The alif maqʂūra is a special letter that always goes on the end of a word (never at the start or middle) and is pronounced as an 'alif', (ie. the long 'a' sound). It looks like a ي that is missing the two dots underneath it.

A few points to note:
1. Alif Maqsura is commonly seen in proper nouns( عِيسَى Jesus, مُوسَى Moses, لَيْلَى Laila), some prepositions and on the endings of some verbs.

2. If a suffix is added to a word that ends with an alif maqʂūrah then the ى is converted to a regular 'alif'. (see example of 'his music' below)

3. BEWARE: Some countries like Egypt, never put two dots under a final ي in a word regardless of whether it is pronounced as 'ī' or 'ā'. This can be a source of confusion for beginners. Just be aware of it. (see the last example below)

This Web Application does not work on mobile phones in landscape mode