Arabic Grammar 1 – Alphabets

Arabic Grammar 1

Arabic Alphabets

Children first learn to speak, then learn the alphabets, then learn the word formation, then learn the sentence construction, and finally understand the expressed ideas by reading or writing sentences. The language courses like renowned Rosetta are excellent tools to learn a spoken language, but learning to read and write any language requires serious effort.

Some languages are written with signs or symbols. In Arabic every word that we speak from the mouth is called a lufz and is written in words made of alphabets. An Arabic word is either a moh-mul (meaningless) or a ka-lay-mah (meaningful). Every ka-lay-mah (meaningful) is an Ithm (noun) or Fael (verb) or Hurf (single letter). All words are made of alphabets. Unlike the English which is written and read from left to the right, the Arabic is written from the right to the left. So an English speaking person requires considerable time and effort to learn reading and comprehending any material in the Arabic like the Holy Qor-aan or other Islamic literature.

Arabic alphabets are of two kinds; shum-see (domineering like the Sun) and qum-ree (reflective like the Moon). It is imperative to know the distinction between these two kinds in order to pronounce each alphabet correctly and convey the intended message accurately. The distinction is how an alphabet is pronounced if it comes as the first letter of a word and also is preceded by two letters aliph and laam.

A shum-see alphabet if preceded by letters aliph and laam is expressed in English as ‘ul’ (to be pronounced like ‘up’ or ‘us’). Some people substitute ‘ul’ with ‘al’ and read like ‘as’, ‘am’ and ‘an’ but that is not an exact Arabic pronunciation for accurately conveying a speaker’s intended message or for being fully understood by the listener. A shum-see alphabet when preceded by ‘ul‘ (Arabic equivalent of the English article ‘the’ which adds specificity to the meanings) will dominate and force a change – making the pronunciation of the letter ‘l’ changed to that of the ‘first letter’ of the word that follows. So the ‘ul’ coming before the word Shams will change the pronunciation of ‘l’ to ‘sh’; it will be written as Ul-Shams but pronounced and read as Ush-Shams. The ‘l’ in ‘ul’ is always written, but pronounced differently if that appears before the fourteen alphabets which are known as the ha-roo-fay Shum-see.

A qum-ree alphabet if preceded by letters ‘ul’ does not undergo any change but is still pronounced with the sound of ‘l’.  Thus ‘ul’ before the word qamar will reflect the original sound of the letter ‘l’; it will be read and pronounced as ‘ul-qa-mar.’  Fifteen alphabets are known as the ha-roo-fay Qum-ree.

Provided below are the alphabets of the Arabic language; they are known as the ha-roo-fay he-jaa or ta-huj-jee. Stated then is how each alphabet is phonetically pronounced in English. Provided then is the English alphabet closest in sound to the Arabic alphabet. Given then is the classification of Arabic alphabet whether it is shum-see or qum-ree. Provided then is an example of how to pronounce the Arabic alphabet if preceded by the Arabic letters ‘aliph‘ and ‘laam‘ which differentiates a shum-see alphabet from a qum-ree one.  The examples are taken from the Holy Qor-aan along with the Soorah and verses #.

