Constant listening and reading of the texts and exercises will acquaint students with the stress. Several general rules apply:

a) Only the last three syllables of a word are a consideration for stress – here marked in red. Remember, the nunation, if pronounced, counts as well.

b) The last syllable with a long vowel is stressed:

ki–tāb ki–tā–bun, ja–dīd ja–dī–dun, ma–khā–zin ma–khā–zi–nu

however, long vowels at the end of the word are never stressed:

hu–nā, kur–sī (aber: kur–sī–yun)

c) If the last three syllables do not contain a long vowel, the stress is on the second to last “closed” syllable, i.e. consonant – short vowel – consonant:

mu–‛al–lim, mu–tar–jim

or respectively if the word has only two syllables:

an–ta, ra–jul

otherwise the stress is on the third to last syllable, regardless of the word structure:

mu–‛al–li–ma, muj–ta–hi–dun

d) Stress should not go beyond the third to last syllable. Therefore, the stress shifts if the number of syllables changes by adding nunation or suffixes:

ṭā–li–ba ṭā–li–ba–tun mu–‛al–li–ma mu–‛al–li–ma–tun

ku–tu–bun ku–tu–bu–nā (our books)

mu–‛al–li–mun mu–‛al–li–mu–nā (our teacher)

ṭā–li–ba ṭā–li–ba–tun, ṭā–li–ba–tu–nā (our student)

mu–‛al–li–ma mu–‛al–li–ma–tun, mu–‛al–li–ma–tu–nā (our teacher)

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