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There are three tanween suffixes: -un-, -in- and -an-.
The suffixes -un-, -in- disappear completely before a pause. These two are never written.
However, -an- before a pause is pronounced as a long aa. Example: #ahlan wasahlaa أهلا وسهلا "hello". This -an- is written sometimes, as an alif.
These three suffixes do not exist AT ALL in Arabic dialects, and therefore they are dropped more often than not when people try to speak Standard Arabic. One might call this omission "a feature of Modern Standard Arabic" as some Western scholars do. Pragmatically, the facts are that if you drop them, you will be understood anyway. But you won't get a job as a news anchor, because dropping them is definitely nonstandard as far as Arabs are concerned.
Some people mispronounce the final -an- suffix in #ahlan wasahlaa أهلا وسهلا as #ahlan wasahlan. This is a spelling pronunciation. Even though the first -an- here must be prononced -an- and the second must be prononced -aa, many people don't know this and read the alif just like they are spelled.
The presence of the suffix an-/aa, however, is usually indicated with an ا alif. This alif is written regardless of whether the pronunciation is aa or an.
(I say "usually" because this alif is never used after an ة or after another alif. It cannot be used after the alif + floating hamzah in words like #assamaa# السماء ).
This alif looks like a plain alif most of the time, and in quranic spellings MUST be a completely naked alif without any diacriticals at all.
However, in modern printing, this alif often carries two fathas. This makes Arabic easier to read, and is typografically convenient because keyboards can have an alif-with-two-fathas key.
But doing this is incorrect, and it's never done in a qur#aan. Traditionally, the two fat-has belong over the consonant before the an, and the alif-with-two-fathas is just an uncommon way of spelling the sound of hamza + an-suffix (#an before any other word, #aa before a pause).
Copyright (c) 2001-2009
Jordi Mas Trullenque.
email: jordimastrullenque at gmail dot com
http://purl.oclc.org/net/arabe/an.en.html
Last revised: 2008-09-11
| the yaa# hamzah ياء همزة |
| the Broken #alif ألف |
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writing_arabic -> alphabet -> the fatHah with tanwiyn