# Pronunciation of  ـة taa' marbuuTa



## powers1

Hi

I have a question regarding taa marboota 

For example, this sentence:

    كِتَابِي فِي الْحَقِيْبَة

Why do you pronounce it as Kitabi fil Haqueeba and not Kitabi fil Haqueebati

Regards


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## Whodunit

It can be pronounced either way. It is usually pronounced "-a" in everyday speech, but if you want to be correct and write in MSA, the vowels are often required. It is "-i", because it's the genitive case (fii requires it).

There are other cases, where you must pronounce it like "-at" even if you don't want to speak in MSA: fataat (فتاة) is just one example.


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## Josh_

Also, sometimes, at the end of a sentence or a phrase, the last inflection is dropped.


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## elroy

^Correct. This is in fact what is done most of the time and is considered more eloquent.

Nevertheless, inflections are sometimes dropped within sentences as well - but that should be avoided if one wants to read eloquently and precisely (we've discussed this before).

Even if all that is taken into account, however, what makes the taa marbuuta unique is that it is not pronounced *at all* unless one pronounces the inflection.  I think that's why Powers was confused.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Even if all that is taken into account, however, what makes the taa marbuuta unique is that it is not pronounced *at all* unless one pronounces the inflection. I think that's why Powers was confused.


 
I'm not sure I understand you correctly. What sound does a taa marbuta have, please? Is it the one a taa has? Or simply "a" or "at"? If that letter were _not_ pronounced, one would read the word "7aqiiba" like "7aqiib", wouldn't you?


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## elroy

No.

The "a" is the fat7a that is on the "b."

The fully vowelized version of the word is the following: *حَقيبَة *

Hope that helps.


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## Anatoli

I think taa' marbuta is also pronounced in iDafa (in the meaning of possession), even without the case endings, e.g. "zawja*t* aHmad" (Ahmad's wife).

edit:
changed the spelling of marb*u*ta


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## elroy

That is correct.


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## Josh_

elroy said:
			
		

> No.
> 
> The "a" is the fat7a that is on the "b."
> 
> The fully vowelized version of the word is the following: *حَقيبَة *
> 
> Hope that helps.


Actually, fully vowelized it would be *حَقِيبَة* so it could not be confused with the dipthong* ـَيـ *as is *بَيت* . 

That's interesting about the taa marbuuta.  I had never thought about it not being pronounced.


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## elroy

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> Actually, fully vowelized it would be *حَقِيبَة* so it could not be confused with the dipthong* ـَيـ *as is *بَيت*.


 Good point.  I was going to the add the kasra but I wasn't sure if it was required when the following written vowel was the same sound.  In light of what you say, though, that makes sense.  Anyway, the point was that there was a fat7a on the "b."


> That's interesting about the taa marbuuta. I had never thought about it not being pronounced.


 Yes, that's not the way most people think about it - but when you really think about it it makes perfect sense.


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## ayed

"Taa marbootah" ,at the end of a sentence, is pronounced as "haa saqinah" .These cases in Arabic are similar to that in other languages.For instance, when English-native speaker pronounces the word"background"slowly ,he/she may"
"_*BacKGround*_"may not he/she?.
but when he/she pronounces it fastly, then he/she says
*Baground*,does not he/she?

Another example of dropping is when I utter the phrase"At home" slowly,I say fee al-bait
but fastly , I say"Felbait"conjugated together(I dropped "y"and "alif" *فلبيت*


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## elroy

ayed said:
			
		

> "Taa marbootah" ,at the end of a sentence, is pronounced as "haa saqinah" which carries Sukoon above it.


 I disagree. We say "7aqiiba" and not "7aqiibah".

Compare إله ("god") and آلة ("machine"). The last letter of the former is _always_ pronounced, even if it is uninflected. The last letter of the latter is _not_ pronounced unless there is an inflection (and it's never pronounced like a "h"!). 


> So is in the case of some Arabic issues .An example for Arabic , when I utter the phrase"At home" slowly,I say fee al-bait
> but fastly , I say"Felbait"conjugated together(I dropped "y"and "alif" ,Slowly prounced as "elephant home"


 Unless you are saying the two words separately - that is, if they are not part of a phrase - only "fiilbayt" is correct, no matter how slowly you utter the two words.


