There are three short vowels in Arabic.

They look like this
 

This is called a fatha

  

It is written above a letter. It makes an “ a” sound.

 

This is called the Dhammah

It is written above the letter. It makes an “u” sound.

 

 

 

This is called a Kasra

 

 

It is written below the letter. It makes an “i” sound

 

 

For example, this letter is called seen س , if we put a fatha on top it will be pronounced as “sa”.

سَ

If we put a dhammah it will be pronounced as “su”.

سُ

And If we put a kasara, it would be pronounced as “si”. 

سِ

 

Let’s practice some more examples.

This letter is Baa ب . If we put fatha it is pronounced as Ba بَ

if we put a dhammah it will be Bu. بُ

If we put a kasra it will be Bi بِ

This letter is A’in ع. ‘A ‘E ‘U – عَ عِ عُ

This letter is Qaaf ق. Qa, Qu, Qi  – قَ قِ قُ

This letter is Jeem, Ja, Ju, Ji  – جَ جِ جُ

This is the Hamza, ء   A, I, U   – أَ إِ أُ

This is the letter noon ن  , Na , Nu , Ni – نَ نُ نِ

This letter is Laam ل  , La, Lu, Li – لَ لُ لِ

Lets do one more example, This letter is و Waw.
If we put a fatha it would be pronounced as Wa وَ
if we put a dhammah it will be pronounced as Wu وُ
If we put a Kasra it will be pronounced as Wi وِ

Practice the rest of the alphabet to get familiar with the sounds.