Grammar term · I'rab · The signs
Damma marker
al-damma
الضَّمَّة
I'rabThe signscore term
In one line
The damma (ضَمَّة) is the small waw-shaped vowel (-u), and it is the base marker of rafa.
Classical definition
فَأَمَّا الضَّمَّةُ فَتَكُونُ عَلَامَةً لِلرَّفْعِ فِي أَرْبَعَةِ مَوَاضِعَ: فِي الِاسْمِ الْمُفْرَدِ، وَجَمْعِ التَّكْسِيرِ، وَجَمْعِ الْمُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِ، وَالْفِعْلِ الْمُضَارِعِ الَّذِي لَمْ يَتَّصِلْ بِآخِرِهِ شَيْءٌ.
“The damma is the marker of rafa in four places: the singular noun, the broken plural, the sound feminine plural, and the present verb with nothing attached to its end.”
Key words in the Arabic
مَوَاضِعplaces, positions
الِاسْم الْمُفْرَدthe singular noun
جَمْع التَّكْسِيرthe broken plural
جَمْع الْمُؤَنَّث السَّالِمthe sound feminine plural
Understand it
A damma on a final letter is Arabic saying “this word is a principal here”. Learn its four homes from the definition and you also learn, by elimination, where it cannot appear: the dual, the sound masculine plural and the five nouns show rafa with letters instead — the secondary markers.
How to spot it
Recognition test
In the Qur'an
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Al-Ikhlas 112:2 — “Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;”
ٱللَّهُ and ٱلصَّمَدُ both end in a damma, and both are in rafa. The damma is the base marker of that state — where you see one on an ism, rafa is the first thing to suspect.
Study this ayah word by word →Related terms
Common questions
Does a damma always mean rafa?
No — it is the base marker of rafa, which is a narrower claim. A damma can also be part of the word's own build, or the fixed vowel a mabni word is built on. Ask why it is there before reading it as a case.
Next in the guideالْفَتْحَةFatha marker →Updated