Sleem
Community Tutor
Understanding the ة (Ta Marbuta) I know the confusion you had the very first time you saw this letter. "I've learnt that there is only ت in the Arabic letters, what is that ?" That's why you said. First this ة (Tied Ta) is a variant of the letter ت. You have to remember that ة / ـة is ALWAYS located at the end of the word. Also, it comes at the end of a name and adjective, does not come in verbs. For example : مُعَلِّم (male teacher) ---> مُعَلِّمَة (female teacher) تِلْميذٌ مُجْتَهِدٌ (a hardworking male student) ---> تِلْميذَة مُجْتَهِدَة (a hardworking female student) Have you noticed the adding of the ة at the end of the nouns (referring to people), and the adjective. This is generally the function of this letter. It usually feminizes the noun and adjective but not always. But like I said, not every word that ends with a Tied Ta is feminine, for example : صِبْيَة (boys) is not a feminine word. How should I pronounce it ? as a normal T sound or ... ? The answer is "depends" : When the word comes alone, like طَاوِلَة (Ta-wi-lah), so the ة has an H sound. But when it comes in an Idhafa construction (p.s : The Idhafa construction is like the English construction "someone's thing / the thing of someone" "Dad's car / the car of my dad") that's when you have to pronounce the ة. For example : زَوْجَة (wife) ---> زَوْجَةُ أَحْمَد (Ahmed's wife) and pronounced (Zawja-tu ahmad) Also, when it comes to adding possession pronouns, the ة will be a normal ت and of course it will be pronounced. e.g : طَاوِلَة (Table) ---> طَاوِلَتي (my table) and pronounced (Taa-wila-tee) I hope I explained well about the Letter, and if you still have questions, please don't hasitate to ask.
Apr 28, 2015 2:10 PM
Corrections · 4
1
Hi, I have a few questions. The word “wife” or زَوْجَة. At the end of this word, the letters "زَوْ" appear. This looks like a diphthong to me that would ordinarily be pronounced “ja-oo” and not jaw or jao. Is there a dialect difference? Also, how do you know to pronounce the ة as “tu” in the word for wife? Basically, I’m wondering, what governs the changes in the different pronunciations of the ة in your examples? In other words, how can one tell when to pronounce the TM one way over that of another? Finally, I am also wondering, what governs the choice of the letter “yaa” or "ي" as a stand-in for the ta-marbuta, "ة،" when forming possessions, in the example words “my table طَاوِلتي"? And what allows you to know to pronounce this as a “tee” and not in some other way? Thank you for providing this helpful discussion of ta-marbuta and for reading my questions. Best regards, Sarah G
August 20, 2023
1
Jazakum Llahu khairan everything is clear now for me
April 30, 2015
What is the difference between ة and ت
June 18, 2021
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