Some grammarians regard alif (ا) and hamza (ء) as two distinct letters, while others regards them as two realizations of the same letter. They are a problematic aspect of Arabic writing and are often confusing to native and non-native speakers alike. In this posting, I hope to summarize some of the rules related to writing of alif and hamza.

At the beginning of a word, hamza and alif are written together to make the sound of a glottal stop. They can be associated with a short vowel. When the alif comes with a short /a/ or a short /o/, the hamza is written on top of the letter, and when alif comes with a short /i/, the hamza is written under the letter, e.g. “father” (أَب), “mother” (أُم), “Islam” (إسلام)

At the beginning of certain words, the hamza should not be written on the alif. This is called /hamzat alwaSl/ (همزة الوصل), e.g. in words like two (اثنان), Monday (الاثنين), woman (امرأة), etc. The alif at the beginning of the definite article (ال) must never be written with a hamza.

When two alifs are found at the beginning of a word, a special type of alif /alf mamdouda/ is used with a special shape of hamza on, e.g. hopes (آمال), Adam (آدم), sorry (آسف).

In the middle of a word, a hamza is written in association with a short vowel with a short /a/ (أ), with a short /o/ (ؤ), or with a short /i/ (ئـ), e.g. the words “ask” (سأل), “enquirer” (سائل), “question” (سؤال).Alif mamdouda can also occur in the middle of the word, e.g. “Quran” (قرآن).

When you type in Arabic, this is where you will find the different hamzas on your keyboard:

That’s not the end of the story, there is more to follow on hamza … visit the Arabic blog again soon!