• ا — Ul-Aliph — A — Qum-ree — الۡاِنۡسَانَ — Ul-in-saa-na — The human being– 095:004
• ب — Ul-Baao — B — Qumree — الۡبَلَدِ — Ul-ba-la-day — The City, town — 095:003
• ت  — Ut-Taao — T — Shum-see — التِّيۡنۙ‏ — Ut-tee-nay — The Fig plant — 095:002
• ث — Uth-Thaao — Th — Shum-see — الثَّمَرٰتِ — Ul-thamarate — The Fruits — 002:127
• ج — Ul-Jeemo — J / Ge — Qum-ree — الۡجَـنَّةَ — Ul-junna-tay — The Heaven — 002:083
• ح — Ul-Haao — H — Qum-ree — اَلۡحَمۡدُ — Ul-hum-do — The thanks — 001:002
• خ — Ul-Khaao — Kh — Qum-ree — الۡخِنۡزِيۡرِ — Ul-khin-zeer — The swine — 002:174
• د — Ud-Daalo — D — Shum-see — الدِّيۡنِ — Ud-deen — The Judgment — 001:004
• ذ — Uz-Zaalo — Z — Shum-see — الذِّلَّةُ — Uz-zilla-to — The Abasement — 002:062
• رِ — Ur-Raao — R — Shum-see — الرَّحۡمٰنِ — Ur-rah-maan — The Most Beneficent — 001:003
• ز — Uz-Zaao — Z — Shum-see — الزَّکٰوةَ — Uz-za-kata — The purification — 002:044
• س — Us-Seeno — S — Shum-see — السُّفَهَآءُ‌ Us-sofa-haao — The stupid — 002:014
• ش — Ush-Sheeno — Sh — Shum-see — الشَّيۡطٰنِ — Ul-shai-taan — The Satin — 003:037
• ص — Us-Suaado — Soa — Shum-see — الصّٰلِحٰتِ — Us-soa-le-haat — The pious acts — 095:006
• ض — Udz-Dzo-aado — Dz — Shum-see — الضَّآلِّيۡنَ — Ul-dzaa-leen — Strayed folks — 001:008
• طَّ — Ut-Taao — Toay — Shum-see — لِلطَّآٮِٕفِيۡنَ — Ut-taa-efeena — The visitors — 002:126
• ظ — Udz-Dzaao — Dz — Shum-see — الظّٰلِمِيۡنَ — Udzaa-lemeen — The wrongdoers — 002:096
• ع — Ul-Aino — A — Qum-ree — الۡعٰلَمِيۡنَ — Ul-aal-meeen — The Universe — 001:002
• غَ — Ul-Ghaino — Gh — Qum-ree — الۡغَيۡبِ — Ul-ghai-bay — The Unseen — 002:004
• ف — Ul-Faao — F / Ph — Qum-ree — ٱلۡفِيلِ — Ul-feel — The Elephant — 105:002
• ق — Ul-Quaafo– Q — Qum-ree — الۡقُوَّةَ — Ul-quow-wata — The power — 002:059
• ڪ — Ul-Kaafo — K — Qum-ree — الۡڪِتٰبُ — Ul-ke-taa-bo — The Book; the Code — 002:003
• ل — Ul-Laamo — L — Shum-see — الَّذِيۡنَ — Ulla-zee-na — Those who — 095:006
• م — Ul-Meemo — M — Qum-ree — ٱلۡمُلۡكِ — Ul-mool-kay — The Kingdom — 001:006
• ن — Un-Noono — N –Shum-see — النَّاسِ — Un-naa-asay — The people — 002:009
• ه — Ul-Haao — H — Qum-ree — الۡهُدٰى — Ul-ho-daa — The guidance — 002:166
• و — Ul-Waao — W / V — Qum-ree — الۡوَاحِدِ — Ul-Waa-hid — The One–  014:049
• ء — Ul-Humzao A Qum-ree
• ي — Ul-Yaaoo — Y — Qum-ree — الۡيَوۡمِ — Ul-Yao-me — The day — 002:009

Arabic Grammar has two categories

Nah-w is the knowledge of nouns, verbs, connecting words with each other, and their derivatives that follow them. Surf is the knowledge of constructing sentences and making changes in them. Example: Take the English word (not the letter) ‘I’; add ‘n’ after it to make ‘In’; add ‘L’ before it to make ‘Lin’; add ‘e’ after it to make ‘Line’; add ‘en’ after it to make ‘Linen’; all these words have different meanings. But the basic meanings of the Arabic root-words continue through each of its derivative which then can be grammatically changed into a verb, noun, adjectives, etc. The English verb ‘go’ makes the words ‘goes’, ‘going’, ‘gone’ and ‘went’, but its Arabic equivalent za-ha-ba generates about fourteen (14) words in the past tense, another fourteen (14) words in the present tense, and about twice that number for the future tense by attaching before it one letter or one word. And then another large number of words are formed as nouns and adjectives under different rules of grammar while the basic meanings of ‘going’ keep flowing through all those derivatives of the original root-word za-ha-ba.

The 13 vowels

1. Single Fut-ha
2. Double Fut-ha
3. Upside standing Fut-ha
4. Single Dhom-ma
5. Double Dhom-ma
6. Upside reverse Dho-mma
7. Single Kus-ruh
8. Double Kus-ruh
9. Downside standing Kus-ruh
10. Sa-koon
11. Shud
12. Small Mudd
13. Long Mudd

Three of the five Effects are when Ul-Alif or Humza are followed by another Ul-Alif, or Ul-wa-o or Ul-yaa-o. The fourth Effect is to pronounce the Tae-taa-neeth Ut-taa-o as if it were Ul-haa-o when it appears at a Wuqf (pause) or stop at the end of a sentence. The fifth Effect is the Mah-zoof (silent) when a consonant is written but not pronounced because it has no vowel on, above, below or after it.