Arabic Vowels Sounds – Arabic Diacritics / Harakat

Diacritics are often overlooked; however, they are crucial to learning Arabic pronunciation. The literal meaning of diacritics is Tashkil/Forming. These are necessary for non-Arabic speakers to pronounce Arabic letters & words correctly. Therefore, it is essential to learn Arabic Diacritics/Harakat to read Arabic accurately.

Arabic letters are marked with diacritical marks above or below them to indicate whether they are spoken with a short vowel, a Tanween (a short vowel plus an /n/ sound), or not at all (Sukoon).

These marks may be omitted in modern Arabic because native speakers already know the pronunciation. However, they are always present in the Holy Quran or in places where a reader may mispronounce a word.

This post provides the essential information you need about Arabic diacritical marks. To learn these harakaat properly, you must first know how to read the Arabic alphabet.

Basic Arabic Diacritics / Harakat

Fatha / Zabr

Fatha is placed above a letter and corresponds to the /a/ vowel.

Kasra / Zair

Kasra is placed below a letter and corresponds to the /i/ vowel.

Dammah / Paish

Dammah is placed above a letter and corresponds to the /o/ or /u/ vowel.

Tanween

Tanween is a less common diacritical mark. There are three types of Tanween, where vowels are read followed by an /n/ sound.

Tanween with Fatha

Pronounced “an”.

Tanween with Kasra

Pronounced “in”.

Tanween with Dammah

Pronounced “un”.

Long Vowels

Standing Fatha

Standing Fatha is a long vowel pronounced like “aa”, stretched slightly longer.

Standing Kasrah

Standing Kasrah is stretched longer and sounds like “ee”.

Inverted Dhammah

Inverted Dhammah (standing Paish) is a long vowel pronounced “oo”.

Sukoon & Shaddah

Sukoon is a small circle indicating the absence of a vowel.

Shaddah doubles the consonant sound and always comes with a vowel.

Madd

Madd means to stretch a sound. There are three letters of Madd.

Short Madd

A thin wavy line that stretches the sound for 2–3 seconds.

Long Madd

A thicker mark that stretches the sound for up to 4 seconds.

Sign	What is it called?	Sound
	Fathah / Zabar	a
	Kasrah / Zair	i
	Dhammah / Paish	u
	Double Fathah	an
	Double Kasrah	in
	Double Dhammah	un
	Standing Fathah	aa
	Standing Kasrah	ee
	Inverted Dhammah	oo
	Shaddah	double letter
	Sukoon	absence of vowel
	Madd	aaaa (long sound)

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Learning Arabic diacritics is essential to understanding the pronunciation of Arabic letters. Once a person becomes an expert, they can read Arabic even without diacritics.

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