In this post, I writing about the rules for writing hamza (ء) in Arabic in the middle of the word. This is one of the questions that many of my students ask. As a general rule, the writing of medial hamza depends on how it is vowelled and how the letters before and after it are vowelled. In this post, I will describe the most important rules. Medial Hamza appears in one of the following forms (ء ، ـئـ ، ؤ ، أ)

Medial Hamza is written on alif as (أ)

If it is vowelled with فتحة and preceded by a letter vowelled by سكون or فتحة, e.g.

رأى = saw

سأل = asked

If it is vowelled with سكون and preceded by a letter vowelled by فتحة, e.g.

رأس = head

شأن = matter

 

Medial Hamza is written on و as (ؤ)

If it is vowelled with ضمة and preceded by a letter vowelled by سكون, e.g.

تشاؤم = pessimism

تفاؤل = optimism

it is preceded by a letter vowelled by ضمة, e.g.

سؤال = question

لؤلؤ = pearl

 

Medial Hamza is written on ي as (ـئـ)

If it is vowelled with كسرة and preceded by a letter vowelled by سكون or another vowel, e.g.

نائم = asleep

سئم = got bored

If it is vowelled with سكون or فتحة and preceded by a letter vowelled by كسرة, e.g.

ائتمان = credit

طارئة = emergency

 

Medial Hamza is written on the line as (ء)

If it is vowelled with فتحة and preceded by the letter الف or واو, e.g.

نبوءة = prophecy

تساءل = wondered

If it is vowelled with فتحة and preceded by a letter vowelled by سكون , e.g.

مرءوس = employee

جزءان = two part

 

In my following post, I will write about the final hamza! Until then!