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## Anatoli

Or fii-l-bayt*i* as in MSA?


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## elroy

Yes, if fully inflected - but that's irrelevant to this particular discussion.


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## ayed

elroy said:
			
		

> I disagree. We say "7aqiiba" and not "7aqiibah".


 
You say "haqeeba" and this is your own view, Elroy  

We say "haqeebah"  .



> Compare إله ("god") and آلة ("machine").


I talk of "ta marbootah"at the end only.

The first is "*E*lah"
The second is "*A*lah" which *we *utter as it is written(ha sakinah) but you see two tiny dots above "ha".
--------------
Elroy, let us try to say :

Bring that *tool* !

I will say :
Ahdir tilka al-Alah

What would you say , honestly?


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## elroy

ayed said:
			
		

> What would you say , honestly?


Honestly - I would not pronounce an "h" at the end. 

Perhaps pronouncing one is a feature of Saudi coloquial Arabic, but in MSA a taa marbuuta is not pronounced like an "h."


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## ayed

I do not mean MSA, Elroy annd this has led us to digress , has not it?
Any way thank you for your corrections .
Forget not to correct my English


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## Whodunit

ayed said:
			
		

> Bring that *tool* !
> 
> I will say :
> Ahdir tilka al-Alah
> 
> What would you say , honestly?


 
Although a bit off-topic, do you really pronounce the "a" of the definite article? I#d say "ahdir tilka 'l-aala".

Where we are at it: Doesn't "tool" mean "adaa*t*" (أداة), too? Is there some rule when the taa marbuta is pronounced like a taa?


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## powers1

Hi

I have always assumed that taa marboota is pronounced as _ta _for feminine words.

Some of you have said that you do not pronounce the last vowel so

الْحَقِيْبَة is a feminine word and ends with taa marboota. Since it comes after a preposition, it should end with a kasra if I am right so since the last vowel is not pronounced (kasra) 

shouldn't it be  Haqueebat and not  Haqueeba?

Sorry for the extra questions.

Regards


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## cherine

As far as I know, it's either Haqiiba or haqiibati.

And, I agree with Ayed, that sometimes the taa2 marbuuta is pronounced almost similar to a haa2, but lighter than the "real" haa2. (I'm speaking about both colloquial and MSA when we don't pronounce the vowelized taa2 marbuuta). And this may be (just maybe) the reason why many persons make the mistake of writing words with final haa2 instead of the taa2.


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## suma

Everything that I've studied and seen says that to be precise (and here we're talking mostly MSA bacause the colloquials often lack hard and fast rules of pronounciation even within the same country!) taa marbootah is pronounced as "t" when read with vowelization, but when read in pause position without its final vowel pronounce it as "h".

I think the disagreement among some lies in the fact that the sound of final "h" can be easily lost, and unlike words that really end in "h" and retain the sound, the taa marbootah is somewhat different and so perhaps many speakers put less effort in producing the "h" sound.

just my 2 cents.


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## elroy

I'm sorry, but I cannot agree.

To me, in MSA if it's not inflected it's _7aqiiba_ and not _7aqiiba*h*_! I don't even produce a trace of a "h" when I pronounce it. 



> Although a bit off-topic, do you really pronounce the "a" of the definite article? I#d say "ahdir tilka 'l-aala".


 You are right. Ayed's transliteration was not precise. 


> Where While we are at it: Doesn't "tool" mean "adaa*t*" (أداة), too? Is there some rule when the taa marbuta is pronounced like a taa?


Yes, أداة can also mean tool. And no, I don't know of a rule about when the taa marbuuta is always pronounced, even when uninflected.


