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Persian edition of Wikibooks. Wikipedia has related information at Persian Look up Category:Persian language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A printable version of Persian is available. (edit it) III This is a Category III Language.

• Cover
• Introduction — Background to learning Persian

• The Alphabet:
  • Lesson 1 ( ۱ ) — Introduction to the Persian alphabet (ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح خ)
  • Lesson 2 ( ۲ ) — The alphabet (continued) (د ذ ر ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ)
  • Lesson 3 ( ۳ ) — The alphabet (continued) (ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن)
  • Lesson 4 ( ۴ ) — The alphabet (continued), ligatures, diacritics (و ه ی)
• Level 1 grammar:
  • Lesson 5 ( ۵ ) — Introduction to verbs (هستم ،هست، ...، است، ...)
  • Lesson 6 ( ۶ ) — Noun phrases, ezâfe, demonstrative adjectives
  • Lesson 7 ( ۷ ) — Simple past tense, plurality and formality/deference
  • Lesson 8 ( ۸ ) — Negation, negative copula (بیستم، بیست، ...)
  • Lesson 9 ( ۹ ) — Plural nouns, Arabic plurals, singular verbs with plural inanimate nouns
  • Lesson 10 ( ۱۰ ) — Indefinite clitic ی, homographs
  • Lesson 11 ( ۱۱ ) — Direct objects, prepositions بودن ، داشتن،
  • Lesson 12 ( ۱۲ ) — Present tense, negative present, literary present imperfective
  • Lesson 13 ( ۱۳ ) — Personal enclitics for possession or direct object
  • Lesson 14 ( ۱۴ ) — Light verbs, causative with کردن vs. suffix انیدن or اندن. Passive with شدن
  • Lesson 15 ( ۱۵ ) — Questions: Formal and informal, interrogative adverbs and pronouns
• Level 2 grammar:
  • Lesson 16 ( ۱۶ ) — Perfective aspect
  • Lesson 17 ( ۱۷ ) — Comparative and superlative adjectives
  • Lesson 18 ( ۱۸ ) — Imperative, subjunctive, conditional
  • Future in colloquial and literary Persian

• Alphabet — The alphabet and transcription
• Grammar
• Glossary
• Further Reading
• Selected Websites
• Persian Computing
• Persian Handwriting
• Persian Phrases Wikibook

• Persian - English Wiktionary

This is a Wikibook. Feel free to edit, enhance, correct, and add to it, in any way that will make it a better learning resource. Contribute to this book to make it a good way for new learners to learn Farsi!

• How to Contribute
• Planning

Continue to Introduction to the Persian language course >>

---

Persian edition of Wikibooks. Wikipedia has related information at Persian Look up Category:Persian language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A printable version of Persian is available. (edit it) III This is a Category III Language.

• Cover
• Introduction — Background to learning Persian

• The Alphabet:
  • Lesson 1 ( ۱ ) — Introduction to the Persian alphabet (ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح خ)
  • Lesson 2 ( ۲ ) — The alphabet (continued) (د ذ ر ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ)
  • Lesson 3 ( ۳ ) — The alphabet (continued) (ع غ ف ق ک گ ل م ن)
  • Lesson 4 ( ۴ ) — The alphabet (continued), ligatures, diacritics (و ه ی)
• Level 1 grammar:
  • Lesson 5 ( ۵ ) — Introduction to verbs (هستم ،هست، ...، است، ...)
  • Lesson 6 ( ۶ ) — Noun phrases, ezâfe, demonstrative adjectives
  • Lesson 7 ( ۷ ) — Simple past tense, plurality and formality/deference
  • Lesson 8 ( ۸ ) — Negation, negative copula (بیستم، بیست، ...)
  • Lesson 9 ( ۹ ) — Plural nouns, Arabic plurals, singular verbs with plural inanimate nouns
  • Lesson 10 ( ۱۰ ) — Indefinite clitic ی, homographs
  • Lesson 11 ( ۱۱ ) — Direct objects, prepositions بودن ، داشتن،
  • Lesson 12 ( ۱۲ ) — Present tense, negative present, literary present imperfective
  • Lesson 13 ( ۱۳ ) — Personal enclitics for possession or direct object
  • Lesson 14 ( ۱۴ ) — Light verbs, causative with کردن vs. suffix انیدن or اندن. Passive with شدن
  • Lesson 15 ( ۱۵ ) — Questions: Formal and informal, interrogative adverbs and pronouns
• Level 2 grammar:
  • Lesson 16 ( ۱۶ ) — Perfective aspect
  • Lesson 17 ( ۱۷ ) — Comparative and superlative adjectives
  • Lesson 18 ( ۱۸ ) — Imperative, subjunctive, conditional
  • Future in colloquial and literary Persian

• Alphabet — The alphabet and transcription
• Grammar
• Glossary
• Further Reading
• Selected Websites
• Persian Computing
• Persian Handwriting
• Persian Phrases Wikibook

• Persian - English Wiktionary

This is a Wikibook. Feel free to edit, enhance, correct, and add to it, in any way that will make it a better learning resource. Contribute to this book to make it a good way for new learners to learn Farsi!

• How to Contribute
• Planning

Continue to Introduction to the Persian language course >>

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Welcome to the English Wikibook for learning the Persian Language.

This course requires no prior knowledge of Persian. It aims to teach grammar, vocabulary, common phrases, conversational language, and formal/literary Persian. By the end, you should be able to read and write Persian but will probably need a human teacher to help with listening and speaking. The book is meant to be read starting with lesson 1 and moving forward. It will move slowly.

Persian (local names: Parsi, Farsi or Dari) is an Indo-European language, the dominant language of the Indo-Iranian language family and is a major language of antiquity. After the 7th century Persian absorbed a great deal of Arabic vocabulary. Persian is the official language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Persian is also a popular language in academia and business. Related languages include Pashto, Kurdish, Ossetian, and Balochi. Urdu and Turkish also have a sizable vocabulary from Persian.

Farsi is an Arabized form of the word Parsi, one of the original names in Persian for the Persian language. Since there is no [p] sound in Arabic, Parsi became Farsi after the Arab conquest of Persia. Farsi then became the local name of Persian, but English speakers still call the language “Persian”, just as they say “German”, “Spanish”, and “Chinese” for languages locally called Deutsch, español, and Hanyu. There is considerable opposition to calling Persian Farsi in English and other languages, as is summarized by the following pronouncement on the English name of Persian language by the Academy of Persian language and literature:

1. “Persian” has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it carries a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing “Persian” to “Farsi” would negate this established important precedent.
2. Changing the usage from “Persian” to “Farsi” may give the impression that “Farsi” is a new language, although this may well be the intention of some users of “Farsi”.
3. Changing the usage may also give the impression that “Farsi” is a dialect used in some parts of Iran rather than the predominant (and official) language of the country.
4. The word “Farsi” has never been used in any research paper or university document in any Western language, and the proposal to begin using it would create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of Iran.

Since Persian and English are both Indo-European languages, many basic Persian words are familiar to English speakers. For example مادر  ‹mâdar› (“mother”), پدر  ‹pedar› (“father”), and برادر  ‹barâdar› (“brother”).

Persian Alphabet is easy. Some people have learnt it in less than one hour. Persian alphabet is far easier than Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, etc. There is no need to learn it through alternative alphabets like Pinyin for Chinese. Apart from the 32-letter alphabet you need to learn some diacritical marks which are used for representing vowels. For learning the alphabet, study Alphabet page in this book.

Although Persian was influenced by Arabic, English speakers should not find it too difficult to pronounce Persian letters fairly well. Fortunately for English speakers, the glottal stop ء [ʔ] from Arabic is barely pronounced in Persian, and the “emphatic” consonants in Arabic (ط ض ص ظ‎ ح‎ ع) are pronounced without the pharyngealization, making them much easier for most native English speakers.

It is important to listen to Persian often and to try to use the language. Pronunciation guides can only closely convey the sounds of Persian but are never totally exact, so pronunciation benefits greatly from listening to native speakers.

