ ḍārr ‘harmful’ | د (d) | دَافِـيْ dāfi ‘warm’ |
| ط (ṭ) | طَـالِـب ṭālib ‘student’ | ت (t) | تَـارِيْـخ tārīkh ‘history’ |
| ظ (ẓ) | ظَـهْـر ẓahr ‘back’ | ذ (dh) | ذَكِـيّ dhaki ‘smart’ |
This also applies to the sounds ق (qāf) ‘q’ and ك (kāf) ‘k’:
| Following ق (qāf) ‘q’ Short ‘a’ sounds like ‘u’ in ‘but’ Long ‘ā’ sounds like ‘a’ in ‘father’ | Following ك (kāf) ‘k’ Short ‘a’ sounds like ‘e’ in ‘bet’ Long ‘ā’ sounds like ‘a’ in ‘bat’ | ||
| ق (q) | قَـلْـب (qalb) ‘heart’ | ك (k) | كَـلْـب (kalb) ‘dog’ |
| قـاتِـل (qātil) ‘killer’ | كـاتِـب (kātib) ‘writer’ | ||
In general, the consonants خ (khā’) ‘kh’ and غ (ghayn) ‘gh’ cause the following ‘short a’ and ‘long ā’ vowels to be more retracted, though this varies across regional dialects.
سُـكـون (Sukūn)
If a consonant is not followed by a vowel in Arabic, the proper diacritic to be added is called سُـكـون (sukūn), denoted by a small circle ــﹿــ above the letter.
The word سُـكـون (sukūn) means “rest” or “stillness,” referring to the absence of a short vowel after the consonant.
Consider the English word “Muslim.” In Arabic, it is often written as مـسـلـم, which is equivalent to writing the word in English without its vowels, i.e., “Mslm.” Remember that Arabic is written from right to left.
Without vocalization, we spell out the word مـسـلـم (mslm) as follows:
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
| m | s | l | m |
| (4) | (3) | (2) | (1) |
| ـم | ـلـ | ـسـ | مـ |
We add the vowels to the consonants in the following way:
- After the first “m,” we add a ‘short u’ vowel, represented by ـﹹـ on مـ in Arabic, i.e., مُـ.
- After “l,” we add a ‘short i’ vowel, represented by ـﹻـ on ـلـ in Arabic, i.e., لِــ.
- The consonants “s” and the second “m,” which are not followed by a vowel sound, are denoted in Arabic by a سُـكـون (sukūn) ــﹿــ above each consonant, i.e., ـسْـ and ـم. The final letter is often left unvocalized.
The resulting vocalized word is: مُــسْــلِــم (muslim).
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) |
| mu | s | li | m |
| (4) | (3) | (2) | (1 |
| ـم | ـلِـ | ـسْـ | مُـ |
Here are some additional examples:
| Without Diacritics | With Diacritics | |||
| EN | AR | Romanized | AR | Romanized |
| Ahmad | أحـمـد | ’ḥmd | أَحْـمَـد | ’aḥmad |
| house | مـنـزل | mnzl | مَـنْـزِل | manzil |
| crocodile | تـمـسـاح | tmsāḥ | تِـمْـسـاح | timsāḥ |
| idea | فــكــرة | fkrh | فِــكْــرَة | fikrah |
Note that we write long vowels even when diacritics are omitted, e.g., ﺍ (ā) in تـمـسـاح (tmsāḥ) ‘crocodile.’
In general, a word cannot contain more than two consecutive consonants. Larger consonant clusters must be separated by a vowel.
Remember that the سُـكُـوْن (sukūn) indicates that the letter is not followed by a vowel sound. When ﺍ (ā), ﻮ (ū), and ﻱ (ī) are used as long vowels, they may also be marked with سُـكُـوْن (sukūn), since a long vowel is always followed by a consonant and never by a vowel. Therefore, the consonant preceding the long vowel can be marked with a short vowel, and the long vowel can be marked with سُـكُـوْن (sukūn). However, it is common to omit the سُـكُـوْن (sukūn) on the long vowel because it is implicitly understood. Some people also omit the short vowel on the consonant preceding the long vowel.
Let us apply these vocalization methods to the following syllables formed with the consonant ب (bā’) ‘b’ and a long vowel:
| Vocalization #1 | Vocalization #2 | Vocalization #3 | |
| bā | بَــاْ | بَــا | بــا |
| bū | بُــوْ | بُــو | بــو |
| bī | بِــيْ | بِــي | بــي |
Throughout the lessons, we will omit the سُـكُـوْن (sukūn) only in the case of the ‘long ā’ vowel, e.g., بَــا (bā). We keep the سُـكُـوْن (sukūn) to vocalize the ‘long ū’ and ‘long ī’ vowels, e.g., بُــوْ (bū) and بِــيْ (bī), to distinguish them from the diphthongs “ow” and “ey,” as will be explained later in this lesson.