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## Abu Bishr

Hi Everybody

Technically speaking, the Ta Marbutah, also referred to as Ha al-Ta'nith, is pronounced as Ta when speech is continuous and a Ha when making a pause. It is for this very reason that the Ta Marbutah is written as a Ha with two dots and not as your normal Ta Maftuhah. It is called Marbutah becuase the two sides of the Ta connect and join like in ة or ـة whereas in the Ta Maftuhah the the two ends remain open as in ت . Therefore, the Ta Marbutah when pausing on a word becomes a Ha by ignoring the two dots and is pronounced exactly like the masculine singular pronominal suffix ه or ـه (meaning: his or him, or it or its).

Now, because the Ha is a someone weak letter it is often ignored completely in pronunciation especially during pausing, so much so, that in transliteration it is not represented at all. However, I personally, make a point of indicating it as I've done in writing (Ta Marbutah), etc.

Classically, the Arab grammarians have formulated a rule concerning pronunciation viz. (You cannot start speech with a sukun nor end it with a harakah). So if we don't pronounce the Ta Marbutah at the end of (haqibah) we would be ending with a harakah in the form of the fathah on the Ba before the Ta Marbutah.

People who are familiar with the Art of Quranic Recitation called (Tajwid) know that Quranic reciters make a point of pronouncing the Ta Marbutah as a Ha when pausing, and it is this pronunciation that serves as the stabdard for classical Arabic.

Needless to say, colloquial Arabic - by definition - do not uphold these rules, & maybe MSA nowadays to a certain extend (if I'm correct). This is clear from the way they write names such as فاطمة , آمنة , لينة , حسينة , etc. Even عربية is written as Arabia. On the other hand, it is not uncommon to hear people actually pronouncing the Ta Marbutah as a Ta like (qiimat, ishaarat, adaat, fataat,etc.) for فتاة, أداة, إشارة , قيمة , etc. 

At the end of the day, it comes down to what we prefer as the standard: Classical Arabic, Colloquial Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic.

I hope this info serves towards solving the problem of how the Ta Marbutah is pronounced.


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## linguist786

Aby Bishr, your post is excellent. I've just read the whole thread and could understand why elroy was disagreeing. As a native, he would not pronounce the "h". 

I'm glad you mentioned:



			
				Abu Bishr said:
			
		

> People who are familiar with the Art of Quranic Recitation called (Tajwid) know that Quranic reciters make a point of pronouncing the Ta Marbutah as a Ha when pausing, and it is this pronunciation that serves as the stabdard for classical Arabic.


 
because that's exactly what I was going to say! 

I think at the end of the day, in normal speech, the taa marbuuta would not be pronounced (at the end of a sentence for example) because that's the way it's "become".. the letter "h" isn't exactly a letter which is easy to hear, is it?
But like you said, tajwiid tells us that it should be pronounced like ه at the end of an aayah.


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## powers1

Thanks alot Abu Bishr for the explanation

It definately cleared up alot of things and thanks everybody for contributing.

I have one more question.

You said that they pronounce it as soft ha when they pause. Do you mean pausing as in the end of sentence or pausing after a comma or both?

Regards


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## linguist786

Both. In fact, it's sometimes also done in the middle of a sentence, even when they is no comma. Sometimes it may be necessary to pronounce it in the inflected way (eg - in a iDaafa).


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## cherine

powers1 said:
			
		

> You said that they pronounce it as soft ha when they pause. Do you mean pausing as in the end of sentence or pausing after a comma or both?


Just to confirm Linguist's reply : In any kind of pause the taa2 marbuuta will be pronounced as a soft (almost imperceptible) haa2.


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## Abu Bishr

Anatoli said:
			
		

> I think taa' marbuta is also pronounced in iDafa (in the meaning of possession), even without the case endings, e.g. "zawja*t* aHmad" (Ahmad's wife).



Yes, I agree, in colloquial Arabic, this is the case, and it is rightfully pronounced as a Ta because speech is continuous, since we don't normally pause on the MuDaf. However, due to the fact that in colloquial Arabic the rules of inflection / declension are not observed, they only make do with pronouncing the Ta without pronouncing the particular case-ending (Dammah, Fathah or Kasrah), in fact it's pronounced with a Sukun such that it is only a consonant and not a consonant-cum-vowel (i.e. it is pronounced as t & not as tu, ta, or ti). Put differently, I would say that all Arabic words in colloquial Arabic are treated as if they are indeclinable (i.e. Mabniyy) in which respect it is almost like English whose words lack case endings.