There are several systems of transcription to represent the sounds of Persian in the Latin alphabet. This book uses the UniPers (also called Pârsiye Jahâni, "Universal Persian") transcription system, which uses the basic Latin alphabet plus a few modified letters (‹â›, ‹š›, ‹ž›, and an apostrophe ‹’›) as a standard phonemic script that is clear, simple, and consistent. Each transcription is enclosed in angle brackets, e.g., ‹fârsi›:

Vowels							Diphthongs
UniPers	‹a›	‹â›	‹e›	‹i›	‹o›	‹u›	‹ow›	‹ey›	‹ay›	‹ây›	‹oy›	‹uy›
IPA	/æ/	/ɒː/	/e/	/iː/	/o/	/uː/	/ow/	/ej/	/aj/	/ɒj/	/oj/	/uj/
Persian	ا	آ، ا (خوا)	ا، ه	ای، ی	ا، و	او	و	ی		ای	وی
Consonants
UniPers	‹b›	‹c›	‹d›	‹f›	‹g›	‹h›	‹j›	‹k›	‹l›	‹m›	‹n›	‹p›	‹q›	‹r›	‹s›	‹š›	‹t›	‹v›	‹x›	‹z›	‹ž›	‹’›
IPA	/b/	/tʃ/	/d/	/f/	/ɡ/	/h/	/dʒ/	/k/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/p/	/ɣ/	/ɾ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/v/	/χ/	/z/	/ʒ/	/ʔ/
Persian	ب	چ	د	ف	گ	ه، ح	ج	ک	ل	م	ن	پ	غ، ق	ر	ث، س، ص	ش	ت، ط	و	خ	ذ، ز، ض، ظ	ژ	ع، ء

In learning to read or speak any language, the two aspects to be mastered are vocabulary and grammar. Acquiring vocabulary is a matter of memorization. Children learn thousands of words of their native language by the time they are conscious of the learning process, so it is easy to underestimate importance of having a large vocabulary. This process can be reactivated by immersion: moving to where the language is spoken and one’s native tongue cannot be used for daily communication.

Without the opportunity to move to a Persian-speaking area, a student must make a substantial effort to learn the meaning, pronunciation, and proper use of words. Be sure to learn all of the vocabulary words in each lesson. Early lessons have simple sentences because the student’s vocabulary is presumably limited, but more complex sentences in later lessons demonstrate more typical Persian. It may be helpful to translate these using a Persian-English dictionary. Access to a print dictionary is very helpful. Other sources of Persian, such as newspapers, magazines, and web sites can help to build vocabulary and to develop a sense of how Persian sentences are put together.

The Internet has a wide variety of study resources. You can refer to the appendix of this book for a selection of some of the best sources:

• Websites
• Persian - English Wiktionary

Also, each new vocabulary term introduced in this course can be looked up easily in the English Wiktionary wherever the dictionary image appears. Click on the image to look up a Persian word wherever you see a link like the following:

خوب  ‹xub›  /ˈxuːb/ (“fine/well/good”)

Continue to Lesson 1 ( ۱ ), Introduction to the Persian alphabet >>

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The six vowels and 23 consonants of Persian are written using a modified version of the Arabic alphabet with four extra Persian letters to represent sounds which do not exist in Arabic. Its Persian name is الفبا ‹alefbâ› , which is the equivalent of the English “ABCs”.

Isolated	Initial	Middle	End	Pronunciation, ‹UniPers›, [IPA]	Name
ا	—		ﺎ	‹â› [ɒː] as in North American English caught, Received Pronunciation father, South African English park, ‹a› [æ] as in cat, ‹o› [o] as in soap or ‹e› [e] as in well	‹alef›
ﺏ	بـ	ـبـ	ـب	‹b› [b] as in big	‹be›
پ	پـ	ـپـ	ـپ	‹p› [p] as in park	‹pe›
ت	تـ	ـتـ	ـت	‹t› [t] as in tea	‹te›
ﺙ	ثـ	ـثـ	ـث	‹s› [s] as in salad	‹se›
ﺝ	جـ	ـجـ	ـج	‹j› [d͡ʒ] as in jade	‹jim›
ﭺ	چـ	ـچـ	ـچ	‹c› [t͡ʃ] as in cheese	‹ce›
ﺡ	حـ	ـحـ	ـح	‹h› [h] as in house	‹he›
ﺥ	خـ	ـخـ	ﺦ	‹x› [x] as in Bach or Loch	‹xe›
ﺩ		ـد		‹d› [d] as in dog	‹dâl›
ﺫ		ـذ		‹z› [z] as in zoo	‹zâl›
ﺭ		ـر		‹r› [ɾ] as in rain	‹re›
ﺯ		ـز		‹z› [z] as in zoo	‹ze›
ﮊ		ـژ		‹ž› [ʒ] as in mirage or French je	‹že›
ﺱ	سـ	ـسـ	ـس	‹s› [s] as in sand	‹sin›
ﺵ	شـ	ـشـ	ـش	‹š› [ʃ] as in sugar	‹šin›
ﺹ	صـ	ـصـ	ـص	‹s› [s] as in sand	‹sâd›
ﺽ	ضـ	ـضـ	ـض	‹z› [z] as in zoo	‹zâd›
ﻁ	طـ	ـطـ	ـط	‹t› [t] as in tiger	‹tâ›
ﻅ	ظـ	ـظـ	ـظ	‹z› [z] as in zoo	‹zâ›
ﻉ	ﻋ	ﻌ	ﻊ	‹'› [ʔ] as in uh-oh	‹'eyn›
ﻍ	ﻏ	ﻐ	ﻎ	‹q› [ɣ] Voiced velar fricative.ogg (help·info) or [ɢ], Voiced uvular stop.oga (help·info)	‹qeyn›
ﻑ	فـ	ـفـ	ـف	‹f› [f] as in France	‹fe›
ﻕ	قـ	ـقـ	ـق	‹q› [ɣ] Voiced velar fricative.ogg (help·info) or [ɢ], Voiced uvular stop.oga (help·info)	‹qâf›
ک	ﻛ	ـکـ	ـک	‹k› [k] as in kid	‹kâf›
ﮒ	ﮔ	ﮕ	ﮓ	‹g› [g] as in golf	‹gâf›
ﻝ	ﻟ	ـلـ	ـل	‹l› [l] as in love	‹lâm›
ﻡ	ﻣ	ـمـ	ـم	‹m› [m] as in music	‹mim›
ﻥ	ﻧ	ـنـ	ـن	‹n› [n] as in new	‹nun›
ﻭ		ـو		‹w›, ‹u›, ‹o› and ‹v› as in	‹vâv›
ﻩ	ﻫ	ﻬ	ﻪ	‹h› [h] as in horse	‹he›
ى	ﻳ	ـیـ	ـی	‹y› [j] as in year or ‹i› [iː] as in free	‹ye›

UniPers is used as a guide to pronunciation in this book:

Vowels							Diphthongs
UniPers	‹a›	‹â›	‹e›	‹i›	‹o›	‹u›	‹ow›	‹ey›	‹ay›	‹ây›	‹oy›	‹uy›
IPA	/æ/	/ɒː/	/e/	/iː/	/o/	/uː/	/ow/	/ej/	/aj/	/ɒj/	/oj/	/uj/
Persian	ا	آ، ا (خوا)	ا، ه	ای، ی	ا، و	او	و	ی		ای	وی
Consonants
UniPers	‹b›	‹c›	‹d›	‹f›	‹g›	‹h›	‹j›	‹k›	‹l›	‹m›	‹n›	‹p›	‹q›	‹r›	‹s›	‹š›	‹t›	‹v›	‹x›	‹z›	‹ž›	‹’›
IPA	/b/	/tʃ/	/d/	/f/	/ɡ/	/h/	/dʒ/	/k/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/p/	/ɣ/	/ɾ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/v/	/χ/	/z/	/ʒ/	/ʔ/
Persian	ب	چ	د	ف	گ	ه، ح	ج	ک	ل	م	ن	پ	غ، ق	ر	ث، س، ص	ش	ت، ط	و	خ	ذ، ز، ض، ظ	ژ	ع، ء

Most letters in this system of transcription can be pronounced like their English equivalents, but some deserve special attention:

Persian letter	Pronunciation
آ ا	â ‹â› sounds like the o in the Queen's English pronunciation of hot, the augh in American English caught, or the a in South African English park. It is a longer and deeper sound than the short ‹a› (as in cat).
ژ	‹ž› ‹ž› sounds like the g in mirage or the s in measure and in Asia.
خ	‹x› ‹x› is similar to the ch in Bach or the j in Spanish ojo but pronounced low in the throat.
ر	‹r› ‹r› is similar to the r in the Scottish English pronunciation of free or the tt in the American English and Australian English better. It is often rolled like the Spanish R.

