INTRODUCTION

Let’s look at a very interesting special character now - the ‘tanviin’ ( Devanagari: तनवीन | IPA:  /t̪ənʋiːn/ | Pronunciation:  ) represented by an ‘alif’ with two zabar over it as shown below:

Above: Representation of the ‘tanviin’. Notice the two zabar over the ‘alif’.

This character can be found in words of Perso-Arabic origin and is used at the end of a word to change it from a noun to an adverb. And this suffix, the ‘tanviin’, imparts the sound of ‘an’ ( अन |  ) at the end of the word.

Native speakers of Urdu and even Hindi languages use words that contain this special character conversationally on a daily-basis, knowingly or otherwise. For example, let’s look at the word “ittefaaq” (इत्तिफ़ाक़), meaning “co-incidence/agreement/concord”:

Above: The word ‘ittefaaq’

And now, let’s change the word “ittefaaq” (इत्तिफ़ाक़), which is a noun to “ittefaaqan” (इत्तिफ़ाक़न), an adverb meaning “by chance” by adding a ‘tanviin’ at the end of it:

Above: ‘ittefaaq’ + ‘tanviin’ = “ittefaaqan”

Similarly, let’s take the word “yaqiin” (यक़ीन), meaning “confidence/certainty” and then change it to “yaqiinan” (यक़ीनन), meaning “certainly/definitely” by adding the ‘tanviin’:

Above: ‘yaqiin’ + ‘tanviin’ = “yaqiinan”

Here are a few more examples in the same vein:

That was simple and fun, wasn’t it? Let’s move on to discovering a few special characteristics of the ‘vaao’ we haven’t seen so far.