what is the importance of tanween in the study of the Arabic language? Sometimes when we look at Arabic text, we see this symbol “ً”, and it’s called Tanween, what is it? And when to use it? That’s what we will find out in this article.
Tanween is an essential aspect of Arabic grammar, and its importance lies in its ability to convey grammatical meaning in sentences. Tanween is a diacritical mark that is added to the end of a noun to indicate an indefinite accusative case or indefinite nominative case.
The use of tanween in the Arabic language is significant because it helps to distinguish between the different cases and grammatical functions of nouns in a sentence. Without tanween, it would be difficult to determine if a noun is the subject, object, or predicate of a sentence.
Moreover, the proper use of tanween helps to ensure grammatical accuracy and clarity in communication. As such, it is a fundamental element of Arabic grammar that must be mastered by anyone seeking to learn the language.
tanween is important in the Arabic language as it helps to convey grammatical meaning, distinguish between cases and functions of nouns, and ensure grammatical accuracy and clarity in communication.
Tanween is one of the Arabic vowels that shows us how to correctly pronounce the word. Therefore when you learn Arabic language it’s important to learn its vowels.
Tanween is one of the vowels that are used to vocalize constants, it is added to the end of the word so it’s called “end of word vowels”. When it is added to the end of the word, we pronounce it by adding the ‘N’ sound.
For example, in the word “مرحبًا” we can clearly see the tanween at the end of the word, so how will we pronounce it? Correct, it is pronounced “marhban”, even though we can’t see the ‘N’ letter. Therefore, tanween is a spoken ‘N’, and not written.
Let’s understand more about it, how to write it and what are its different types.
Tanween symbols.
Tanween consists of doubling the Arabic vowels, what do we mean by that? We know the vowels Fatha, Kasra, and Damma. The tanween sign comes from doubling them. So, first, let’s see how each one of the three short vowels is written:
Fatha: ـَ
Kasra: ـِ
Damma: ـُ
When doubling them to get the tanween it will become as follows:
Tanween with fatha: ـً
Tanween with kasra: ـٍ
Tanween with damma: ـٌ
The names of those three types in Arabic are tanween with Fathatain, Kasratain, and with Dammatain.
Definition of tanween in Arabic
Tanween is a sign added to the end of the words and is called a double vowel, it is a spoken ‘N’, and not written. Therefore, when you see the tanween at the end of the word you will add the ‘N’ sound, like in the word “لَفْظًا” it is pronounced “lafzan”
Tanween examples.
When tanween is added to an Arabic letter it will become:
اً
اٍ
اٌ
And here’s the alphabet letters with each type of the tanween:
| Dammatan | Kasratan | Fathatan |
| أٌ | إٍ | ءًا |
| بٌ | بٍ | بًا |
| تٌ | تٍ | تًا |
| ثٌ | ثٍ | ثًا |
| جٌ | جٍ | جًا |
| حٌ | حٍ | حًا |
| خٌ | خٍ | خًا |
| دٌ | دٍ | دًا |
| ذٌ | ذٍ | ذًا |
| رٌ | رٍ | رًا |
| زٌ | زٍ | زًا |
| سٌ | سٍ | سًا |
| شٌ | شٍ | شًا |
| صٌ | صٍ | صًا |
| ضٌ | ضٍ | ضًا |
| طٌ | طٍ | طًا |
| ظٌ | ظٍ | ظًا |
| عٌ | عٍ | عًا |
| غٌ | غٍ | غًا |
| فٌ | فٍ | فًا |
| قٌ | قٍ | قٌ |
| كٌ | كٍ | كًا |
| لٌ | لٍ | لًا |
| مٌ | مٍ | مًا |
| نٌ | نٍ | نًا |
| هٌ | هٍ | هًا |
| وٌ | وٍ | وًا |
| يٌ | يٍ | يًا |
Tanween words.
Among the common Arabic words that are marked by the tanween are:
مَرْحَبًا hi
أَهْلاً hello
أَهْلاً وسَهْلاً hello and welcome
عَفْوًا sorry, excuse me, you’re welcome
Tanween explanation.
Tanween is a sign added to the end of the words and is called a double vowel, it is a spoken ‘N’, and not written. Like the words:
مَرْحَبًا marhaban
أَهْلاً ahlaan
شكرًا shukran
عَفْوًا eafwan
As you can see, all the previous examples end with Tanween al-fath, why is that? Because they are all in the object position.
So, if the noun is in the form of the object position, tanween Al-Fath will be added. If it comes in the subject position then you will find tanween al-dhamm. If the noun comes after a preposition, you will find tanween al-kasr. Like the following examples:
لَبِسْتُ قُبَّعَة ً جَدِيدَةً.
سَكَنْتُ فِي غُرْفَةٍ كَبِيْرَةٍ
هَذِهِ قُبَّعَةٌ جَدِيْدَة
Tanween is a sign added to nouns and adjectives in the Arabic language, and which type to use depends on the position of the word in the sentence.
In Tanween Al-fath type, the Alif letter is added after the tanween, like in the words:
مَرْحَبًا marhaban
أَهْلاً ahlaan
شكرًا shukran
عَفْوًا eafwan
However, there is an exception to this case, when the word ends with ta-marbuTah “ة” or hamzah “ء”, the Alif letter is not added after the tanween. Here are some examples:
مَاءً
هَوَاءً
Rules of using the tanween vowels
There are three rules that you should know regarding the use of tanween, here they are:
- First rule:
Tanween is added to the end of the word, above the last letter, you will never find the Tanween in the middle or beginning of the word.
- Second rule:
The tanween sign comes from doubling the three short vowels.
Fatha: ـَ
Kasra: ـِ
Damma: ـُ
When doubling them we get the tanween:
Tanween with fatha: ـً
Tanween with kasra: ـٍ
Tanween with damma: ـٌ
- Third Rule:
In Tanween Al-fath type, the Alif letter is added after the tanween, like in the word:
مَرْحَبًا marhaban
However, there is an exception to this case, when the word ends with ta-marbuTah “ة” or hamzah “ء”, the Alif letter is not added after the tanween. Like the following examples:
مَاءً
فَتْحَةً
كَسْرَةً
Types of tanween in Arabic
There are three types of tanween:
Tanween with fatha: ـً
Tanween with kasra: ـٍ
Tanween with damma: ـٌ
The names of those three types in Arabic are tanween with Fathatain, Kasratain, and with Dammatain.
Meaning of tanween in Arabic
Tanween is one of the vowels that are used to vocalize constants, it is added to the end of the word so it’s called “end of word vowels”. When it is added to the end of the word, we pronounce it by adding the ‘N’ sound.
How to write tanween in Arabic?
Tanween in the Arabic language is written as follows:
Tanween with fatha: ـً
Tanween with kasra: ـٍ
Tanween with damma: ـٌ
Like the following Examples:
أَهْلاً ahlaan
شكرًا shukran
عَفْوًا eafwan
مَرْحَبًا marhaban
مَاءً ma’an
فَتْحَةً fathatan
كَسْرَةً kasratan
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