There are several different systems of transcription in use for Persian, and no one official system. This can cause difficulties when more than one textbook is consulted, and may lead an absolute beginner to confuse the different letters. There are too many differences to be listed here, but it is useful to be familiar with the most significant examples:

Some common differences include:‎

• آ ‹â› listen (help·info) may be transcribed as ā, á, A, aa, or a. For example, بابا ‹bâbâ› may be written elsewhere as bābā, bábá, bAbA, baabaa, or baba. In texts where ‹â› is transcribed as a, the short ‹a› sound may be written as æ or there may be no written distinction between the long and short sounds.
• Short ‹a› listen (help·info) may be transcribed as æ, especially in texts where a represents long ‹â›. For example, ابر ‹abr› may be written elsewhere as æbr and بابا ‹bâbâ› as baba.
• چ ‹c› may be transcribed as ch or č. For example, چطور ‹cetor› may be written elsewhere as chetor or četor.
• خ ‹x› may be transcribed as kh. For example, خوب ‹xub› may be written elsewhere as khub.
• ﺵ ‹š› may be transcribed as sh or s. For example, شما ‹šomâ› may be written elsewhere as shoma or soma.
• Long ‹u›, may be transcribed as oo. For example, دوست ‹dust› may be written elsewhere as doost.

Name	Pronunciation	Symbol
Hamze		ء
Alef hamze		أ
Vâv hamze		ؤ
Alef Tanvin		ـّ
Tashdid		ً
Short "a"		ـَ
Short "o"		ـُ
Short "e"		ـِ

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In this lesson, you will learn basic greetings, the first nine Persian letters, connecting letters, and unwritten vowels.

Shirin sees her friend Arash in passing and greets him:

The dialogues in lessons 1 through 3 are shown in UniPers, a system of writing the Persian language in the Latin alphabet. In later lessons, the native Persian script is shown along with a transcription.

Shirin :	‹salâm, âraš!› (help·info) “Hello Arash!”
Arash :	‹salâm, širin! cetori?› (help·info) “Hello, Shirin! How are you?”
Shirin :	‹mersi, xubam. tow cetori?› (help·info) “Thank you, I’m fine. How are you?”
Arash :	‹man xubam.› (help·info) “I'm fine.”

Explanation

Arash and Shirin are using a casual style of speech typically among friends. Later lessons will use various styles of speech, including some for more formal situations.

Vocabulary

• ‹salâm›   IPA:  /sæˈlɒːm/ — “peace” a common greeting like “hello” in English

• ‹cetori›    /t͡ʃeˈtoɾiː/ — “how are (you)” (informal, used among friends)
• ‹tow›    /tow/ — “you” (informal)
• ‹mersi›    /'meɾsiː/ — “thanks”
• ‹man›    /mæn — “I, me”
• ‹xubam›    /ˈxuːbæm/ — “(I) am fine/well/good”

The Persian language has six vowel sounds and twenty-three consonant sounds. Old Persian was written using its own cuneiform alphabet. Other scripts were used in later stages of the language, and eventually the Arabic alphabet was adopted. The sounds of Persian are different from Arabic, though, so four letters were added for Persian sounds that do not exist in Arabic ( پ  ‹pe›, چ  ‹ce›, ژ  ‹že›, and گ  ‹gâf›), and letters for several foreign Arabic sounds are pronounced like their closest Persian approximation.

Thus, the twenty-nine sounds of Persian are written in the Perso-Arabic script, which has thirty-two letters and is called الفبا  ‹alefbâ›, named after its first two letters (similar to "ABCs" in English). It is a cursive script, written from right to left like Arabic, opposite of the English direction. The letters are presented in the first four lessons of this book, followed by a summary of the whole alphabet in the "Alphabet summary" section of Lesson 4.

Culture Point: The Tajik (тоҷикӣ) language

Not all dialects of Persian are written using the Perso-Arabic alphabet taught here. The Tajik (тоҷикӣ) language, spoken mainly in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is a variety of Persian written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The language diverged from Persian as spoken in Afghanistan and Iran as a result of political borders, geographical isolation, and the influence of Russian and neighboring languages. The standard language is based on the north-western dialects of Tajik, which were influenced by the neighboring Uzbek language. Tajik also retains numerous archaic elements in its vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar that have been lost elsewhere in the Persian world.

The two forms of ‹alef›:
آ	ا
‹â› (help·info)

The first letter in Persian is ا  ‹alef›.

At the beginning of a word (on the right side), alef has two forms. The form on the far right here with the madde (the small "hat" on top: آ ) is written as a tall, vertical stroke from top to bottom followed by the madde on top written from right to left as a straight ( ^- ) or curved ( ^~ ) line. This form represents a doubled alef ( اا ). It is pronounced with the long vowel sound /ɒː/ (IPA), transcribed here as ‹â›. That is, it has a long duration and is produced with rounded lips and the tongue low and far back in the mouth, like a slow version of the vowel in the Queen's English pronunciation of hot, American English caught, or South African English park. When the first letter of a word is alef without a "hat" ( ا ), it is read as a short vowel: ‹a› (IPA: /æ/) as in at, ‹e› (/e/) as in end or ‹o› (/o/) as in open, as will be seen in later examples.

When alef appears later in a word (after the first letter), it is always written without the "hat" ( ا ) and it always represents long ‹â›.

Distinguishing a and â:

Decide whether the ‹alef› in the following words stands for (short) ‹a› or (long) ‹â›. You do not need to be able to read the whole word at this stage. To see the correct answer, click “[show ▼]”.

آب (long) ‹â› اتو (short) ‹a› اسب (short) ‹a› آن (long) ‹â›

← (read from right to left) ←
ب	پ	ت	ث
‹be›	‹pe›	‹te›	‹se›

After alef ( ا ), the next four Persian letters, shown on the right, are all written similarly but with varying dots.

Persian letters have names that begin with the sound they make, so these four letters make the sounds ‹b›, ‹p›, ‹t›, and ‹s›.

ب

‹be›

The second Persian letter is ب  ‹be›. It represents the /b/ sound. Its name sounds like a quick pronunciation of the English word “bay”.

آب	←	آ	ب				←	آب
‹âb›		‹â›	‹b›

The Persian word آب  ‹âb› (“water”) is shown on the right. In this word, the initial alef is written with a “hat” ( آ ), so it is read as long ‹â›. Persian is written from right to left and positioned on and around a horizontal baseline that is typically not visible on the page. The swooping stroke of ب is written from right to left and sits on that baseline, as does آ . The dot is below the baseline and, like the dot in the English cursive letter i, it is written after the connected strokes in the word.

Connecting letters

Like English cursive, most Persian letters in a word connect with each other, but separate Persian words never connect. For example, ب connects with the letter that follows it. Notice, though, that the letters in آب above do not connect with each other. That's because ا never connects with the letter that follows it. Connecting letters may be written one way alone (in the “isolated” form) or with slightly different forms when connected with letters before or after them: ب ب‍ ‍ب‍ ‍ب ← ب ببب The line above shows ب in its “isolated” form on the far right, then in its “initial” form used when another letter follows, then its “medial” form used to connect it with letters on both sides, and then its “final” form used to connect it only to the previous letter. Notice that the upward-swooping tail only appears in the isolated and final forms. Many Persian letters have tails that behave this way. As the remaining alphabet lessons will explain, all but seven Persian letters connect with the letter that follows.