Stressed Consonants
A consonant can be stressed (or doubled) and is often denoted by a حَـرَكَـة (ḥarakah) ‘diacritic,’ called شَــدَّة (shaddah). The شَــدَّة (shaddah) resembles a small written Latin ω placed on top of the stressed letter. It is effectively a contraction of a consonant with سُـكـون (sukūn), followed by the same consonant with a vowel:
| ـــْــ | + | ـــَــ | = | ـــَّــ |
| ـــْــ | + | ـــُــ | = | ـــُّــ |
| ـــْــ | + | ـــِــ | = | ـــِّــ (or) ــﱢـــ |
Stressed Consonants with Short Vowels
Here are some examples of stressed consonants with short vowels in Arabic:
| Short | Romanized | Example |
| ـكَّـ | kka | سُـكَّـر sukkar ‘sugar’ |
| ـمُّـ | mmu | حُـمُّـص ḥummuṣ ‘hummus’ |
| ـيِّـ | yyi | كْــوَيِّــس kwayyis ‘good’ |
Stressed Consonants with Long Vowels
Similarly, the stressed consonant can be followed by a long vowel. For example:
| Long | Romanized | Example |
| ـجَّـا | jjā | نَــجَّــار najjār ‘carpenter’ |
| ـبُّـوْ | bbū | بِــحِــبُّــوْه biḥibbūh ‘they love him’ |
| ـوِّيْـ | wwī | سَـــوِّيْــهَــا sawwīha ‘Do it!’ |
To practice stressing consonants, think of phrases like “goodday,” “one note,” or “book cover.” Notice the difference between the pronunciation of “one oat” versus “one note.”
Diphthongs
The ‘short a’ vowel in Arabic, known as فَـتْـحَـة (fatḥah), can be followed by “w” or “y” to create the two sounds “aw” and “ay,” pronounced like shorter versions of the “ow” in “how” and “y” in “fly,” respectively.
In many Arabic dialects, including Palestinian-Jordanian, these two diphthongs are commonly pronounced like “o” in “home” and “ai” in “jail,” respectively. Only a few words retain the original “aw” and “ay” sounds.
Thus, the main diphthongs in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic are:
- “ow” like “o” in “home.”
- “ey” like “ai” in “jail.”
- “aw” like “ou” in “count.”
- “ay” like “y” in “fly.”
Let us apply the four diphthongs to the consonant ب (b):
| Letter | Romanized | diphthong | Description |
| بُــو | bow | ـُـو (ow) | بُــو (bow) sounds like “bow” in “bowl.” |
| بِــي | bey | ـِـي (ey) | بِــي (bey) sounds like “bay.” |
| بَــوْ | baw | ـَـوْ (aw) | بَــوْ (baw) sounds like “bou” in “about.” |
| بَــيْ | bay | ـَـيْ (ay) | بَــيْ (bay) sounds like “bi” in “bike.” |
Here are some words that contain the most common “ow” and “ey” diphthongs:
| يُــوم yowm day | اِلْـكُـون il-kown the universe | صُــوت ṣowt voice | لُـــون lown color |
| بِــيــت beyt house | دِيــن deyn debt | وِيـــن weyn where | غِـيـم gheym cloud |
Notice that we do not use سُـكُـوْن (sukūn) to denote the و (w) and ي (y) in the diphthongs “ow” and “ey” to distinguish them from the long vowels “ū” and “ī,” respectively.
Consider the following examples to highlight difference in pronunciation:
| كُـون kown universe | كُـوْن kūn be (imperative) | دِيــن deyn debt | دِيْــن dīn religion |
Most words that contain the less common “aw” and “ay” diphthongs are monosyllables. Here are some examples:
| أَوْ ’aw or | لَــوْ law if | جَــوّْ jaww weather | كَــوْكَــب kawkab planet |
| أَيّْ ’ayy which, any | مَــيّْ mayy water | فَــيّْ fayy shade | نَــيّ nayy raw (food) |
In Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the diphthongs “ow” and “ey” are pronounced as “aw” and “ay,” respectively.
| PA/JO | MSA | PA/JO | MSA |
| يُــوم yowm day | يَــوْم yawm day | لُـــون lown color | لَـــوْن lawn color |
| بِــيــت beyt house | بَــيْــت bayt house | دِيــن deyn debt | دَيْــن dayn debt |
Arabic grammarians view the “w” and “y” in the “aw” and “ay” sounds as consonants. However, grammarians of Indo-European languages classify these two sounds as diphthongs.
Back to: Linguistic Features of Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic
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