An interesting exercise would be to make a constrative analysis between FuSha and 7Ammiyyah with respect to grammar and see how they are actually different. I maintain that even 7Ammiyyah has rules which you can find in some textbooks dealing with specific Arabic dialects.


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## Anatoli

Abu Bishr,

Please make your point about iDaafa and taa' marbuta'. How different is the pronunciation (MSA vs dialects). Is the taa' marbuta' not pronounced or pronounced differently in dialects (in iDaafa only)?



> I would say that all Arabic words in colloquial Arabic are treated as if they are indeclinable (i.e. Mabniyy)


As far as I know, there are grammatical cases, which are also used in colloquial Arabic dialects (e.g. *1.* accusative with a final alif, or *2.* oblique (i.e. other than nominative) case for plural forms (e.g. mudarrisiin). In other words, where the written form (without vowels) is affected, then pronunciation is also affected, including spoken dialects.

The link below is for MSA.
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=184724&highlight=cases


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## Abu Bishr

Anatoli

I'd say that in colloquial Arabic the Ta Marbutah is pronounce as [t] in iDafah whereas classically as well as MSA proper it is pronounced as [tu], [ta], or [ti].

As for you second point, to the best of my knowledge in colloquial Arabic [mudarrisiin] is used also for the Nominative as well so that there is no distinction between the three cases. For example, [win il-mdarrisiin il-yawm?] or [il-mdarrisiin msaafriin]. Note that in MSA these should read as [aynal-mudarrisuun al-yawm?] [al-mudarrisuun musaafiruun].

I'd prefer here to enlist the help of native Arab speakers. Maybe they can shed some more light on the matter.


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## TheFriendlyArab

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
It has come to my attention that people don't commonly pronounce the taa marbuta as a "t" in modern times. For example, the word for school, madrasa would be said like this, even in the middle of speech. If this the case, then how would you say something like "the big school"? Would it be al-madrasal-kabeera or al-madrasa al-kabeera or what? I don't want to say things like this incorrectly or sound not fluent.


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## AndyRoo

It would be pronounced al-madrasal-kabeera in fast speech and al-madrasa al-kabeera in slow speech. Both are OK.


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## TheFriendlyArab

So you would know based on the gender of the adjective. But what if you were to say something like al-mu'allimal-madrasa (im not paying attention to case endings right now) which means "the teacher of the school" or "schoolteacher", would you have to say al-mu'allima al-madrasa to distinguish the gender of the teacher? I only ask this because it may sound like there's a hamza at the end instead of a taa marbuta.


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## إسكندراني

Your sentence is معلمة المدرسة
most dialects pronounce it as ت here; in fact I think all eastern dialects always pronounce it when it is مضاف, but western dialects not always (which I found strange at first) - though I think even western dialects usually pronounce it as ت when the مضاف إليه begins with الـ.


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## lukebeadgcf

TheFriendlyArab said:


> It has come to my attention that people don't commonly pronounce the taa marbuta as a "t" in modern times. For example, the word for school, madrasa would be said like this, even in the middle of speech. If this the case, then how would you say something like "the big school"? Would it be al-madrasal-kabeera or al-madrasa al-kabeera or what? I don't want to say things like this incorrectly or sound not fluent.



This is a very good question, but a difficult one. Let us start out with the easy part, and that is - as has been mentioned - the تاء مربوطة will always be pronounced (both in الفصحى and العامية) when it occurs within a genitive/possessive structure الإضافة. Therefore, to say mudarrisa al-madrasa for مدرّسة المدرسة is always incorrect. It should be mudarrisat il-madrasa (the vowel in red depends on register and case, as we will see later)

Now what about المدرسة الكبيرة? What you must realize is that there are several registers of formality within الفحصى itself. These are, approximately:

1 Formal spoken Arabic (the language spoken by natives in somewhat formal situations), 

2 Formal Arabic (using no colloquial whatsoever, often the language used by news anchors even when improvising), 

3 Fully vocalised formal Arabic (with all case endings, often used in prepared narrations of, for example, National Geographic Abu Dhabi; oftentimes, highly skilled speakers approach this level even when improvising on the news, etc.). 