بابا	←	ب‍	‍ا	ب‍	‍ا		←	بابا
‹bâbâ›		‹b›	‹â›	‹b›	‹â›

As shown on the right, the swooping stroke of each ب connects with the following ا to spell بابا  ‹bâbâ›, an informal word for “father”, similar to the English words “dad” and “daddy”. The other letters in this section are like ب in that each has a swooping stroke that sits on the baseline and connects with the following letter, and each has one or more dots that are written after all of the connected strokes of the word.

Note that the alefs in بابا are not at the beginning of the word, so they represent long ‹â› and are not written with a “hat”.

پ	←	پ‍	‍پ‍	‍پ			←	پپپ
‹pe›		connecting forms

The third Persian letter is پ  ‹pe›. It is pronounced as /p/ and its name sounds like a quick pronunciation of the English word “pay”. Its swooping stroke is written from right to left like the other letters of this group, then after the rest of the connected strokes of the word are written, the three dots of پ are written below the baseline.

پا	←	پ‍	‍ا				←	پا
‹pâ›		‹p›	‹â›

پ followed by ا spells the word پا  ‹pâ› (“foot”).

ت	←	ت‍	‍ت‍	‍ت			←	تتت
‹te›		connecting forms

The letter ت  ‹te› is pronounced like /t/ and is written with two dots above the swooping line. Its name rhymes with the other letters in this section.

تا	←	ت‍	‍ا				←	تا
‹tâ›		‹t›	‹â›

ت followed by ا spells the word تا  ‹tâ› (“until”).

Letters with dots

Many Persian letters have one, two, or three dots. In most printed publications, those dots appear as diamond shapes, or squares, or circles. Groups of three dots are positioned in a triangle, and groups of two dots are positioned side by side. In fast handwriting, though, three dots are often written as a caret ( ^ ) and two dots are often written as a dash ( - ) or like a reversed tilde ( ~ ).

ث	←	ث‍	‍ث‍	‍ث			←	ثثث
‹se›		connecting forms

The letter ث  ‹se› is one of three separate Persian letters for the /s/ sound, since that is the Persian approximation of the letter's Arabic sound [θ]. In Persian, its name sounds like an abbreviated version of the English word “say”. It is used mainly in words of Arabic origin and is not a very common letter in Persian.

اثاث	←	ا	ث‍	‍ا	ث		←	اثاث
‹asâs›		‹a›	‹s›	‹â›	‹s›

As shown on the right, ث appears twice in the word اثاث  ‹asâs› (“furniture”).

Note the difference between a hatless initial alef pronounced as short ‹a› and an alef in the middle of a word, pronounced as long ‹â›.

ج	چ	ح	خ
‹jim›	‹ce›	‹he›	‹xe›

The next four Persian letters, shown on the right, are all written similarly but with varying dots.

Hook-shaped tails

Notice that the tails in these four letters hook to the right. Recall that tails only appear in the isolated and final forms for letters. When another letter follows, the tails are not written, so these four letters lose their hooks when another letter follows them.

ج	←	ج‍	‍ج‍	‍ج			←	ججج
‹jim›		connecting forms

The letter ج  ‹jim› is transcribed as ‹j› and pronounced as [d͡ʒ] (i.e. like the English letter j in jump). The top stroke is written first from left to right above the baseline, followed by the lower hook extending counterclockwise below the baseline. The dot is written later, after any other connected strokes in the word.

جا	←	ج‍	‍ا				←	جا
‹jâ›		‹j›	‹â›

ج followed by ا spells the word جا  ‹jâ› (“place”). This example shows that the shape of this letter changes when another letter follows it. The top stroke is still written from left to right, but a simple right-to-left stroke along the baseline replaces the hook when another letter follows. The other letters in this section change shape similarly when another letter follows.

When a ج follows a connecting letter, as in پنج  ‹panj› (“five”) or اینجا  ‹injâ› (“here”), the top stroke is still written before the tail (or the following connecting stroke, as the case may be).

چ	←	چ‍	‍چ‍	‍چ			←	چچچ
‹ce›		connecting forms

The letter چ  ‹ce› is transcribed in UniPers as ‹c› and pronounced as [t͡ʃ] (i.e., like ch in English church).

ح	←	ح‍	‍ح‍	‍ح			←	ححح
‹he›		connecting forms

The letter ح  ‹he› is pronounced as /h/. Its name sounds like a quick version of the English word “hay” (that is, it does not sound like the English word “he”).

حب	←	ح‍	‍ب				←	حب
‹hab›		‹h›	‹b›

ح followed by ب spells the word حب  ‹hab› (“pill”).

Unwritten vowels

You probably noticed that the short vowel ‹a› is not represented in حب ‹hab›. That is because Persian makes an important distinction between short and long vowels. The short vowels (‹a›, ‹e› and ‹o›) are not usually written in Persian. When you come across a new word in writing you might have to find out how it is pronounced from a dictionary or someone who speaks Persian. Although there is a system of marking vowel sounds (see Alefba), it is only usually seen in children's books, because it disrupts the normal layout of text. In contrast, long vowels have their own letters and are written down. More details about writing and pronouncing vowels will be presented in the Lesson 4.

خ	←	خ‍	‍خ‍	‍خ			←	خخخ
‹xe›		connecting forms

The letter خ  ‹xe› is pronounced like the IPA sound [x] (like the Spanish letter j or the German ch), transcribed in UniPers as ‹x›.

خاج	←	خ‍	‍ا	ج			←	خاج
‹xâj›		‹x›	‹â›	‹j›

خ followed by ا and ج spells the word خاج  ‹xâj› (“cross”). Like the previous few letters, the tail of خ is not written when another letter follows it.

Distinguishing a and â: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Decide whether the ‹alef› in the following words stands for (short) ‹a› or (long) ‹â›. You do not need to be able to read the whole word at this stage.

آبی (long) ‹â› اب (short) ‹a› آلمان (long) ‹â› اکبر (short) ‹a›

Recognizing letters: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters?

ج The letter ‹jim›, which represents the sound ‹j› (IPA: [d͡ʒ]). ا The letter ‹alef› without madde, which represents the long vowel sound ‹â› (/ɒː/) in the middle or end of a word, or a short vowel sound (‹a›, ‹e›, or ‹o›) at the beginning of a word. ﺙ The letter ‹se›, which represents the sound ‹s›. آ The letter ‹alef›, with madde at the beginning of a word is represents the long ‹â› sound.) ت The letter ‹te›, which represents the sound ‹t›. ﺏ The letter ‹be›, which represents the sound ‹b›. پ The letter ‹pe›, which represents the sound ‹p›. ا The letter ‹alef›, without a madde, it represents the long vowel sound ‹â›, or at the beginning of a word, a short vowel sound (‹a›, ‹e›, or ‹o›). خ The letter ‹xe›, which represents the sound ‹x› (IPA: [x]). ح The letter ‹he›, which represents the sound ‹h›.

The Persian alphabet: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Which sounds have no letters of their own in Persian? Short vowels usually are not written in Persian. Which four letters were added to the Arabic alphabet by Persians to represent sounds which do not exist in Arabic? پ ‹pe›, چ ‹ce›,ژ ‹že› and گ ‹gâf›.

Reading words: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts.

جا ‹jâ›: ج‍  ‍ا آب ‹âb›: آ ب بابا ‹bâbâ›: ب‍ ‍ا ب‍ ‍ا اثاث ‹asâs›: ا ث‍ ‍ا ث

Conversation:

Use the following phrases in a short dialogue:

‹salâm.› ‹tow cetori?› ‹man xubam, mersi›.

In this lesson, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change their shape depending on whether they connect with letters before or after them.

