There is no confusion Juliana , If you get how to pronounce the Arabic letters' you will be well in it Insha Allah , Cez Arabic differ that many Languages , e.g. English , In Arabic case u can write it thru the pronunciation '' ur listening '' so if u get how to read and pronounce it in the right way , then u will be so good , RETURN TO THE QUESTION:- Fristly You have to know that letters in Arabic have three shapes 1-Damah , 2-Kasrah , 3-Fat'ha. And the Lettere Alif (أ) has four shapes 1-Damah , 2-Kasrah , 3-Fat'ha. 4-Madah I will focus in ''Alif أ) Alif, ﺍ, at the beginning of a word represents a short vowel sound (a, i, or u), a long i, or an ay sound. As u said for example أخ '' Its Pronounce ''A'kh'' In this case its with Fat'ha. أُخت ''its with Damah pronounce like O '' Okht'' And about Madah like in the Beginning of the beautiful work ''آمين" which it pronounce '' Ameen'' Thanks Try to visit that link: http://languageguide.org/im/alpha/ar Hesham (^_^)

it is depend on two cases 1- marks of identification like sluice , accentuation , ............etc. 2- what is the sex of the person you spoken to .... male or female male .... you ..... inta ........ إنتَ ...... like ( E ) or like ( i ) female ...you .... inti ........ إنتِ ...... like ( E ) or like ( i ) look to the mark of identification at the end ( َ ) ( ِ ) male ....brother .... akh ..... أَخ ...... like ( A ) look to the mark of identification at the beginning ( َ ) female ... sister .... okht .... أُخت ...... like ( O ) look to the mark of identification at the beginning ( َُ )