Learn the glottal stops
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| مرحبا انا نورا! |
| (marhaban ana nora!) |
| Hi I'm Nora! |
| Welcome to Arabicpod101.com's Abjadiyyah Made Easy! |
| The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn the Arabic alphabet: the [أَبجَدِيَّة] (abjadiyyah). |
| In the last lesson we reviewed a vowel we had come across before, the [ا] (alef), and studied a variation of the alef, the [ى] (alef layyena). Now let's move on! |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all there is to know about glottal stops in Arabic. This is the last thing you need to complete the Arabic alphabet! You already learned that the glottal stop, or hamza, can be found on the alef in some cases. |
| But did you know that this isn't the only form of the glottal stop? In fact, there are three additional versions. Before we explore these, let's first review the different types of vowelling signs in Arabic. |
| Fatha, is when the consonant has an "A" sound attached to it, like the word [مَطَر] (maṭar). |
| Here we have two fathas, one on the [م] (mīm), and the other on the [ط] (ṭāʾ). |
| Damma, is when the consonant has a "U" sound attached to it, like the word [مُنذُ] (munḏu). Here we have two dammas, one on the [م] (mīm) and the other on the [ذ] (ḏāl). |
| And last but not least, the Kasra, is when the consonant has an "I" sound attached to it, like the word [كِتاب] (kitāb). Here we have one kasra, underneath the [ك] (kāf) |
| Do you remember the main vowelling signs now? You can review them in lesson 6 of this series in more detail. |
| Now let's learn the glottal stop, or hamza. |
| The first version is the "hamza on the line." With some exceptions, it is usually found at the end of a word, and has a fatḥah vowelling if it's found in the medial location. |
| It looks like a small number 2, mirrored. |
| Let's write it in the isolated form: |
| This is the only form for this letter. Let's see it in some words: |
| شَيء (šaīʾ), "thing" |
| قِراءَة (qirāʾah), "reading" |
| بَطيء (baṭīʾ), "slow" |
| Now let's see the next version. This one is used when the vowelling of the letter before the glottal stop is damma. It's usually found in the medial form. |
| Let's see what it looks like: |
| It's a و (wāw) with a hamza on top of it. |
| Now let's take a look at some words containing this letter: |
| بُؤرَة (buʾrah),"spot" |
| بُؤس (buʾs), "misery" |
| رُؤيَة (ruʾyah), "vision" |
| Note how the vowelling sign of the letter before the hamza is damma in all these examples. |
| Now let's see the last version. This one is used when the vowelling of the hamza itself, or the letter before the hamza, is kasra, so it's an ى (alef layyena) with a hamza on top of it. It is usually found in the medial or final form. |
| Let's see what it looks like. |
| Let's see what it looks like. |
| Now, let's see some words containing this letter. |
| First let's see examples, where the letter before the hamza has a kasra vowelling. |
| بيِئَة (byiʾah), "environment" |
| شاطِئ ( šāṭiʾ), "beach" |
| Next let's see examples, where the hamza itself has a kasra vowelling. |
| مائِل (māʾil), "tilted" |
| طائِر ( ṭāʾir), "bird" |
| If you're confused about vowelling, review lesson 6 for reference. |
| You'll soon get used to them with time and a little practice. |
| And that's it for this lesson! Now let's learn a couple of new words using these glottal stops. |
| Our first word is [صَحراء] (ṣaḥrāʾ), which means "desert." Like the Sahara desert of North Africa. |
| In the word [صَحراء] (ṣaḥrāʾ) we have a [ص] (ṣād) with a fatha, connected to a [ح] (ḥāʾ), connected to a [ر] (rāʾ ) isolated from the [ا] (ʾalif) because of how it connects, isolated from the [ء] (hamzah) because it doesn't connect to any of the letters around it. Now, let's write it together. It's not that difficult, is it! |
| Now, let's write it together. It's not that difficult, is it! |
| Here we have a [ك] (kāf) in the initial form, connected to an [ا] (ʾalif), isolated from the [ئ] (hamzah on alef layyena) in the medial form, connected to a final [ن] (nūn). |
| Try writing it with me! |
| Now it's time for Nora's tips. |
| The glottal stop variations aren't used as much as the rest of the letters of the alphabet. But you need to know how to read and write them for the words that do have those letters. Practice them a lot so you don't forget them! |
| These were the last letters of the Arabic alphabet. The next lesson will be our last review lesson! |
| Salam! |
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