writing arabic : Short vowels and diacritic signs

Long vowels : In Arabic, there are three long vowels which are considered as letters in their full right and feature as such in the alphabet : Thus â = ا , û = و , î = ي There are three corresponding short vowels , which are not called letters but diacritic signs, namely signs which are written either above or below the letter. These short vowels are : fatha - damma - kasra