Question

I have a question about the that is the  that appears at the end of words and whose timing is sometimes elongated (as shown by the writing of a small  or after it); can you give me any pointers how a non-Arab speaker could tell if it is in fact a "pronoun"  added to the end of a word or just a  that is part of the word? 

Answer

The  is an extra  on the end of a noun, a verb, or a preposition/participle, and not part of the original root or makeup of the word.  It is either a direct object (when attached to a verb) or a possessive (when attached to a noun), or descriptive when added to a preposition.  This added  denotes a single masculine third person.  Arabic has masculine and female genders for inanimate objects, just as the many languages do, excluding English.  This added then can be referring to “his” or “its”, or “him” or “it”, when it is a masculine item.  Let’s look at a few examples of the  being attached to verbs, nouns, and prepositions:

The word  has a verb with the meaning “we reveal” then after it, but attached is the , which in this case means “it” for a something of male gender, meaning the Qur’an. 

An example of  in a noun can be found in .  Again the  refers to the Qur’an. 

The  in a preposition can be exemplified in .  It is attached to the letter  which has the approximate meaning “of”, so the phrase would be “of it”. 

The pronoun, direct object, or descriptive  always has a dhammah or a kasrah on it.  A word ending in  with a fat-h on it is never the , but instead part of the original makeup (or root) of the word.  An example of this is: . 

Not all  have the little  or  after it, because the extension of the sound only occurs when the  is preceded by a vowel and followed by a vowel.  If the  is preceded by a saakin letter, then there is no extension of the sound of the vowel on the , and instead it receives only one vowel count.  .  In this example there are two different words with .  The first word has a , but it is preceded by a alif, which is always saakin, so there is no extension of the sound.  In the second underlined word, the  is preceded by a vowel and followed by a letter with a vowel, so there is an extension of the sound of the vowel on the .  The vowel on the  is a kasrah, and if a kasrah is extended in sound it becomes a , therefore there is a little  written after the  and the sound is extended for two vowel counts. 

When there is a  preceded and followed by a vowel, and the letter that immediately follows the  is a hamzah, the sound is lengthened for four or five vowel counts, as in . 

 

This answer is quite long because not all know what the the pronoun, direct object, or descriptive  is, and we thought an explanation was in order.  In short if the  has a fat-h on it, it is not a , if it has a small  or  after it, the be assured that it is a .  Most  at the ends of words that have a dhammah or kasrah on them are indeed a .