Core vocabulary: ‹salâm›   IPA:  /sæˈlɒːm/ — “peace, hello” ‹cetori›    /t͡ʃeˈtoɾiː/ — “how are (you)” (informal) ‹tow›    /tow/ — “you” (informal) ‹tow cetori?›   — “How are you?” (informal) ‹mersi›    /'meɾsiː/ — “thanks” ‹man›    /mæn/ — “I, me” ‹xubam›    /ˈxuːbæm/ — “(I) am fine/well/good” ‹man xubam.›   — “I’m fine.”

Letters: ا  ‹alef› ب  ‹be› پ  ‹pe› ت  ‹te› ث  ‹se› ج  ‹jim› چ  ‹ce› ح  ‹he› خ  ‹xe›

Bonus words: آب  ‹âb› — “water” بابا  ‹bâbâ› — “dad, papa” پا  ‹pâ› — “foot” تا  ‹tâ› — “until” اثاث  ‹asâs› — “furniture” جا  ‹jâ› — “place, space” حب  ‹hab› — “pill” خاج  ‹xâj› — “cross”

Continue to Lesson 2 ( ۲ ), The alphabet (continued) >>

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In lesson 1, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change their shape depending on whether they connect with letters before or after them.

In this lesson, you will learn more formal greetings, the next eleven Persian letters and syllable stress.

Arash sees Peyman:

Arash :	‹salâm, âqâ-ye peymân. hâl-e šomâ cetor e?› “Hello, Mr. Peyman. How are you?”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Peyman :	‹salâm, âraš. xubam, mersi. šomâ cetorin?› “Hello Arash. I am well, thank you. How are you?”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Arash :	‹man xubam, mersi. xodâ hâfez, âqâ-ye peymân.› “I am well, thanks. Goodbye, Mr. Peyman!”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Peyman :	‹xodâ hâfez.› “Goodbye.”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.

Explanation

Arash and Peyman are using a more formal style of speech typically used to show respect. That is why they use the formal pronoun ‹šomâ›   instead of the informal ‹tow›   used in lesson 1.

Vocabulary

• ‹âqâ›   IPA:  /ˈɒːɣɒː/ — “Mr.”

• ‹hâl›    /ˈhɒːl/ — “health”
• ‹šomâ›    /ʃoˈmɒː/ — “you” (formal, shows speaker's respect for listener)
• ‹cetor›    /t͡ʃeˈtoɾ/ — “how” (the endings ‹e› and ‹-in› will be explained in Lesson 5)
• ‹xodâ hâfez›    /xoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez/ — “May God keep you” (similar to the literal meaning of “goodbye”, i.e. “May God be with you”)

Culture Point: Titles

Titles like آقا  ‹âqâ› (“sir, Mr.”) are used before or after the first name, before or after a last name, or before or after both names. In the dialogue above, it is used before the first name پيمان ‹peyman› . The feminine version of آقا ‹âqâ› (“sir, Mr.”) is آغا ‹âqâ› (“madam, Miss”). The two words are pronounced the same way and are sometimes confused for each other as a misspelling, but آقا is the proper spelling for use with male names and آغا for female names. Family names are a relatively new aspect of Persian culture, having been introduced in Iran in 1912.

Syllable stress

In most Persian words, the stress falls on the last syllable of the stem. For example, in the following words from the dialogue, the stress is on the last syllable: ‹šomâ› ‹cetor› ‹mamnun› ‹xodâ› ‹hâfez› When suffixes and enclitics are added to Persian words and word stems, the stress usually does not move: ‹cetor› + ‹-in› → ‹cetorin› ‹hast› + ‹-am› → ‹hastam› ‹hâl› + ‹-e› → ‹hâl-e› A few prefixes and suffixes are stressed. Those details will be explained in the lessons for those suffixes and prefixes. A limited set of Persian words (interjections, conjunctions and vocatives), however, has the stress on the first syllable: ‹mersi› — First syllable is stressed when used as in the conversation above, "Thanks!" ‹âqâ-ye› — First syllable is stressed when addressing someone by title as in the conversation above, but not when talking with someone else about ‹âqâ-ye› so-and-so. ‹âraš› — First syllable is stressed when addressing Arash as in the conversation above, but the last syllable is stressed ‹âraš› when talking about him. ‹peymân› — First syllable is stressed when addressing Peyman as in the conversation above, but the last syllable is stressed ‹peyman› when talking with someone else about him.

← (read from right to left) ←
د	ذ
‹dâl›	‹zâl›

The next two Persian letters, shown on the right, have the same basic form, but only second one has a dot. Like ا ‹alef›, these two letters do not connect with the letter that follows them.

‌د‌	←	‌د‌‍	‍‌د‌‍	‍‌د‌			←	‌د‌‌د‌‌د‌
‹dâl›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter د  ‹dâl› represents the /d/ sound. It sits on the baseline and is written beginning at the top, ending at the bottom left. Its name sounds like the English word “doll”.

داد	←	د	ا	د			←	داد
‹dâd›		‹d›	‹â›	‹d›

The Persian word داد  ‹dâd› (“(he/she/it) gave”) is shown on the right. As shown, د does not join with the letter that follows it.

‌ذ‌	←	‌ذ‌‍	‍‌ذ‌‍	‍‌ذ‌			←	‌ذ‌‌ذ‌‌ذ‌
‹zâl›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter ذ  ‹zâl› is one of the “foreign” letters in Persian. In Arabic, it represents the consonant [ð], but Persian does not have that sound, so it is pronounced as the closest Persian sound. Thus, ذ ‹zâl› is one of four Persian letters pronounced /z/.

ذات	←	ذ	ا	ت			←	ذات
‹zât›		‹z›	‹â›	‹t›

As shown in ذات  ‹zât› (“essence”) on the right, the letter ذ also does not join with the letter that follows it.

ر	ز	ژ
‹re›	‹ze›	‹že›

The next three Persian letters, also have the same basic form except for the dots. They are all written with a tail that drops well below the baseline. Like ا ‹alef›, د ‹dâl›, and ذ ‹zâl›, these three letters do not connect with the letter that follows them.

‌ر‌	←	‌ر‌‍	‍‌ر‌‍	‍‌ر‌			←	‌ر‌‌ر‌‌ر‌
‹re›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter ر  ‹re› is pronounced as [ɾ], that is, it is produced by striking the tongue against the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth, then expelling air over the middle of the tongue, similar to the r in the Scottish English pronunciation of free or the tt in the American English and Australian English better. Between vowels, it is often trilled like rr in the Spanish word perro. Its name, ‹re›, sounds similar to a quick pronunciation of the English word "ray".

در	←	د	ر				←	در
‹dar›		‹d›	‹r›

As shown below the word در  ‹dar› (“door”), the letter ر does not join with the letter that follows it.

چرا	←	چ‍	‍ر	ا			←	چرا
‹cerâ›		‹c›	‹r›	‹â›

چ followed by ر and ا spells the word چرا  ‹cerâ› (“why”). Recall that ‹e›, like other short vowels, is not usually written in Persian.

‌ز‌	←	‌ز‌‍	‍‌ز‌‍	‍‌ز‌			←	‌ز‌‌ز‌‌ز‌
‹ze›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter ز  ‹ze› is the most common of the four ‹z› letters in Persian.

رز	←	ر	ز				←	رز
‹roz›		‹r›	‹z›

The word رز  ‹roz› (“rose”) is shown on the right. Recall that ‹o› is usually not spelled in Persian words. Like ر, ز does not join with the letter that follows it.

‌ژ‌	←	‌ژ‌‍	‍‌ژ‌‍	‍‌ژ‌			←	‌ژ‌‌ژ‌‌ژ‌
‹že›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter ژ  ‹že› is transcribed in UniPers and here as ‹ž› and is pronounced as [ʒ], i.e. like the "g" in "mirage" or the s in measure and Persian. If you open your Persian-English dictionary at the letter ژ , you can see that it is not used in very many words. It occurs in many loanwords of French origin.

ژخ	←	ژ	خ				←	ژخ
‹žax›		‹ž›	‹x›

As shown in the word ژخ   ‹zhakh› (“wart”), ژ does not join with the letter that follows it.

