Arabic is written mostly with consonants. The harakat are the small marks that tell you which vowel goes with each letter. In everyday Arabic they are often left out, but the Quran is always printed with them, so a non-Arab reader can pronounce every word exactly as it was revealed.

The three short vowels

All three are short: one count each. That is the first habit to build. When students learn madd later, they sometimes start stretching every vowel. A fatha with no alif after it should be as short as the "a" in "cat".

How vowels change meaning

Because the consonants stay the same, the vowels carry a lot of the meaning. عَلِمَ (he knew), عُلِمَ (it was known) and عَلَّمَ (he taught) differ only in their marks. In al-Fatiha, أَنْعَمْتَ with fatha on the ت means "You favoured". With dammah it would mean "I favoured". This is why changing a vowel is counted among the clear mistakes in recitation.

Tanween: the doubled vowels

At the end of many nouns you will see the vowel written twice. This adds an "n" sound:

• كِتَابًا fathatayn: kitāban (usually written with an extra alif)
• كِتَابٍ kasratayn: kitābin
• كِتَابٌ dammatayn: kitābun

That "n" follows the same four rules as a noon with sukoon. See our guide to noon sakinah and tanween. When you stop on a word, fathatayn becomes a long "ā" and the other two become a sukoon.

The "standing" vowels in the mushaf

The Madinah mushaf, which most people read today, uses a few extra marks:

• Standing fatha (a small vertical alif, ـٰ): a long "ā" for two counts, as in الرَّحْمَٰنِ and ذَٰلِكَ.
• Standing kasrah (a small ya below): a long "ī", as in بِهِۦ.
• Small waw after dammah (ـُۥ): a long "ū", as in لَهُۥ.

These are the silah and dagger-alif marks. They look small, but they are two counts, not one.

Vowels next to heavy letters

Next to the heavy letters خ ص ض غ ط ق ظ, a fatha sounds fuller and deeper, closer to the "a" in "father". Next to light letters it stays bright. This is natural; do not force it, and do not round your lips to make it heavy. Our guide to heavy and light letters explains why.

Mistakes that are easy to fix early

• Turning fatha into "e". Speakers of Urdu and some English accents tend to say keteb for كَتَبَ. Keep the mouth open: ka-ta-ba. (Hafs has only one word with a deliberate "e"-like vowel, مَجْرٰىهَا in Hud 11:41.)
• Turning dammah into "o". It is "u", with rounded lips, not "o".
• Weak kasrah. Lower the jaw slightly; a lazy kasrah sounds like a schwa ("uh").
• Stretching short vowels. One count only, unless a madd letter follows.

How children learn harakat

In Noorani Qaida, harakat come right after the alphabet. The child reads each letter with fatha, then kasrah, then dammah (بَ بِ بُ), then moves to short words. A few minutes every day works better than one long session a week. Parents who want to help at home can find more ideas in our guide to teaching the Arabic alphabet.