- Pronunciation of the Farsi alphabet is very important because, without it, you will not be able to say words properly even if you know how to write those words. The better you pronounce a letter in a word, the more understood you will be in speaking the Farsi language.
Spelling and examples of Farsi vowels, there are six vowels, three short sounds and three long sounds and two semivowels.
| Vowels | sound | Example(s) in English |
اَ، ـَ |
a |
/na/ نه bat, cat, mat |
آ،ا،ىٰ |
ā |
/tā/ تا star, father, water/kobrā/ کبرىٰ |
ـِ ،ـِه |
e |
/ke/ که bet, fret, get, let |
ایـ ، یـِ |
ē |
/shēr/ شیر sweet, eat, need/ēn/ این |
اُ، ـُ |
o |
/boz/ بُز goat, go, no/otāgh/ اُتاق |
او، ـُو |
ō |
/zōd/ زود shoot, fruit, zoo/ō/ او |
اِـی |
ey |
/kej/ کی okay, hay, play |
ـَوْ |
ow |
/now/ نو tow, slow, blow, glow |
Farsi alphabet has 32 letters that you can see all of them are consonants but the first one/ آ/
- There is a table to show the Farsi alphabet and how it is pronounced in English, and finally examples of how those letters would sound if you place them in a word. This table also demonstrates the variation shapes of some letters based on their positions in the word, because some of the Farsi letters have the same as English alphabets which have the upper and lower case, it has “ending” form and “not ending” form of each letter while some of the letters have just one form, you will see them in the below.
Spelling and example words
| Farsi Alphabet | Variation of letters | Sound | Example | ||
ب |
ب ب |
b |
/baɾā.dar/ |
برادر |
‘brother’ |
پ |
پ پ |
p |
/pe.dar/ |
پدر |
‘father’ |
ت, ط |
ت ت، ط |
t |
/tā/ |
تا |
‘until’ |
د |
د |
d |
/dōst/ |
دوست |
‘friend’ |
ک |
ک ک ک |
к |
/kesh.var/ |
کشور |
‘country’ |
گ |
گ گ گ |
g |
/ɡo.ɾōh/ |
گروه |
‘group’ |
ع, ء |
ع ع ع |
` |
/ma’.nā/ |
معنا |
‘meaning’ |
چ |
چ چ چ |
ch |
/chōb/ |
چوب |
‘wood’ |
ج |
ج ج ج |
j |
/ja.vān/ |
جوان |
‘young’ |
ف |
ف ف ف |
f |
/fe.shār/ |
فشار |
‘pressure’ |
و |
و |
v |
/var.zesh/ |
ورزش |
‘sport’ |
س , ص , ث |
س س سص ص صث ث ث |
s |
/sēb/ |
سیب |
‘apple’ |
ز , ذ , ض , ظ |
ز ، ذض ض ضظ |
z |
/ā.zād/ |
آزاد |
‘free’ |
ش |
ش ش ش |
sh |
/shāh/ |
شاه |
‘king’ |
ژ |
ژ |
zh |
/zhā.kat/ |
ژاکت |
‘jaket’ |
خ |
خ خ خ |
kh |
/khā.ne/ |
خانه |
‘house’ |
ق, غ |
غ غ غق ق ق |
gh |
/ghā.shogh/ |
قاشق |
‘spoon’ |
ه , ح |
ح ح ح |
h |
/haft/ |
هفت |
‘seven’ |
م |
م م م |
m |
/mā.dar/ |
مادر |
‘mother’ |
ن |
ن ن ن |
n |
/nān/ |
نان |
‘bread’ |
ل |
ل ل ل |
l |
/lab/ |
لب |
‘lip’ |
ر |
ر |
r |
/rōz/ |
روز |
‘day’ |
ی |
ي ي ي |
y |
/yek/ |
یک |
‘one’ |