س	ش
‹sin›	‹šin›

The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but one of them has no dots and the other has three.

س	←	س‍	‍س‍	‍س			←	سسس
‹sin›		connecting forms

The letter س  ‹sin› is the usual Persian letter for /s/. Its name sounds like the English word "seen".

سر	←	س‍	‍ر				←	سر
‹sar›		‹s›	‹r›

As shown in the word سر  ‹sar› (“head”) on the right, the letter س joins with the letter that follows it.

ش	←	ش‍	‍ش‍	‍ش			←	ششش
‹šin›		connecting forms

The letter ش  ‹šin› is pronounced as [ʃ], that is, like "sh" in English. It is transcribed in UniPers as ‹š›, but in other literature it may be transcribed as sh, sch, ʃ, or ş. Its name sounds like the English word “sheen”.

شب	←	ش‍	‍ب				←	شب
‹šab›		‹š›	‹b›

As shown in the word شب  ‹šab› (“evening”), the letter ش joins with the letter that follows it.

ص	ض
‹sâd›	‹zâd›

The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but only one has a dot.

ص	←	ص‍	‍ص‍	‍ص			←	صصص
‹sâd›		connecting forms

The letter ص  ‹sâd› is the third Persian letter for the sound /s/.

صد	←	ص‍	‍د				←	صد
‹sad›		‹s›	‹d›

As shown in the word صد  ‹sad› (“hundred”), on the right, the letter ص joins with the letter that follows it.

ض	←	ض‍	‍ض‍	‍ض			←	ضضض
‹zâd›		connecting forms

The letter ض  ‹zâd› is another Persian letter for the sound /z/.

ضد	←	ض‍	‍د				←	ضد
‹zed›		‹z›	‹d›

As shown in the word ضد  ‹zed› (“opposite”) on the right, the letter ض joins with the letter that follows it.

ط	ظ
‹tâ›	‹zâ›

The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but only one has a dot.

ط	←	ط‍	‍ط‍	‍ط			←	ططط
‹tâ›		connecting forms

The letter ط  ‹tâ› is another Persian letter for the sound /t/.

طاس	←	ط‍	‍ا	س			←	طاس
‹tâs›		‹t›	‹â›	‹s›

As shown in the word طاس   ‹tâs› (“bald”) on the right, the letter ط joins with the letter that follows it.

ظ	←	ظ‍	‍ظ‍	‍ظ			←	ظظظ
‹zâ›		connecting forms

The letter ظ  ‹zâ› is another Persian letter for the sound /z/. It is rare and only appears in words of Arabic origin.

ظ joins with the letter that follows it.

Recognizing letters: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters?

ﺵ The letter ‹šin›, which represents the sound ‹š› (IPA: [ʃ]). ﺩ The letter ‹dâl›, which represents the sound ‹d›. ﺱ The letter ‹sin›, which represents the sound ‹s›. ژ The letter ‹že›, which represents the sound ‹ž› (IPA: [ʒ]). ﻅ The letter ‹zâ›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺫ The letter ‹zâl›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺹ The letter ‹sâd›, which represents the sound ‹s›. ﺽ The letter ‹zâd›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺯ The letter ‹ze›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﻁ The letter ‹tâ›, which represents the sound ‹t›. ﺭ The letter ‹re›, which represents the sound ‹r›.

Reading words: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts.

چرا ‹čerâ›: چ‍ ‍ر ا صبح ‹sobh›: ص‍ ‍ب‍ ‍ح بابا ‹bâbâ›: ب‍ ا‍ ب‍ ‍ا اسم ‹esm›: ا‍ ‍ﺱ‍ ‍م چرا ‹čerâ›: ج‍ ‍ر ا اثاث ‹asâs›: ا‍ ث‍ ا‍ ث توت This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it.

Word recognition.: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

See if you can recognize these familiar words:

ژاكت ژاكت  ‹žâkat› (“jacket”) بازار بازار  ‹bâzâr› (“bazar, marketplace”) بد بد  ‹bad› (“bad (not good)”)

In this lesson, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change their shape depending on whether they connect with letters before or after them.

Core vocabulary: ‹âqâ›   IPA:  /ˈɒːɣɒː/ — “Mr.” ‹hâl›    /ˈhɒːl/ — “health” ‹šomâ›    /ʃoˈmɒː/ — “you” (formal, shows speaker's respect for listener) ‹cetor›    /t͡ʃeˈtoɾ/ — “how” ‹xodâ hâfez›    /xoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez/ — “May God keep you” (similar to “goodbye”, “God be with you”) ‹hâl-e šomâ cetor e?› — "How is your health?" ‹man xub hastam.› — “I am well.” ‹šomâ cetorin?› — “How are you?” (formal)

Letters: د  ‹dâl› ذ  ‹zâl› ر  ‹re› ز  ‹ze› ژ  ‹že› س  ‹sin› ش  ‹šin› ص  ‹sâd› ض  ‹zâd› ط  ‹tâ› ظ  ‹zâ›

Bonus words: داد  ‹dâd› — “(he/she/it) gave” ذات  ‹zât› — “essence” در  ‹dar› — “to, for, at” رز  ‹roz› — “rose” چرا  ‹cerâ› — “why” ژخ  ‹žax› — “wart” سر  ‹sar› — “head” شب  ‹šab› — “evening” صد  ‹sad› — “hundred” ضد  ‹zed› — “opposite” طاس  ‹tâs› — “bald”

Below are all the core vocabulary words from lessons 1 and 2. The far right column shows the words in Persian script. Don't worry if you can't yet read the Persian script:

Continue to Lesson 3 ( ۳ ), The alphabet (continued) >>

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In lessons 1 and 2, you learned some greetings, the first twenty letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters. You also learned syllable stress in Persian words.

In this lesson, you will learn more about casual and formal speech, the next nine Persian letters, and more about short vowels in Persian.

Hassan drops by to see his good friend Mohamad:

Hassan :	‹sobh bexeyr, mamad!› “Good morning, Mamad!”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Mohamad :	‹sobh bexeyr, hasani. hâlet cetor e?› “Good morning, Hassani. How’s your health?”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Hassan :	‹bad nistam, mersi. va to?› “Not bad, thanks. And you?”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.
Mohamad :	‹man xeyli xubam.› “I'm very good.”	Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.

Explanation

Mohamad and Hassan are using a very casual style of speech because they are close friends. “Mamad” is a common nickname for people named Mohamad. “Hassani” is a common nickname for people named “Hassan”.

Vocabulary

• ‹sobh bexeyr›   IPA:  /sobh beˈxejɾ/ — “Good morning”

• ‹hâlet›    /ˈhɒːlet/ — “your health” (informal)
• ‹bad›    /bæd/ — “bad” similar meaning and pronunciation as the English word
• ‹nistam›    /ˈniːstæm/ — “(I) am not”
• ‹va, o›    /væ/, /o/ — “and”
• ‹xeyli›   — “very”

Familiarity and formality

In any language, speakers use various levels of formality in various social settings. For example, an English speaker in a formal setting may use proper grammar, pronounce -ing clearly (i.e., so that "walking" does not sound like "walkin'"), may choose formal or technical words (e.g. sodium chloride rather than salt and child rather than kid), and refrain from saying ain't, but the same person could violate some or all of those rules in an informal setting. In Persian, several speech patterns are used to raise or lower the level of formality. One general rule in the Persian formality system is that referring to an individual with a plural pronoun and/or plural verb indicates respect for that individual. In polite Persian conversations, it is therefore customary to use the plural pronoun شما ‹šomâ› to when speaking with a superior or someone whom one has just met, and to use the singular pronoun تو ‹to› only when talking to friends, family members, and the like.

← (read from right to left) ←
ع	غ
‹’eyn›	‹qeyn›

The next two letters have the same form except only one has a dot over it. The bottom hook in these letters is a tail that only appears in isolated and final position.

