Arabic keyboard with vowels (harakat)

Why Arabic vowel marks matter

Everyday Arabic is written without short vowels: a fluent reader can tell from context whether كتب means kataba (he wrote) or kutub (books). Harakat remove that doubt. You find them in beginner textbooks, children’s books, the Quran, classical poetry and dictionaries. They also pin down the exact pronunciation of a name or a borrowed word, and teachers use them to prepare reading exercises.

Arabic keyboard with vowels: shortcut table

On the standard layout, vowel marks are typed with the Shift key. The table shows which key to use on each type of keyboard, and the matching code in Phonetic mode.

The harakat panel on desktop and mobile

If the shortcuts don’t stick, open the Vowel marks (harakat) panel: each mark is inserted at the cursor, which means right after the letter you just typed. The panel also holds the dagger alif ٰ and the tatweel ـ, a stretching stroke that lets you show a vowel on its own, for instance in a lesson. On a computer you can mix both methods, typing letters on your physical keyboard and clicking the marks. On a phone, the panel spares you from digging through the menus of your native keyboard. Nothing is added automatically, so the vocalised text is exactly what you chose.

Tips for clear, fully vowelled text

• On a doubled letter the shadda comes first: in دَرَّسَ, the ر takes the shadda and then the fatha.
• Use the text size buttons to spot a missing or misplaced mark.
• After pasting into a word processor, pick a clear Arabic font, as some fonts draw the marks very small or let them overlap.
• To review the letters themselves, the interactive Arabic alphabet also lists the short vowels and signs.
• For everyday text without vowels, go back to the standard Arabic keyboard online.