Ta marbuta

From Al-Duroos

The ta' marbuta (ة) is an Arabic letter, which is a variant of the letter "ta" (ت). The ta' marbuta usually belongs at the end of a word. Though, sometimes a word has a suffix, such as a pronoun, after the ta' marbuta.

Sometimes the ta' marbuta is silent. Other times, it is pronounced as an "a" and sometimes as a "ta". Whether or not the ta' marbuta is pronounced, and how it is pronounced, depends on the grammatical function of the word.

قَرية (qarya), which means village, is a word that ends in a ta' marbuta. In this case, it is pronounced as an "a". Here, the ta' marbuta indicates the word is feminine. (like Spanish and other languages, Arabic words have gender - either masculine or feminine)

A pronoun can be attached at the end of the word, to indicate possession. For example, قَريتي (qaryatee) means my village. The word is suffixed with a "ya" which gives an "ee" sound. The "ya" indicates possession in the first person (I). In this situation, the ta' marbuta is written as a regular "ta" (ت).