ع	←	ع‍	‍ع‍	‍ع			←	ععع
‹’eyn›		connecting forms

The Persian letter ﻉ  ‹’eyn› represents the sound [ʔ], i.e. the glottal stop in the middle of “uh-oh” in English. Traditionally, as well as in UniPers it is transcribed as ‹’›. Its name sounds something like the English word “main”, but beginning with a glottal stop instead of an m. The top loop sits on the baseline. When it is the last (or only) letter in a word, its lower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letter follows it, it has a different form.

رعد	←	ر	ع‍	‍د			←	رعد
‹ra'd›		‹r›	‹’›	‹d›

As shown on the right, the letter ﻉ ‹’eyn› combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. with د in the word رعد  ‹ra’d› (“thunder”).

غ	←	غ‍	‍غ‍	‍غ			←	غغغ
‹qeyn›		connecting forms

The Persian letter غ  ‹qeyn› represents the sound [ɣ], that is, it is produced by placing the back part of the tongue against the soft palate and vibrating the vocal cords while pushing air from the lungs over the middle of the tongue.

The top loop sits on the baseline. When it is the last (or only) letter in a word, its lower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letter follows it, it has a different form.

باغ	←	ب‍	‍ا	غ			←	باغ
‹bâq›		‹b›	‹â›	‹q›

As shown on the right, the letter ﻍ ‹qeyn› is used to spell باغ  ‹bâq› (“garden”).

ف	ق
‹fe›	‹qaf›

The next two letters are shown on the right.

ف	←	ف‍	‍ف‍	‍ف			←	ففف
‹fe›		connecting forms

The Persian letter ف  ‹fe› sits on the baseline. Its name sounds like a quick pronunciation of "Faye".

فردا	←	ف‍	‍ر	د	ا		←	فردا
‹fardâ›		‹f›	‹r›	‹d›	‹â›

As shown on the right, the letter ف ‹fe› combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. as the first letter in the word فردا  ‹fardâ› (“tomorrow”).

ق	←	ق‍	‍ق‍	‍ق			←	ققق
‹qaf›		connecting forms

The Persian letter ق  ‹qaf› is pronounced like غ ‹qeyn›, i.e. like [ɣ]. The small loop sits on the baseline and the tail, when present, hangs below the baseline. Like other Persian letters with tails, the tail is only written when no other letter follows.

آقا	←	آ	ق‍	‍ا			←	آقا
‹âqâ›		‹â›	‹q›	‹â›

As shown on the right, the letter ﻕ ‹qaf› combines with the letter that follows, as in آقا  ‹âqâ› (“Mr., sir, gentleman”).

ک	گ
‹kaf›	‹gaf›

The next two letters are shown on the right.

ک	←	ک‍	‍ک‍	‍ک			←	ککک
‹kaf›		connecting forms

The Persian letter ک  ‹kaf› sits on the baseline. The slash on top ( ^/ ) is written after the connected strokes of the word, along with the dots in any of the word’s dotted letters. Its name sounds a bit like the English word “cough”.

کتاب	←	ک‍	‍ت‍	‍ا	ب		←	کتاب
‹ketâb›		‹k›	‹t›	‹â›	‹b›

As shown on the right, the letter ک combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. as the first letter in the word کتاب  ‹ketâb› (“book”).

گ	←	گ‍	‍گ‍	‍گ			←	گگگ
‹gaf›		connecting forms

The Persian letter گ  ‹gaf› sits on the baseline. The two slashes on top ( ^// ) are written after the connected strokes of the word, along with the dots in any of the word’s dotted letters.

بزرگ	←	ب‍	‍ز	ر	گ		←	بزرگ
‹bozorg›		‹b›	‹z›	‹r›	‹g›

As shown on the right, the letter گ is used in the word بزرگ  ‹bozorg› (“big”).

ل	←	ل‍	‍ل‍	‍ل			←	للل
‹lâm›		connecting forms

The letter ل  ‹lâm› sits on the baseline and connects with the letter that follows it.

گل	←	گ‍	‍ل				←	گل
‹gol›		‹g›	‹l›

ل is the last letter in گل  ‹gol› (“flower”).

م	←	م‍	‍م‍	‍م			←	ممم
‹mim›		connecting forms

The Persian letter م is pronounced as /m/.

اسم	←	ا	س‍	‍م			←	اسم
‹esm›		‹e›	‹s›	‹m›

The Persian word اسم  ‹esm› (“name”), shown on the right, is an example of an initial alef without a “hat” ( ا ) used to indicate that the word begins with a short vowel, in this case, with ‹e›.

ن	←	ن‍	‍ن‍	‍ن			←	ننن
‹nun›		connecting forms

The name of this letter "nun" is pronounced rhyming with "noon" and not "nun". Note the difference between ن nun and ﺏ be, in be the dot is below the curve and in nun it is above. The shape of nun is also narrower than the "be, pe, se, te" group of letters.

نان	←	ن‍	‍ا	ن			←	نان
‹nun›		‹n›	‹â›	‹n›

The Persian word نان  ‹nun› (“bread”) is shown on the right. Note that the written form uses ا ‹â› , indicating that the word should be pronounced as ‹nân›, but in standard Persian, ان ‹ân› is usually pronounced ‹un›, including the word آن  ‹un› (“that”).

Recognizing letters: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters?

ف The letter ‹fe›, which represents the sound ‹f›. ﻝ The letter ‹lâm›, which represents the sound ‹l›. گ The letter ‹gaf›, which represents the sound ‹g›. ق The letter ‹qaf›, which represents the sound ‹q›. ع The letter ‹'eyn›, which represents the sound ‹'›. غ The letter ‹qeyn›, which represents the sound ‹q›. ک The letter ‹kaf›, which represents the sound ‹k›.

Reading words: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts.

بازار بازار  ‹bâzâr› (“bazaar, market”) چادر چادر  ‹câdor› (“chador, covering”) بانک بانک  ‹bânk› (“bank”) چک چک  ‹chek› (“Czech”)

In this lesson, you learned ..., the next seven letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned about syllable stress in Persian words.

Core vocabulary: ‹nistam›   IPA:  /ˈniːstam/ — “(I) am not” ‹sobh bexeyr›    /sobh beˈxejɾ/ — “Good morning” ‹hâlet›    /ˈhɒːlet/ — “your health” (informal) ‹bad›    /bæd/ — “bad” similar meaning and pronunciation as the English word ‹xeyli›   — “very”

Letters: ع  ‹’eyn› غ  ‹qeyn› ف  ‹fe› ق  ‹qaf› ک  ‹kaf› گ  ‹gaf› ﻝ  ‹lâm› م  ‹mim› ن  ‹nun›

Bonus words: رعد  ‹ra’d› — “thunder” باغ  ‹bâq› — “garden” فردا  ‹fardâ› — “tomorrow” آقا  ‹âqâ› — “sir, Mr., gentleman” کتاب  ‹ketâb› — “book” بزرگ  ‹bozorg› — “big”

Continue to Lesson 4 ( ۴ ), The alphabet (continued) >>

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In lessons 1, 2, and 3, you learned some greetings, the first twenty-nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell and pronounce several words with those letters.

In this lesson, you will learn the final three letters (ﻭ ‹vâv›, ﻩ ‹he› and ى ‹ye›), diacritics, and the remaining rules for reading and writing Persian vowels. You will also learn about a Persian tradition called ‹haft sin›.

Reza meets Shirin:

The dialogue below and those in subsequent lessons are shown in both Persian script and UniPers. Some of the Persian letters used below are explained later in this lesson, so read the UniPers transcription for now, then come back to read the Persian script version after completing this lesson.

Shirin:	‹bebaxšid, esm-e šomâ ci-st?› “Excuse me, what is your name?”	ببخشید، اسم شما چی است؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	شيرين:
Reza:	‹esm-e man rezâ-st. va šomâ?› “My name is Reza. And you?”	اسم من رضا است. و شما؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	رضا:
Shirin:	‹esm-e man širin e.› “My name is Shirin.”	اسم من شیرین است. Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	شيرين:
Reza:	‹xošbaxtam, xânom-e širin.› “Nice to meet you, Miss Shirin.”	خوشبختم، خانم شیرین. Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	رضا:

Explanation

Shirin meets Reza.

