Fatha (فَتْحَة) in Arabic
Short "a" vowel placed above the letter.
Last updated: May 2026
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Fatha — fatḥa
Short "a" — like the "a" in English "cat" or "bat".
- Position
- above
- Family
- harakat
- Unicode
- U+064E
- Keyboard
- Shift + Q
What does Fatha mean?
Fatha is the most common of the Arabic short vowels. It is a single diagonal stroke placed directly above the letter it follows. Without fatha (or another haraka) on a letter, the vowel sound after it is undefined and the reader has to guess from context.
Used wherever a short "a" follows a consonant — which, in Arabic, is extremely common. It is the first diacritic every learner masters and shows up on roughly half of fully-vocalised text.
How to type Fatha on Arabic keyboard
Shortcut on Arabic 101: Shift + Q
Typing order: type the base letter first, then hold Shift and press the diacritic key. Most Arabic input requires this letter-then-diacritic sequence — typing the diacritic first will produce nothing or a disconnected mark.
Example: to type بَ, press the base letter key, then Shift + Q.
Example words with Fatha
Practice typing Fatha
Knowing the shortcut is one thing — building the muscle memory is another. Our diacritics drills weave fatha, kasra, damma, shadda, sukun, and the tanween marks into real words and full sentences.
Frequently asked questions
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How do I type fatha on the Arabic keyboard?
On the Arabic 101 keyboard layout, hold Shift and press Q. Type the base letter first, then add the fatha — for example, type ب, then Shift+Q to produce بَ.
Is fatha used at the end of a word too?
Yes. Fatha at the end of a word commonly marks the accusative case in classical Arabic (e.g. مَدْرَسَةً "school" in the accusative, where the final letter carries fatha followed by tanween fath). It also marks past-tense verb conjugations like كَتَبَ.
What's the difference between fatha and alif?
Fatha is the short "a" sound (a single beat). Alif (ا) is the long "ā" sound (two beats). They are different things — fatha is a diacritic mark above a consonant; alif is a full letter. Sometimes you see both together: كَتَبَا "they both wrote" has a fatha on ب followed by an alif of prolongation.
Related diacritics
Or see the full Arabic diacritics guide.