When you see a consonant with a short vowel (َ ُ ِ) followed by ا , و , or ي, you must hold the sound longer.

Look at these examples from your textbook:

• قَالَ (qaala) — the َ (a) on ق is followed by ا — say "qaaa-lah"
• يَقُولُ (yaqoolu) — the ُ (u) on ق is followed by و — say "ya-qooo-lu"
• يَبِيعُ (yabiihu) — the ِ (i) on ب is followed by ي — say "ya-biii-hu"

Read these words carefully. Notice the long vowel in each:

Names (أَسْمَاء):

• سَمِينٌ (samiin) — fat
• نَظِيفَةٌ (nazeefa) — clean
• قَوْلٌ (qawl) — word
• جَمِيلٌ (jamiil) — beautiful
• طَوِيلٌ (taweel) — tall

Actions (أَفْعَال):

• يَذْهَبُ (yazhabu) — he goes
• يَجْرِي (yajrii) — he runs
• يَزُورُ (yazuuru) — he visits
• صَاحَ (sahaa) — he shouted

To write a long vowel:

1. Write the consonant with its short vowel sign
2. Add the correct medd letter after it

Practice writing:

• مَـَ + ا = مَـَـا → مَاء (maa) — water
• بُ + و = بُـو → بُور (buur) — dates
• سِ + ي = سِـي → سِيل (siil) — flood

Let us read and write this word together:

Word: قِرْبَانٌ (qirbaan) — sacrifice

• ق has ِ (i) followed by ر
• ر has ْ (shadda)
• ب has ُ (u) followed by ا (alif medd)
• We read it: qir-BAAA-n

When you write it: قِرْبَانٌ

• Long vowels take longer time to pronounce than short vowels
• The three medd letters are: ا (alif), و (waw), ي (ya)
• Always look for the short vowel sign first, then check if a medd letter follows it

When you go to the market in Tanzania and want to read Arabic labels on some food packages or medicine bottles, you will often see long vowels. For example, if you see the word زَيْتٌ (zayt) — oil, or سَكَرٌ (sukkar) — sugar, you can read them correctly using what you have learned about long vowels. This helps you understand what you are buying at the duka or sokoni.