Grammar term · I'rab · The signs

Nunation (tanwin)

tanwin

تَنْوِين

I'rabThe signsadvanced term

Also written: Tanween · Nunation · Double vowel endings

In one line

Tanwin (تَنْوِين) is the doubled end-vowel -un, -an or -in: a nun that is spoken but never written as a letter.

Classical definition

التَّنْوِينُ نُونٌ سَاكِنَةٌ تَلْحَقُ آخِرَ الاسْمِ لَفْظًا وَوَصْلًا، وَتُفَارِقُهُ خَطًّا وَوَقْفًا.

“Tanwin is an unvowelled nun attached to the end of a noun in speech and joined reading, which leaves it in writing and in pause.”

Key words in the Arabic

نُون سَاكِنَةan unvowelled n-sound

لَفْظًا وَوَصْلًاin speech, when reading on

خَطًّا وَوَقْفًاin writing and when pausing

Understand it

Say كِتَابٌ aloud — kitabun — and you hear an n the script never writes as a letter: that is tanwin, marked by doubling the final vowel-sign. It usually accompanies indefiniteness, but not always: proper names like مُحَمَّدٌ carry it while fully definite. Its dependable rules are mechanical — it vanishes when الْ arrives or when the noun leads an idafa, and diptotes refuse it altogether.

How to spot it

Recognition test

A doubled final vowel-sign — pronounce it and you hear the hidden n. The three forms map straight onto the cases: ـٌ = rafa, ـً = nasab, ـٍ = jarr. In an indefinite noun the tanwin is where the case lives: جَاءَ رَجُلٌ، رَأَيْتُ رَجُلًا، مِنْ رَجُلٍ.

In the Qur'an

وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَأَنتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ ۖ فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

Al 'Imran 3:123 — “Allah had helped you at Badr, when ye were a contemptible little force; then fear Allah; thus May ye show your gratitude.”

بَدْرٍ carries jarr tanwin after بِ, and أَذِلَّةٌ carries rafa tanwin as the khabar. Two tanwins, two cases, both doing exactly what the rule predicts.

Common questions

How is tanwin pronounced if the noon is never written?

The doubled vowel mark itself carries the n: كِتَابٌ = kitabun, كِتَابًا = kitaban, كِتَابٍ = kitabin. In pause (waqf) the tanwin drops — nasab tanwin becomes a long a, which is why ـً is usually written on an added alif.

Next in the guideثُبُوت النُّونRetention of nun (5 verbs/dual/m-pl) →