Why does every word has a dammatain "un" and not fatha , kasra etc?

[sana sayad]

Asalamualaikum .... can anybody plzzz tell me .. why is "un" put at da end of every word ... why is da dumma / Tanween fatha not put above da letter to get da sound pronounce it as as un ..... i hav jus started learnig arabic ... but it wud b grateful of u to plzzz explain dis to me ....
and let m etell u , u doin a good job ....
jazak Allah

[salahuddin]

Wa alaikum as salaam,

The dhammatayn is a sign of indefiniteness. For example, the word كِتَابٌ means a book, whereas the word الكِتَابُ means the book. The alif and lam, together with a single dhamma at the end of the word are the sign for definiteness, referring to a specific book.

Only nouns can take the dhammatayn - not every word, verbs and particles can not take it. Nouns can also end in two fathas or with two kasras, however if you're just starting out in Arabic I would suggest you don't worry about why and when this happens because it'll be confusing! Inshallah get a good teacher to go through some texts with you and you'll deal with all of these things at the appropriate time. May Allah grant you, and us all, success in learning the language.

Wa salaam

[arabicarabic]

salams

"The dhammatayn is a sign of indefiniteness. For example, the word كِتَابٌ means a book, whereas the word الكِتَابُ means the book. The alif and lam, together with a single dhamma at the end of the word are the sign for definiteness, referring to a specific book."

Salahuddin your response is very much appreciated to sana sayad's question, but i do find that characterizing "the dhammatayn is a sign of indefiniteness" can be a bit problematic at times.

Here's my response to a question i came across regarding the meaning and usage of "tanween" ="un".

The question:
“I’ve read at some places that the تنوين ضمة (tanwiin Damma) is a marker of the indefinite article. Others describe this as a mistake, and simply state that it is an indication of the lack of the definite marker. Which is true?”

My answer:
I remember when i was learning arabic i had issues with this same question. Luckily the answer became clear to me when we studied the chapter of “tanwiin” (تنوين) here at the university. See the major problem is that this section of arabic grammar usually isn’t explained properly by most teachers. Thats because most teachers will just say “oh the tanwiin is on the end of the word becasue there is no “Al” (ال) attached to the word. And since “Al” makes things definite and there is no “Al” (ال) at the beginning of the word , that means the word is indefinite.” Now that answer is correct in some cases but in a lot of cases its not.

So here’s your answer:
In arabic tanwiin generally is not a sign of an indefinite article. But rather the absence of a “muarraf” (معرف) {something that makes things known} is what makes articles indefinite. “Al” is just one type of “muarraf” (I’ll discuss “muarraf” in further detail later) In arabic there are almost 13 different types of “tanwiin” (تنوين). Now when i say 13 different types i don’t mean damma, fatha, kasra. I mean 13 different usages for the tanwiins, and each of them carries a different meaning behind it. Now most beginning arabic students will only come across 4 of these 13. (pray you dont see the rest because they’re just going to give you a headache).
So here’s two of them and i got to get back to studying for my exam.

1.”Tanwiin Al tamkeen” (تنوين التمكين)- try to look at this tanwiin as a mark or a stamp that the word carrying this tanwiin is a noun. This is why the word Muhammadun has a tanwiin at the end. The tanwiin here isnt a sign that distinguishes between definite and indefinite articles, because of course muhammad is a proper name. Rather the tanwiin here is like a sign or a stamp that the word is a noun and not some other article of speech.
This type of “tanwiin” (تنوين) is the most commonly used tanwiin that most readers will come across.

2. “Tanwiin Al tankeer” (تنوين التنكير)- Now this is the tanwiin that everyone refers to when they mean that the tanwiin is a sign of an indefinite article. Take the name John (جون) for example. In arabic you can't put a tanwiin on this name because it isnt originally arabic. Pretty much the only time you can put a tanwiin on this name is when there is a bunch of people named John and you want to talk about “a John” and not one in particular. In this case you can put a tanwiin on John.

I hope this was useful
www.arabicarabic.wordpress.com

[Mansy]

Asalamualaikum .... can anybody plzzz tell me .. why is "un" put at da end of every word ... why is da dumma / Tanween fatha not put above da letter to get da sound pronounce it as as un ..... i hav jus started learnig arabic ... but it wud b grateful of u to plzzz explain dis to me ....
and let m etell u , u doin a good job ....
jazak Allah

Assalamualaikum. By default most nouns (singular and broken plurals) will end with dammatayn making an 'un' sound, provided that the noun does not have the definite article 'alif laam' or does not end with a taa marbut (round taa), amongst other reasons.

You should not worry too much about that because its to do with cases and declensions in words.

hope that answers your question.
Take care
Wassalam
Mansur