All dialects: When to use Ta marbuta ة

[Beaz069]

Hi all,

I started to learn to write and read arabic and I have a problem with the ة

Sometimes when I want to write words I realize they are wrong because I use an Alif instead of the Ta marbuta at the end of a word. I simply don‘t know when to use which letter, I learned lebanese words just by speaking and learning with the „chat arabic“, so I know how the words sound. Most of the time when the words ends with an „a“ sound I use Alif.

Is there something I could learn? Or is it just knowing the words are written with ة (just memorizing) ?

Thanks

 

[Amirali1383koohi]

" MSA " ( العربية الفصحى الحديثة )
التَّاء المَرْبُوطَة is used as a feminine marker of proper nouns. That is, almost all proper nouns that end in تَاء مَرْبُوطَة are feminine forms. It is also used to derived feminine forms from masculine. For instance, these adjectives and nouns are in masculine form: نَشِيط ‘active’, ذَكِي ‘intelligent’ and أُسْتَاذ ‘teacher’, عَامِل ‘worker’. Feminine forms are formed by appending ــة to the end, i.e. نَشِيطَة, ذَكِيَّة, أُستَاذَة, and عَامِلَة, respectively.
التَّاء المَرْبُوطَة is pronounced as هـ when we stop on it . in other words, it has a sukoon on it. With all other diacritical marks, it is pronounced in the same way as التَّاء المَفْتُوحَة, but written as ـة
basically if the word end up with ة you will always pronouns it as (ه) except if it's followed by another word and you will pronounce it without stopping..
ٌالحديقةُ جميلة
This is the correct spelling, but you will pronounce it
الحديقةُ جميلَه

In causal conversation.. we'll say الحديقَه جميلَه

 

[Aliph]

" MSA " ( العربية الفصحى الحديثة )
التَّاء المَرْبُوطَة is used as a feminine marker of proper nouns. That is, almost all proper nouns that end in تَاء مَرْبُوطَة are feminine forms.

Aren’t there some notable exceptions like وِزارة (ministry) or am I wrong?

 

[Mahaodeh]

Aren’t there some notable exceptions like وِزارة (ministry) or am I wrong?

I think that there may be some exceptions, although frankly none come to mind at the moment. However, وزارة is not an exception, it's feminine.

On a general note, I agree with Amirali in that the best way to learn it is to learn standard Arabic. In fact, I would advise any learner of Arabic to start with standard Arabic and then move to dialects for several reasons, spelling is not the most notable.

However, I can give you a small trick that works very well with native Arabic speakers but I don't know how well it would work for a learner. Create an iDhafa construct with the word in question coming first, if you pronounce the taa' then it is taa' marbouTa, if you don't then it is an alif (unlikely to be a haa' because that is mostly a pronoun but maybe). Example, you have the word sayyara (car). Just add the word to any other in the form of iDafa - for example, say Ahmad's car. It would be sayyarit Ahmad - you pronounce the taa'! Or you can try mobilia (furniture), in the case of iDafa you would say mobilia Ahamd, no taa', it's an alif.

Of course, this case is also not fool proof. Many because some people might treat the alif, especially in loanwords (hence it's possible that someone might say mobilyit Ahmad) but being a loan word means that in 95% of the cases it is an alif.

A note to keep in mind, taa' marbouTa is not attached to verbs, so you can exclude all verbs.

basically if the word end up with ة you will always pronouns it as (ه) except if it's followed by another word and you will pronounce it without stopping..

I wouldn't say that. In dialects neither the taa' nor the haa' are pronounced in the end. In the case of the taa' it I would say it's pronounced more like an alif or a fat7a (depending on dialect), sometimes with more of an e sound. In the case of the haa', the vowel is pronounced so it can sound like an a or a u or e. At least this is how it is with the dialects I'm familiar with.

Other than that, you gave a great answer.

 

[cherine]

Of course, this case is also not fool proof. Many because some people might treat the alif, especially in loanwords (hence it's possible that someone might say mobilyit Ahmad) but being a loan word means that in 95% of the cases it is an alif.

You reminded my of a thread about the word "villa", and even though the discussion was about usage in fuS7a, it shows how such a loan word can cause confusion: do we say فيلّتي or فيلّاي for "my villa".

I started to learn to write and read arabic and I have a problem with the ة

In my opinion, it depends on what kind of Arabic you want to write. If you're writing fuS7a/MSA, then you should learn the words as they're written not as they're pronounced in dialects. But if you're writing colloquial, then you can pretty much do whatever you want, as long as you're understood. One sees wonders everywhere these days, so an alif written as a ta2 marbuta or vice versa wouldn't and shouldn't cause any worries.

 

[Amirali1383koohi]

Aren’t there some notable exceptions like وِزارة (ministry) or am I wrong?

Yes, as (Mahaodeh) said, there are some exceptions.

I wouldn't say that. In dialects neither the taa' nor the haa' are pronounced in the end. In the case of the taa' it I would say it's pronounced more like an alif or a fat7a (depending on dialect), sometimes with more of an e sound. In the case of the haa', the vowel is pronounced so it can sound like an a or a u or e. At least this is how it is with the dialects I'm familiar with.

Other than that, you gave a great answer.

Oh, yes ! I made a mistake .
Thanks for correcting!

 

[Aliph]

Are there any dictionaries that tell you if an Arabic word is masculine or feminine?

 

[wriight]

English Wiktionary does, but it's not quite comprehensive, and the big problem is it's overwhelmingly got entries for MSA rather than for dialects as OP's requesting. (Still a great resource, though.)

 

[Aliph]

English Wiktionary does, but it's not quite comprehensive, and the big problem is it's overwhelmingly got entries for MSA rather than for dialects as OP's requesting. (Still a great resource, though.)

Thank you wriight. Very useful.