Arabic is unusual among the world’s major writing systems in that most written Arabic does not include vowels. Short vowels, which are essential for correct pronunciation, are indicated by small marks written above or below the consonantal letters. These marks are called tashkeel (تشكيل) or harakat.
Why Tashkeel Matters
In everyday modern Arabic — newspapers, books, social media — tashkeel is typically omitted. Fluent readers infer vowels from context and grammatical knowledge. However, tashkeel is mandatory in several important contexts:
- The Quran — every copy uses full tashkeel to preserve exact pronunciation
- Children’s books and educational materials for learners
- Poetry and classical literature
- Arabic language textbooks for non-native speakers
- Ambiguous words that need clarification
The Six Core Diacritical Marks
1. Fatha (فَتحة) — َ
A small diagonal line written above a letter. It represents the short vowel /a/. For example, the letter ب (ba) with fatha becomes بَ (ba).
2. Kasra (كَسرة) — ِ
A small diagonal line written below a letter. It represents the short vowel /i/. The letter ب with kasra becomes بِ (bi).
3. Damma (ضَمة) — ُ
A small waw-like symbol written above a letter. It represents the short vowel /u/. The letter ب with damma becomes بُ (bu).
4. Sukun (سُكون) — ْ
A small circle written above a letter, indicating the absence of a vowel. When a consonant is followed by sukun, it is pronounced without any following vowel sound. This is essential for indicating consonant clusters.
5. Shadda (شَدة) — ّ
A small symbol resembling the letter ش, written above a letter to indicate gemination (consonant doubling). A letter with shadda is held twice as long when spoken. It often combines with other diacritics.
6. Tanwin (تنوين)
Tanwin is the addition of a nunation sound (the sound /n/) at the end of a word, indicating indefiniteness in Arabic grammar. It comes in three forms corresponding to the three short vowels: tanwin fath (ً), tanwin kasra (ٍ), and tanwin damm (ٌ).
How to Type Tashkeel Online
On keyboard-arabic.org, the tashkeel marks are available in a dedicated row on the virtual keyboard. Simply type your text first, then position your cursor after the letter you want to vocalize and click the appropriate diacritic mark. If you use a physical keyboard, the tashkeel characters are accessible via Shift combinations on the number row.
Tashkeel in the Digital Age
Unicode fully supports all Arabic diacritical marks. When you type tashkeel using our keyboard and copy the text, the diacritics are encoded as standard Unicode characters and will display correctly in any modern application — Word, Google Docs, websites, and messaging apps.