# Rules for Spelling of hamza همزة



## Josh_

Inspired by Whodunit I have started this thread.

  Many will tell you that the rules of the spelling of hamza are complicated, but this is not necessarily so.  

   Caveat:  Note, that I am describing the following rules in a general fashion, as there are always exceptions.

*The Spelling of hamza*

*Initial hamza

*When hamza is in the initial position the seat is invariably kursi alif. The only difference is that the hamza appears above the alif for fatHa and Damma and below the alif for kasra.

*Medial hamza*

hamza with vowels on both sides
When hamza is in a medial position the vowels preceding and following it determine the seat, so it may seem a little bit more complicated, but is still relatively easy if you remember the rule of precedence: “i-u-a.” 

When a kasra or yaa is one of the vowels, it trumps the other vowel (be it an ‘a’ or ‘u’ sound) and thus the seat is the kursi yaa (*ئ* ).  

The next in the order of precedence is the ‘u’ sound. When the vowels in a word are ‘a’ and ‘u’ the seat will be the kursi waaw (*ؤ* ).

   If both vowels are fatHas, then the seat will be a kursi alif (*أ*).

hamza with a vowel on one side and consonant on the other
When hamza, in medial position, has a vowel, whether it be preceding or following, on one side and a consonant on the other, the vowel determines the seat: ‘i’, kursi yaa (*ئ* ); ‘u’, kursi waaw (*ؤ* ); ‘a’, kursi alif (*أ*).

   The exception to this is when the preceding consonant is a ‘yaa’.  The seat, in this case, is kursi yaa (*ئ* ).

*Final hamza*

hamza preceded by short vowel
   When hamza is in final position, and is preceded by a short vowel, this vowel determines the seat:  ‘i’, kursi yaa (*ئ* ); ‘u’, kursi waaw (*ؤ* ); ‘a’, kursi alif (*أ*).

hamza preceded by long vowel
   When hamza is preceded by a long vowel it sits on the line by itself.

hamza preceded by consonant with a sukuun
   When Hamza comes after a consonant with no vowel, i.e. a sukuun on it, it rests on the line.


   Comments are welcome.

Sources, aside from my own experience, of course, include “A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic” by Karin Ryding, and "A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic,” by Eckehard Schulz.

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I wanted to do this fast so I did not include examples, but if anyone would like me to, let me know and I will gladly do so.


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## elroy

Thanks, Josh. Your thread will be a nice supplement to this one, started some time ago by Jana.


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## Josh_

Ooh, I didn't realize a hamza thread had already been started.  It didn't even occur to me to do a search.


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## Whodunit

Nevertheless, yours is very interesting, too. Although they overlap in most points, your survey is very clear. If you want to, you can offer some examples, but I, personally, can think of some, so it's not a must. 

Thank you.


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## SarahBeth

Thanks for making this Josh.  Some examples would actually be great as that always seems to solidy these rules in my mind.


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## elroy

Hi, Sarah.  Jana's thread has lots of examples; check them out.


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## nmne

Josh, can you please write the words "yodee' " = "gives light" and "lam yodi' " = "didn't give light" in arabic? I believe in the first one the hamza is on the line and the second one the hamza is on korsi yaa.
Also I want to make sure I understand, the word "shay' " = "thing" has the hamza on the line?
Thanks.


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## elroy

Welcome to the forum, nmne. 

You are correct.  The correct spellings are the following;

يضيء
لم يضئ
شيء


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## nmne

Thank you for your reply, elroy.

Would it still be correct to write "shai' " without the 2 dots under the yaa'?
Thanks


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## elroy

Technically, it's not, but it's frequently done in various regions of the Arab world.


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## Sidjanga

Hi all,

Does anyone know why the ء sits on an ا in لأنّ but on a ى in  لئلا *, while the vowel sequence of the two words is exactly the same?

Also, why exactly is شيئاً spelt شيئاً and not simply شيءاً ? (Or maybe it can be spelt both ways? I've seen it spelt both ways, but the شيئاً variant seems to be way more frequent)
_________________
* I'm not writing the ّ  here, as it would turn out like this:  لئلّا


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## clevermizo

I think in these cases it's just convention. Maybe لألا looks weird or like two words لا لا in succession? I think شيئا is also by convention.


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## ryandward

جَاءَا, how come they don't use a spelling convention similar to this تَجْيَآنِ?
جَاآ seems like it makes more sense. There are two alifs around it, why isn't it seated on one of them?


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## the-moon-light

Thanks! that was useful!


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## Duris1112

Hello everybody,

Thanks for the hamza placement examples hereinabove. But, simple question that is really confusing me  Below are three examples of Hamza and its glottal stops. I think I understand its use; however my textbook does not clearly state its *function*. My questions are in bold.

1. As a vowel carrier, such as in : أب
Got it.

2. As a glottal stop, such as in تأتأ
*Is this glottal stop merely used to create a "stop" at the end of the word, after the short vowel ?
*
3. Again, as a glottal stop ثاء
*Similarly, is Hamza used here in order to create a "stop" after the long vowel ?*

It appears to me, from examples 2 & 3 that perhaps Arabic words don't end with a vowel therefore a consonant (hamza) is introduced ? Would this be correct ?

Thank you so much in advance for all the help !


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## barkoosh

Hello

Your question is a bit unclear. The hamza ء is a letter like any other letter in Arabic. It carries a vowel just like other letters. It can have fat7a, damma, kasra, or sukuun. The only difference is that it can have different "seats" (تأتأ - مؤنث - شاطئ), and sometimes requires no "seat" (ثاء - نساء). In all those cases, you pronounce it as a glottal stop.


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## Duris1112

Oooh ! I wasn't completely treating Hamza as a letter but rather as almost a grammatical element to words. That makes better sense now. Thanks barkoosh


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