4 The highest register is the register used for Quranic Recitation and Poetry, albeit these two are somewhat different from each other.

For 1 and 2, المدرسة الكبيرة will probably be pronounced al-madrasa al-kabeera (where the blue represents the stressed syllable). For 3, it might be pronounced al-madrasat ul-kabeera (the red u a or i depending on context). In the Quran, it would be the same as 3 except, according to the rules of التجويد, the final تاء مربوطة would be pronounced with a light هاء sound: al-madrasat ul-kabeerah (of course, this هاء can naturally occur in 3, too). In poetry, depending on the recitation style, the last vowel might be pronounced, but it would be pronounced as a long vowel: al-madrasat ul-kabeeratuu. 

And more differences between these registers can be observed if we were to consider more complicated examples. But this is good for now.

So your question is well-founded, since you have probably been exposed to all these registers, heard divergent pronunciations, and have wondered what in the world is going on. For students of Arabic, this presents a real problem, because they don't know which register to choose and end up learning nothing. I suggest you try to spend most of your time at register 2 (these aren't official or anything), and increase your range gradually in both directions (i.e. towards العامية الكاملة and towards الفصحى الكاملة) as you advance. But in any case, 2 is relatively easy, and is practical for communication.

I hope that answers your question.


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## TheFriendlyArab

So, in short, the taa marbuta is pronounced as a "t" in genitive constructions such as "the (female) teacher of the school" where it would pronounced "mu'allimatul-madrasa" always (even in dialects? Because my family speaks with a yemeni dialect). But with an adjective it could be "al-madrasa al-kabeera" meaning "the big school". I guess you don't really label it as a "taa marbuta" when using possessive pronouns because it is changed in writing to a "taa maftuha", but it is still pronounced as a "t" nonetheless. Thank you for all your help. It's nice to have actual people help me directly.


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## lukebeadgcf

That's right. But in dialect, it probably won't be mu'allimatul-madrasa, because there are no case endings. Rather, people tend to use the easiest filler vowel, which is usually كسرة. So, mu'allimatil-madrasa. Really though, depending on the dialect, it's more like m'allimatil-madrasa (initial consonant cluster).

The difference between formal mu'allimatul-madrasa (the red vowel depending on case) and dialectical mu'allimatil-madrasa (the red vowel is invariable) is not only that vowel but the stress of the first word, marked in blue, because a case marking adds an official syllable to a word while a helping/filler vowel does not.


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## Muwahid

I think in short, a lot of dialects only pronounce it, if it's the first term of an iDafa (the genitive construction) , infact I always hear it pronounced in this context, anywhere else it's pronounced without a /t/ ending.

Maybe because the iDafa construct is dependent on it's second term, and because of this the taa' marbuta retained it's original sound. Similarly how adding pronouns to the end of a word with the taa' marbuta, gives it it's original sound back. That would be my only guess really on why dialects retained it, since the first term is linked with it's second term as a 'phrase'. Could just be for clarity too.


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## rayloom

Just to add an interesting twist to this nice discussion.
Quranic spelling actually writes the taa marbu6a as an open taa, if it occurs (as the first part, nomen regens) in an iDafa construction.


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## WadiH

Most dialects preserve the 't' in gentive constructions (as the others have mentioned), though I've now learned that this is only partially true in parts of the Maghreb.

In traditional Arabian dialects (Najd, non-Urban Hejaz, bedouins in general), the 't' often appeared even without a genitive constructions (it occurs in my own speech), but this seems to be falling away and is probably perceived as old-fashioned.


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## applesinthegarden

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
Hi,

So I've come across a simple sentence: أنا أتكلم العربية

with the taa marbuta at the end of العربية either being pronounced or not being pronounced (so 3rabea and 3rabeata). Yet in the sentence هل تتكلم العربية؟ , the taa marbuta always seems to be pronounced, regardless of gender of the speaker or the person being asked the question.

