Have you ever noticed those tiny marks above and below the letters in Arabic books? They're called vowel marks, or "tashkeel," and they help us pronounce letters and words correctly.
The Three Basic Vowel Marks
The "fatha" is a small slanted line placed above a letter, giving it an "a" sound, as in ba, ta, tha. The "damma" is a small mark shaped like a tiny waw placed above a letter, giving it a "u" sound, as in bu, tu, thu. The "kasra" is a small line placed below a letter, giving it an "i" sound, as in bi, ti, thi.
There's also the "sukoon," a small circle placed above a letter to show it has no vowel sound at all, as in "b" with no following vowel. And when a vowel mark is doubled above or below a letter, it's called "tanween," pronounced as "an," "un," or "in."
Learning these marks is a key step in learning to read, because they completely change a word's meaning — "kataba" (he wrote) is different from "kutiba" (it was written), and "alam" (flag) is different from "ilm" (knowledge). That's why children need to pay close attention to every vowel mark while reading, and practice pronouncing them clearly and correctly to read fluently.
- Fatha: a slanted line above the letter, sounds like "a"
- Damma: a small waw-shaped mark above the letter, sounds like "u"
- Kasra: a line below the letter, sounds like "i"
- Sukoon: a circle above the letter showing no vowel sound
