If Arabic script looks like a row of consonants to you, you’re not imagining it. Most of the time, written Arabic shows you the skeleton of a word and leaves the vowels to the reader. That sounds intimidating, but here’s the good news: Arabic has only three vowel sounds, and once you see where they come from, the whole system clicks into place.
This post walks through our Arabic Vowels lesson (video above) step by step, so you can read along, practise, and come back whenever you need a refresher.
It all starts with the golden letters
In the Arabicy alphabet method, three letters get their own group: the golden letters — ا (alif), و (waw) and ي (ya). We group them by function rather than shape, because they do a special job: every Arabic vowel is derived from one of them.
Each golden letter gives us one vowel sound, and that sound comes in two sizes: long and short.
Type 1: Long vowels (the letters themselves)
When a golden letter follows a consonant, it stretches the sound into a long vowel:
| Letter | Long sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ا alif | aa (as in father) | دَار — daar, house |
| و waw | uu (as in moon) | دُور — duur, houses |
| ي ya | ii (as in see) | وَزِير — waziir, minister |
Notice how دَار and دُور share the same consonants, د and ر. Swapping the long vowel changes “house” into “houses.” Vowels in Arabic aren’t decoration; they carry meaning.
Type 2: Short vowels (the little marks)
Each long vowel has a short partner. Instead of a full letter, the short vowel is a small mark (a haraka) written above or below the consonant:
- Fatha ـَ — a small slanted stroke above the letter. It’s the short version of alif: a quick “a.”
- Damma ـُ — a tiny waw-shaped curl above the letter. It’s the short version of waw: a quick “u.”
- Kasra ـِ — a small slanted stroke below the letter. It’s the short version of ya: a quick “i.”
A handy way to remember it: short vowels are the miniature versions of the golden letters. Same family, same sound, just shorter.
Putting it together with one letter
The video practises with ب (ba). Say each pair out loud and feel the difference in length:
بَ ← بَا · بُ ← بُو · بِ ← بِي
ba → baa · bu → buu · bi → bii
Then the lesson runs through the entire alphabet with the three long vowels: تَا تُو تِي, جَا جُو جِي, سَا سُو سِي… all the way to يَا يُو يِي. It’s worth doing this drill out loud at least once. It trains your mouth for letters that don’t exist in English (ح، ع، ق، ص، ض، ط، ظ) while the vowels stay steady.
Hamza: the golden letters as a “seat”
The golden letters have one more job: they can act as a seat for the hamza ء, a short catch in the throat (like the break in “uh-oh”). Which seat it sits on depends on the vowels around it:
- رَأْس — ra’s, head (hamza on alif)
- رُؤُوس — ru’uus, heads (hamza on waw)
- شَيْء — shay’, thing (hamza on its own after ya)
Sukun: when there’s no vowel at all
Sometimes a consonant has no vowel. Arabic marks that with the sukun ـْ, a small circle above the letter. It tells you to close the sound and move on.
In بَيْت (bayt, house) the ya carries a sukun, giving that “ay” glide. You’ll also hear a sukun at the end of words when you pause on them: قَلَمْ (qalam, pen), عَرَبْ (‘arab, Arabs). Compare with قَلَمِي (qalamii, my pen) and عَرَبِيّ (‘arabiyy, Arab/Arabic), where the word keeps going.
Shadda: say it twice
The shadda ـّ looks like a small “w” above a letter. It means the consonant is doubled, so you hold it a beat longer:
- عَمَّار — ‘Ammaar (a name): am-maar, not a-maar
- سَبَّاح — sabbaah, swimmer
- سَبَّاحِين — sabbaahiin, swimmers
Skipping a shadda can change a word entirely, so it’s worth training your ear for it early.
Tanween: the doubled short vowels
Finally, the short vowels can be doubled at the end of a word. This is called tanween, and it adds an “-n” sound. There are three types, one for each short vowel:
- Double damma ـٌ → “-un”: قَلْبٌ كَبِيرٌ — qalbun kabiirun, a big heart
- Double fatha ـً → “-an”: شُكْرًا — shukran, thank you · عُذْرًا — ‘udhran, sorry/excuse me
- Double kasra ـٍ → “-in”: عَلَى جَبَلٍ عَالٍ — ‘alaa jabalin ‘aalin, on a high mountain
You already know one tanween word: شُكْرًا is one of the first things every learner says. Notice the extra alif it carries; double fatha usually sits on an alif at the end of a word.
The whole system on one card
| Golden letter | Long | Short | Tanween |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا | بَا baa | بَ ba (fatha) | ـً -an |
| و | بُو buu | بُ bu (damma) | ـٌ -un |
| ي | بِي bii | بِ bi (kasra) | ـٍ -in |
Plus two helpers: sukun ـْ (no vowel) and shadda ـّ (double the consonant).
How to practise this week
- Watch the video once without pausing, just listening.
- Watch again and repeat every syllable out loud, especially the full-alphabet drill.
- Write بَ بُ بِ / بَا بُو بِي by hand, then do the same for three letters you find hard.
- Read the example words in this post aloud, and spot each mark before you say it.
Once these marks feel familiar, you’ll be able to read any fully-voweled text, from children’s books to the Qur’an, and you’ll have the foundation to read unvoweled Arabic later.