Hello, 

I've a couple questions regarding pronouns and hamza for those fluent in Arabic. 

I am having trouble figuring out how to pronounce "your book" (singular, masculine) and "his book". Two different websites I have found give different pronunciations.

For "your book" (singular, masculine), one gives the pronunciation as "kitaabuka", while the other gives "kitaabuk". 
For "his book", one gives "kitaabuho" and the other gives "kitaabuh" (I learned it in class as "kitaabuhu"). 

Can someone please clarify which are correct?

My other question concerns hamza. I know that if hamza comes at the beginning of a word, it is written either above or below an alif. If I want an "i" sound, I write the hamza below. If I want an "a" or "u" sounds, I write it above - but is there any difference in writing hamza when I want "a" as opposed to "u"?

Hamza is still a little foggy for me. Any further explanation would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks 

ok .. I'm arabic I can help you :D

but before that .. tell me why you want to learn about arabic?

Answer-1:

short answer:

 they're both correct

long long answer:

ok so in arabic language, there's "harakat" instead of vowels in english

if you literally translate the word "harakat" it would mean "motions"

harakat are the vowels you talked about, added to the end of the two words you gave: "kitabuhu" , and "a"

as an opposite to harakat, there's sukoon which means stopping on the last letter and not finishing with "hu" or "ka"  .. like when you say (I read your book) you say : "qara'tu kitabak"  .. you say it this way when the word comes last in the sentence.

 But when it comes first or in the middle .. you "move" the word

like in (your book is interesting) : "kitabuka mumte' "

ps: every letter in this color is harakat

hope I made my point o_0

Answer-2:

as for hamza .. it's something concerning about harakat too xD

but is there any difference in writing hamza when I want "a" as opposed to "u"?

I don't quite get your question

but from what I understand .. yeah, you can

"a" and "u" are both above the alif letter

...........

if you're not yet sick of reading and still wanna noe alil more (I don't know if this is gonna help or not, ... but ... yeah xD):

there are three harakat in arabic .. : fatha (resembles the a), kasra ( resembles the i or e), and dhamma (the u).

 and there's more, but not as primal as these

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_diacritics

hope I helped and didn't  suck explaining it xP

coz I know that I truly suck in explaining

Thanks sooca

So with my first question: Depending on the role of the word in the sentence, you use a particular harakat ending. This is what I understand so far:

If the sentence begins with a verb, it's a verbal sentence. The "doer" in a verbal sentence is written in the Rafa state (the word plus u). The object that the action is being "done to" is written in the Nasb state (the word plus a). 

Does this also mean that, in a verbal sentence, the subject will end with u and the direct object will end with a? 

When is the other state, the Jarr state (with kasra), used? Upon reading your post again, I'm getting quite confused on "I read your (sing., masc.) book" =  "qara'tu kitaabak." I get the "qara'tu" part, but not the "kitaabak" part. Shouldn't it be "kitaabuka" - the "uk" because that's what all the sites I've seen have said, and the "a" because it's a direct object (therefore in the Nasb state)? 

If the sentence begins with a verb, it's a verbal sentence. The "doer" in a verbal sentence is written in the Rafa state (the word plus u). The object that the action is being "done to" is written in the Nasb state (the word plus a). 

Does this also mean that, in a verbal sentence, the subject will end with u and the direct object will end with a? 

EXACTLY! 

it's soooooo THAT right!

the jarr state is used when the word is preceded by a preposition mostly

like(the pen's on the shelf) = al qalamu 'ala al raffi

as for the "qara'tu kitaabak" ..

 first..  the dhamma (u = rafa state) is the default state you pronounce every word with when the word is not included in a sentence, like .. any word is pronounced with "u" if it's pronounced alone and not in a sentence, but when you include it in a sentence you put the right haraka(singular of harakat) with it according to it's position in the sentence .. so "kitaabak" in the sentence is an object so you use the nasb(fatha) and that's why it becomes kitaabak ..the (a, u) are harakat too in kitabuh and kitabak

the original word meaning book is "kitaab"

to add the pronoun (your or his), so the expression would be (your or his book) you add haraka to the end of the word "kitaab" and then the pronoun,

 which is either "his" = hu >>becoming kitaabuhu

or "your" = ka >> kitaabuka

and the "a" because it's a direct object (therefore in the Nasb state)? 

it is true that it's an object which means it's haraka is the fatha(a)

and you CAN actually add the (a) to the end of it, but it would be better if you just say "kitaabak" .. why? .. coz it came last in the sentence, so whatever it's haraka would be, you would turn it into sukoon because it came last :)

Let me tell you, you explain things very well.  I'm actually understanding this now.

That's a new rule to me - the one about the last word in a sentence not having its proper haraka, but just a sukoon. Do I understand that correctly? I mean, in the "kitaabak" word in your last paragraph, isn't the blue "a" the haraka? The "a" that you omitted (the one at the very end of the word) isn't apart of the haraka, but apart of the pronoun ending, right?

Let me tell you, you explain things very well.  I'm actually understanding this now.

thanks! :D .. glad I could help

That's a new rule to me - the one about the last word in a sentence not having its proper haraka, but just a sukoon. Do I understand that correctly? I mean, in the "kitaabak" word in your last paragraph, isn't the blue "a" the haraka?

yup yup .. totally true, that "a" in the blue is the haraka of the word

 The "a" that you omitted (the one at the very end of the word) isn't apart of the haraka, but apart of the pronoun ending, right?

another way of saying it :P , it's the haraka of the pronoun so..yeah :)

Ok, so if the last word of a sentence is a noun, you change the final sound to a sukoon (if it's already a sukoon, you don't do anything to it). Is that right?

Let me see if I understand this.

"I went to her house." = "athhab ilaa baitih", not "athhab ilaa baitihaa", because "her house" is the final word of the sentence, therefore I remove the final haraka (in this case, an alif). OR does the rule refer only to a short vowel?

It looks like this conversation is just going to be between us, and I don't want to clutter the Off-Topic forum. Mind if we continue this help-session through private messages?

Thanks again