ARABIC ONLINE

        اللّغة العربيّة    

• Welcome!

• Varieties of Arabic

• Alphabet

• Pronunciation

• Words

• Vowels

• Reading out

• Syllables

• Stress

• Rules of Pause

• Writing of Letter 'alif

• Sibawayh's phonology

• Roots

• Nouns

• Irregular Nouns

• Declension

• Noun Gender

• Feminine Markers

• Singular Nouns

• Dual Nouns

• Plural Nouns

• Sound Masculine Plural Nouns

• Sound Feminine Plural Nouns

• Irregular Plural Nouns

• Articles

• Case Inflection

• Case Endings

• The Six Nouns

• Noonation

• Adjectives

• Genitive Construction

• Am/Is/Are Sentences

• Verbs

• Irregular Verbs

• Verb Forms

• Perfective Verbs

• Perfective Conjugation

• Irregular Perfective Conjugation

• Imperfective Verbs

• Imperfective Conjugation

• Irregular Imperfective Conjugation

• Moods

• Subjunctive Mood

• Jussive Mood

• MoodSigns

• Energetic Mood

• Imperative Mood

• Passive Voice

• Passive Perfective Verbs

• Passive Imperfective Verbs

• Passive of Irregular Verbs

• Subject Pronouns

• Object Pronouns

• Demonstratives

• Relative Pronouns

• Sentences

• To Have

• Incomplete Verbs

• Frozen Verbs

• Verb-Like Particles

• Negation

• Present Negative

• Past Negative

• Future Negative

• Negation+Exclusion Style

• Interrogation

• Yes/No Questions

• Interrogative Pronouns

• Polite Request

• Introductory Particles

• Infinitival/Indefinite maa

• Inactive Particles

• Vocative Particles

• Praise & Disparagement

• Derived Nouns

• Verbal Nouns

• Active Participles

• Participle-like Adjectives

• Place-nouns

• Tool-nouns

• Diminutives

• Vocabulary

• Dialects

• Survival Phrases

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Writing of Letter 'alif

Vowel 'alif

The vowel form can appear at the middle or the end of words, but never at the beginning. It can assume the following forms:

Choosing Between the Two Forms at the End of the Word

I. Triliteral Nouns & Verbs

If a three-lettered noun in Arabic ends with a long vowel 'alif, that noun will be an irregular noun called a Shortened Noun. If a three-lettered verb in Arabic ends with a long vowel 'alif, that verb will be an irregular verb called a Defective Verb.

The common point between those two types of words is that the long vowel 'alif at the end of any triliteral noun or verb in Arabic is not an original letter or a root letter, rather it always substitutes for a different week letter.

The form  ـا  substitutes for a waaw ـو .

The form  ـى  substitutes for a yaa'< ـي .

Deciding which form to use requires knowing the root of the word. Natives and people with good knowledge of the language can usually guess the original vowel from other derivatives of the same root, like the infinitive and the imperfective verb when dealing with defective verbs, and the dual and plural when dealing with singular shortened nouns.

II. Nouns & Verbs with More Than Three Letters

Those will always end with an 'alif of the type: ـى .

Such 'alif may be an original root letter, but it also may be not.

The exception is when the 'alif is preceded by a yaa'<. In that case, it will take the other form.

However, the proper name  يَحْيَىْwill irregularly take the first form in order to be distinguished from the verb that looks like it.

Words of foreign origin that end with with long vowel 'alif's usually take the form: ـا .

However, there are few foreign words that end with ـى .

III. Particles

Particles (rootless words) that end with a long vowel 'alif are not few. As a rule, all such particles will end with the form ـا  except for the following four particles:

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