By now we know what the short vowels are.

For example, this letter is meem م

If it has a fatha it become ma مَ, if it has a kasra it become mi مِ and if it has a dhammah it becomes mu مُ

Apart from short vowels we also have long vowels which lengthens the short vowel. They are known as letters of madd in Arabic.
So instead of a, i ,u, a will become aa, i will become ii and u will become uu.

 

These 3 letters are the long vowels ا  و  ي the letters of madd.

We mentioned them briefly in previous lessons. These 3 long vowels stretch the short vowel on the letter before it if the right conditions are present.

Let’s have a look at an example,

This is the letter daal د

With a fatha it is da دَ, the alif (ا) stretches the fatha and it will read daa دَا and not da. You pronounce the aa for 2 counts.

If the daal has a dhammah it is du دُ, the waw (و) stretches the dhammah and it will read duu دُو and not du. You pronounce the uu sound for 2 counts.

If the daal has a kasra it will read as di دِ, the yaa (ي) stretches the kasra and it will read dii دِي and not di. You pronounce the ii sound for two counts.

 

Another example,

this is the letter seen س

with a fatha it is sa سَ,the alif will stretch the fatha and it will become saa سَا. You pronounce the aa for 2 counts.

If the seen has a dhammah it is su سُ, the waw stretches the dhammah and becomes suu سُو. You pronounce the uu sound for 2 counts.

If the seen has a kasra it will read as si سِ, the yaa stretches the kasra and it becomes sii سِي. You pronounce the ii sound for two counts.

 

So how do you know if these letters are a vowel or not?

The common rule is that the long vowel does not have any mark on it, not a fatha, not a dhammah not a kasra.

Also, a fatha must be present on the letter before the alif.
A dhammah must be present on the letter before the waw.
A kasra must be present on the letter before the yaa.

 

Let’s do some examples.

قَالَ

We see an Alif that might be a long vowel or a consonant. Let’s look through the rules, does the Alif have a mark on it? No.
Does the letter before the Alif have a fatha? Yes, so it’s a long vowel.
It reads as Qaala not Qala, Qaala, stretching it for 2 counts.

 

قِيلَ

We see a yaa that might be a long vowel or a consonant. Let’s look through the rules. Does the yaa have a mark on it? No.
Does the letter before the yaa have a kasra? Yes. so, it’s a long vowel.
It reads Qiila not Qila Qiila, stretching it for 2 counts.

يقول

We see a Waw that could be a long vowel or a consonant. Let’s look through the rules. Does the waw have a mark on it? No.
Does the letter before the Waw have a dhammah? Yes, so it’s a long vowel.
It reads as YaQuulu not yaqulu, yaQuuLu, stretching it for 2 counts.

 

Lets do some more examples

شَا  شَو شُي

Which one is the long vowel out of these examples?
Is it the first one? The yaa has no mark. But what should come before the yaa? A kasra. This is a dhammah, it can’t be a long vowel.

Ok what about the 2nd one? The waw has no mark, but what goes with the waw? A dhammah. This is a fatha, the waw isn’t a long vowel.

What about the 3rd one? The Alif has no mark, what goes with the alif? A fatha. This has a fatha. Therefore, it is a long vowel. It reads Shaa and not sha.

 

 

بِي  بِأَ بِو

Let’s see these examples, which one do you think is the long vowel?
It can’t be the 1st one because the letter before the waw doesn’t have a dhammah.
It can’t be the 2nd one because the alif has a mark on it.
It’s the 3rd one. The Long vowel yaa has a kasra before it. It reads Bii and not Bi. Bii

 

جُو جِو جَو

Ok last examples, which one is the vowel? 
The 3rd one. Great work

 

 

Sometimes that long Alif vowel is written like this ى

This is called the alif maqsurah (ى) as explained in our alphabet series.

For example, we see this word يَرَا 

The alif does not have a mark on it and the letter before it has a fatha, therefore the alif is a long vowel. It reads YaRaa.

Now this same word is written like this يَرَى

It reads exactly the same Yaraa. How come its not ya ra ya? The same rule applies as the Alif. Does the alif maqsurah have a mark? No.
Does the letter before it have a fatha? Yes. Therefore, it’s a long vowel, it reads Yaraa.

 

Here are some more examples مُوسَى عِيسى  سَجَى

They all have fathas before the alif maqsurah and the alif maqsurah does not have a fatha, dhammah or kasra on it.
They read Muusaa, Eisaa, sajaa.

In some writings they place a little alif on the alif maqsurah. This reminds the person to pronounce it as a long vowel.