Classical Arabic Phonology Decal

Lecture 3: Madd

Lecture3:Madd

Introduction
WehavelearnedthateveryletterintheQuranhasaharakahplaceduponit:aFatha,Damma,
orKasra.Theseharakaatareeachshortvowels,andtheyareonecounteach.Togetasenseofa
count,thinkofthevowelsoundmadeinthewordjinn.ItiswritteninArabicas .The

hasaonecountkasrahsound,itisnotelongatedsuchasjeen.Theconceptofcountsformadd
isonethatyourearswilldevelop.

Madd
Maddissaidforanylongvowelsound(plural:Mudood).Therearedifferentlengthsthatcanbe
recitedintheQuran,butfornowwewilljustbeginwithregularmadd,whichistwocounts.Just
astherearethreebasicshortvowels(Fatha,Dammah,Kasrah)therearethreebasiclongvowels
thataretwicethelengthoftheshortvowels.Alongfatahisthelengthoftwoshortfathahs,a
longkasrahisthelengthoftwoshortkasrahs,andalongdammahisthelengthoftwoshort
dammahs.Itisaverysignificantmistaketoreplacealongvowelwithashortvowelandvice
versa.Don'tworryifthisisn'tclearatthispoint,itwillmakemoresensewithsomeexamples
andexercises.
Therenowisaproblem,howdowewritelongvowels,suchastwofathahs?Theproblemis
solvedbychoosingcertainletterstobelettersofmadd.Weexpresslongvowelsoundsusingthe
alif,ww,andytogetherwiththeirrespectiveshortvowels:

+
+
+
1

Classical Arabic Phonology Decal

Lecture 3: Madd

Thesearethelongfatah,longammah,andlongkasrahrespectively.Whenthealif,ww,and
yareusedtomakelongvowels,wecallthemmaddletters.Theprocessisthefollowing:we
writethenormalshortvowel,andthenmakeitlongbyaddingaspecialmaddletter.For
example,let'ssaywehave:

Andwewanttoturnthisintoabwithtwofatah's,wewoulddothisbywriting:

=+

Similarly,wedothefollowingfortheothervowels:

=+

=+

Thesecreatethesoundsb,b,b.Youmayaskwhythereismaddatall.Well,withoutany
maddsounds,therewouldonlybefivevowelsoundsinArabic.Withmaddhowever,youcould
expressmanymoreconcepts,sincemerelyextendingoneoftheletterscreatesanewword.Since
everybasicshortvowelsoundcorrespondstoalongvowelone,itisquiteeasytorememberthe
format.Italsomeansthatthevowelsoundsareconsistentandyoualwaysknowifyoure
pronouncingalongvowelorshortvowel.
TheEnglishlanguagedoesnotdistinguishbetweenlongandshortvowelsoundsinthespelling
ofwords,andforinstancespellsreadanditsshortvowelpasttensereadinthesameway.It
alsohasinconsistentsoundsforthesamesymbol,withthewordswhatandhadbothwritten
withthesameshort/longvowelletterabutthevowelisnotpronouncedthesamewayinboth
words.Inthisway,ArabichascometosavetheworldfromtheinconsistenciesoftheEnglish
language.
Thedifferentlongsvowelsareeffectivelysummarizedbythefollowingphrase:

C
oo
lC
a
tsF
ee
l
A
wesome

Thatis,theammah,fatah,kasrah,andtheheavyfatah
mudood(pneumonicc/oAliHusain).

Classical Arabic Phonology Decal

Lecture 3: Madd

Exercise
ThefollowingisanayahfromSuratAlBaqarah.Lookateachofthecircledwordsand
determinewhichletterofmaddisinit.

Inthefollowingayahs,circleallthemaddlettersyousee(Hint:amaddlettermaybepresentbut
notbepreceededwiththecorrespondingharakahthatwouldmakeitaletterofmadd)

SupplementaryExcercises
Formorepractice,listentoyourfavoritereciterandnotewhenasoundisextended.Keeptrack
ofcountsandseeifyoucanrecitewiththesamerythm/flow.MaddhappenstomakeQuran
soundverypretty,andindeedtheQuranismeanttoberecited,notspoken.
3