Can anyone explain to me the rule about when this taa marbuta is pronounced, or is not pronounced, at the end of a sentence?

[...] (extra question deleted by mod)


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## AKAMAHZ

The rule in SA about the pronounciation of the taa marbutah is that you should pronounce it as an "h" sound if you would stop on it, for example, you should say :"Ana atakalamo al-3arabeah." But when you say: "I speak Arabic and English." You say:" Ana atakalamo al-3arabeata wa al-engleziah." This little "h" at the end is not so clear, and you hardly notice it when you hear it, but it is a rule to add it.

[...] (reply to an extra question deleted by mod)


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## dakaplo

The formal rule for pronouncing ta marbuta is exactly as AKAMAHZ stated. However, you will notice that most of the time people do not follow the rule consistently, even when they are speaking in MSA. Often, spoken MSA lacks almost all of the case markings at the ends of words. If you practice listening to Arabic in a variety of contexts, you will get used to hearing both "3arabiyya" and "3arabiyyata."


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## applesinthegarden

Thanks for all the responses! Greatly appreciated


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## giovannisermonesi

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
hi everyone! i posted a similar thread some days ago...and i have my ideas a bit confused about the taa' marbuutah...

i know that there are different ways we can pronunciate it with...but i can' t understand why they are so different beetween them.

so, on the official page of wikipedia, it's written that taa' marbuTah
-is pronunced "t" in the construct state
-it' s not even pronunced before a pause ( i don't know which pause), so the last sound that we have to make to read a word ending by it is the vowel "a" because of the fathah.

my teacher, during class, during an exercise of pronunciation of words, read single words ending with taa' marbuutah, by not pronuncing it and the vowels above it either. for example, she pronunced as "giha" the word جِهَةٌ

but now i have casually found the word الْمَدِينَةُ and it' transliterated as "al-madiinatu".
so in this case it' s pronunced as "T" and it' s pronunced also the vowel.so there are too contradictions and i dont'know who trust-

i can't understand if it' s pronunced haa' (as many here do, as i read in past discussions), taa', if it's not pronunced, if the vowels on it have to be pronunced... i am a bit confused


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## analeeh

There are different variations.

In dialects, and in a relaxed style of reading MSA, it's typically a vowel (let's say _-a_ for convenience) in isolation. When the noun is in construct state or has a possessive pronoun added, it's pronounced _t_. Showing that the word will undergo this change is one of the useful functions of ـة as a letter. In this style you'll get a pronunciation like:

ذهب زيد إلى المدينة
_dhahaba zayd 2ila lmadiina_

ذهب زيد إلى المدينة الكبيرة
_dhahaba zayd 2ila_lmadiina_lkabiira
_
But:

ذهب زيد الى مدينة القدس
_dhahaba zayd 2ila madiinat alquds_

In classical pronunciation - the kind that you get with prepared speeches on al Jazeera or when people are reading poetry, for example - nouns ending in ـة will always have _-at-_ followed by a case marking (_-u, -a, -i_) and possibly an indefinite marker (_-n_), except 'before a pause' - literally before someone pauses in speech or at the end of a sentence, when it is pronounced (in principle) _-ah_, and in practice most of the time _-a_ (see the discussion above). In this style, which reflects the original system, ـة indicates a /t/ that disappears (or turns into an _h_) in what is called the 'pausal form', and has nothing to do with construct state. Since in the oldest forms of classical Arabic words were written (without dots) as they were pronounced in _pausa_, the _taa marbuuTa_ was written as an ـه - the dots, modelled on ـت, came later to indicate that this was not a normal ـه but a weakened ـت.

In this pronunciation you get:

ذهب زيد إلى المدينة
_dhahaba zaydun 2ila lmadiina(h)
_
But:
_
ذهب زيد إلى المدينة الكبيرة
dhahaba zaydun 2ila_lmadiinati_lkabiira(h) 
_
And:

ذهب زيد الى مدينة القدس
_dhahaba zaydun 2ila madiinati_lquds_

You don't really need to worry too much about mastering the second style, especially as a beginner, but you should be aware of it.


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## giovannisermonesi

Thank you!
you have been very useful to me


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