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Ta' marbuta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ta' marbuta | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | |||
| {{{2}}} | |||
| Phonemic representation (IPA): | |||
| h, t, or silent | |||
The tā’ marbūṭa (Arabic: تاء مربوطة, bound ta) is a variant of the letter ta used at the end of words to denote that the word is grammatically feminine. It denotes the sound /h/, and when in construct state, /t/. The regular letter ta, to distinguish it from ta marbuta, is referred to as ta maftuha, meaning "open ta" (Arabic: تاء مفتوحة)
The word "risala#" (Arabic: رسالة, "letter, message"; ta marbuta is denoted here as #), when pronounced in isolation, ends in a soft /h/ sound - which is why the ta marbuta (in this position) looks like a ha (ه). When the word is suffixed with a personal pronoun "-kum" (meaning "yours"), it changes to "risalat*kum" (Arabic: رسالتكم; the asterisk is used here to mean any short vowel). The pronunciation is /t/, just like the regular, or open ta (ت). But the identity of the "character" has not changed; it is still ta marbuta. Note that the isolated and final forms of this letter combine the shape of the ha and the two dots of the ta.
| Arabic alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ﺍ ﺏ ﺕ ﺙ ﺝ ﺡ | |||||
| ﺥ ﺩ ﺫ ﺭ ﺯ س | |||||
| ﺵ ﺹ ﺽ ﻁ ﻅ ﻉ | |||||
| ﻍ ﻑ ﻕ ﻙ ﻝ | |||||
| ﻡ ﻥ ه ﻭ ﻱ | |||||
| History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
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Ta marbuta is not traditionally considered a first-class letter in the Arabic alphabet; instead it is a clever solution to the problem that a single character (in the deep orthography, if that's the right term) takes two completely different pronunciations depending on context.
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