the n sound at the end of some words

Why do some words, such as Shukran and Ahlan, end with an Alef, but sound as if they have
an "n" at the end?

I finally found the answer to this! Check out lesson 2.7. The section on the tanwīn explains it all.

Thanks for the reply Christina, and sorry we missed your question earlier jhmitnick.. That's right! We recently updated our Language and Culture Lessons and you can now find an explanation of what we call in Arabic "tanwīn" as well as other differences between spoken and written Arabic.