Arabic/LearnRW/kasra and yaa

kasra

Appearance

It is a line that goes on the bottom of a letter. It looks exactly like a fatHa, but it goes under the letter. It always exists with a letter, it cannot be alone.

بِ (pronounced: be )

كِ (pronounced: ki )

هِيَ (pronounced: hi-ya )

تِـتـِتِ (pronounced:ti-ti-ti )

Sound

It makes the "i" sound in bit. It never makes the "i" sound in "I". It sounds like the "ee" in "beet" pronounced very shortly. It is a short vowel.

kasra and yaa

ـِي (pronounced:ee )

If a plain (with no symbols on it) ي (yaa) comes after a kasra, then the "ee" sound is made. This "ee" sound is exactly the same sound as the "ee" sound in "feet". It is a long vowel sound.

بـِي (pronounced: bee )

كِي (pronounced: kee )

هِي (pronounced: hee )

تِي (pronounced: tee )

ثِي (pronounced: thee )

ثِـيتِي (pronounced:thee-tee )

The same sound would be made if the "yaa" had something called a sukoon on it (this will be covered later).Examples:

ْبـِي (pronounced: bee )

ْكِي (pronounced: kee )

BUT if the yaa has anything else on it then it will not make the "ee" sound.

َبـِي (pronounced: bi-ya )

ُكِي (pronounced: ki-yu )

ِبـِي (pronounced: bi-yi )

ثِـيُرَ (pronounced:thi-yu-ra )

More difficult examples

يـِي (pronounced: yee )

يُو (pronounced: yoo )

وِي (pronounced: wee )

يُوَ (pronounced: yu-wa )

يا (pronounced: yaa )