waaw

There's an easy way to determine which is which: When either the yaa 'or the waaw is a diphthong, you see a sukun (soo-koon) above the consonant.

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

It's irregular because it includes the consonant waaw; verbs with waaw are classified as irregular because their muDaari 'forms are radically different than the regular muDaari' verb forms.

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

So when a waaw or yaa 'has a sukun over it, you know that the sound is a diphthong!

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

Fortunately, Arabic has only two diphthong sounds used to distinguish between the yaa '() and the waaw () forms of long vowels.

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

Sounds like the "w" in "winner" Sounds like the "y" in "yes" waziir (wah-zeer; minister) yamiin (yah-meen; right) waaw (w) wahw yaa '(y) yaah So there you have it -- all 28 different consonants in the Arabic alphabet!

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

The long vowel form of damma is obtained by attaching a waaw to the consonant with the damma.

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

Just as the ` alif elongates the fatHa and the waaw elongates the damma, the yaa 'elongates the kasra.

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006

Here are some examples: waaw diphthongs: yawm (yah-oom; day); nawm (nah-oom; sleep); Sawt (sah-oot; noise) yaa 'diphthongs: bayt (bah-yet; house); ` ayn (ah-yen; eye); layla (lah-yelah; night)

Arabic for Dummies Bouchentouf, Amine 2006