Vocabulary

• ببخشید  ‹bebaxšid› — “excuse me”

• اسم  ‹esm› — “name”
• چی  ‹ci› — “what”
• خانم  ‹xânom›  /xɒːnom/ — “Miss”
• خوشبختم  ‹xošbaxtam› — “Nice to meet you.”

‌و	←	‌و‍	‍‌و‍	‍‌و			←	‌و‌و‌و
‹vâv›		does not connect with the following letter

The letter و does not connect with the following letter. It is pronounced in different ways, depending on the word: ‹v›, ‹u›, or ‹o›.

آواز	←	آ	و	ا	ز		←	آواز
‹âvâz›		‹â›	‹v›	‹â›	‹z›

The word آواز  ‹âvâz›  /ɒːˈvɒːz/ (“voice, song”) is shown on the right, demonstrating that و ‹vâv› is pronounced as the consonant ‹v› in some words.

چوب	←	چ‍	‍و	ب			←	چوب
‹cub›		‹c›	‹u›	‹b›

The word چوب   ‹cub›  /tʃuːb/ (“wood”) is shown on the right, demonstrating that و ‹vâv› is pronounced as the long vowel ‹u› in some words.

اوت	←	ا	و	ت			←	اوت
‹ut›		‹-›	‹u›	‹t›

The long vowel sound ‹u› may also occur at the beginning of a word, in which case it is spelled with initial او, as demonstrated on the right in اوت  ‹ut› (“August”).

تو	←	ت‍	‍و				←	تو
‹to›		‹t›	‹o›

Some Persian words that were originally pronounced with the long vowel sound ‹u› are pronounced today with the sound ‹o›, but their spelling has not changed. So و sometimes represents the sound ‹o› in Modern Persian:

• تو  ‹to› (“you (informal)”)
• دو  ‹do› (“two”)

ه	←	ه‍	‍ه‍	‍ه			←	ههه
‹he›		connecting forms

The letter ه  ‹he› is often pronounced like ‹h›, just like the Persian letter ح  ‹he›. To distinguish between them, a Persian speaker may specify ح by saying ‹he-ye jimi›, in reference to the similar form shared with ج ‹jim› . Or, because of the traditional arrangements of letters in chronograms, they may be distinguished as حاء حطّی ‹he-ye hotti› for ح and هاء هوّز ‹he-ye havvaz› for ه .

جوجه	←	ج‍	‍و	ج‍	‍ه		←	جوجه
‹jojeh›		‹j›	‹o›	‹j›	‹h›

The connecting forms of ه ‹he› are shown on the right in a typical Persian style. There are several variations, though, so you may run across any of the following:

• راه  ‹râh› (“road, path”)
• جوجه  ‹jojeh› (“chicken”)

At the end of a word, ه often is not pronounced as ‹h›, but just indicates that the word ends in the sound ‹e›: خانه ‹xâne› (“house”)

Duplicate Letters

In Persian there is more than one letter available for some sounds because words imported from Arabic are spelled using their Arabic spelling, but with Persian pronunciation. So, there are three letters for ‹s›, four for ‹z›, two for ‹t›, two for ‹q›, two for ‹h›, and two for ‹'›. They are not all used equally, for example ز is more common than the other ‹z› letters. ‹s›: س ص , e.g. صد  ‹sad› (“hundred”) ث ‹z›: ز ذ ظ ض, e.g. راضی  ‹râzi› (“satisfied”) ‹t›: ت ط, e.g. طور  ‹towr› (“method”) ‹q›: ق, e.g. آقا  ‹âqâ› (“sir”) غ, e.g. آغا  ‹âqâ› (“madam”) ‹h›: ه ح <'>: In Arabic, a symbol known as hamza ( ء ) is used to separate two vowels. This convention only used in Persian for words of Arabic origin. ء, e.g. رأس  ‹râ's› (“head”) ع, e.g. رعد  ‹ra'd› (“thunder”)

ی	←	ی‍	‍ی‍	‍ی			←	ییی
‹ye›		connecting forms

The last Persian letter, ى  ‹ye›, has a few different pronunciations: ‹y›, ‹i›, or ‹ey›. Its isolated and final forms vary significantly from its initial and medial forms: It has a tail and no dots in the isolated and final forms, but it has two dots and no tail in the initial and medial forms,.

یک	←	ی‍	‍ک				←	یک
‹yek›		‹y›	‹k›

In یک  ‹yek› (“one”), ی as the first letter of the word is pronounced ‹y›.

سیب	←	س‍	‍ی‍	‍ب			←	سیب
‹sib›		‹s›	‹i›	‹b›

ایران	←	ا	ی‍	‍ر	ا	ن	←	ایران
‹irân›		‹-›	‹i›	‹r›	‹â›	‹n›

این	←	ا	ی‍	‍ن			←	این
‹in›		‹-›	‹i›	‹n›

As the examples این ‹in› (“this”) and سیب  ‹sib› (“apple”) show on the right, ی as the second letter of the word is pronounced as ‹i›.

فارسی	←	ف‍	‍ا	ر	س‍	‍ی	←	فارسی
‹fârsi›		‹f›	‹â›	‹r›	‹s›	‹i›

In فارسی  ‹fârsi› (“Persian (language)”), ی as the last letter of the word is pronounced as ‹i›.

Vowels at the beginning of words

When a Persian word begins with any vowel sound, it is spelled with an initial ا. If that initial sound is a short vowel, the specific vowel is not indicated, but if it is a long vowel, the corresponding long vowel letter is written ( ا for ‹â›, و for ‹o›, or ی for ‹i›). So, ا is the first letter in Persian words that begin with a long ‹i› sound, such as ایران  ‹irân› (“Iran”) and اين  ‹in› (“this”). Remember from lesson 1, though, the long ‹â› sound at the beginning of a word is not spelled with two ا letters in a row, but with آ, alef madde.

Culture Point: هفت‌سین  ‹haft sin›

Do you remember the letter س ‹sin› from lesson 3? Combined with هفت  ‹haft› (“seven”) from this lesson makes an important Iranian New Year tradition of هفت‌سین  ‹haft sin› (“seven Ss”). During the Persian New Year ‹nowruz›, the سفره  ‹sofreh› (“tablecloth”) is arranged with seven items beginning with the letter س ‹s›. That might include: ‹sabzeh› ‹sib› ‹sir› ‹samanu› ‹senjed› ‹serkeh› ‹somâk› Originally called هفت چین  ‹haft cin›

Which of the following items would go on your traditional هفت سین  ‹haft sin› table? (Clue: Sabzeh, Sib, Sir, Samanu, Senjed, Serke and Somâq): (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

سیب زمینی sib zamini (potato)- no سیب sib (apple)- yes سگ sag (dog)- no ستاره setareh (star)- no سير sir (garlic)- yes سركه serke (vinegar)- yes سوسک‌ (cockroach)- no سبزه sabzeh (wheat, barley or lentil sprouts)- yes سیگار sigar (cigar)- no سنگ sang (stone)- no سماق somâq (sumac berries)- yes سنجد senjed (senjed, the dried fruit of the oleaster tree )- yes سمنو samanu (wheat pudding)- yes

Certain combinations of letters are written in a combined form known as a ligature.

لا	←	ل‍	‍ا				←	لا
‹lâ›		‹l›	‹â›

When ل ‹lâm› is followed by ا ‹alef› , they combine to form the ligature لا ‹lâ› , as shown on the right.

سلام	←	س‍	‍ل‍	‍ا	م		←	سلام
‹salâm›		‹s›	‹l›	‹â›	‹m›

The lâm-alef ligature appears in the greeting سلام ‹salâm› .

ۀ	←	ه‌	‌ی				←	ۀ
‹he-ye›		‹he›	‹ye›

In an ezafe construction after a word ending in ‹he›, the ی is sometimes written in a small form over the ه, i.e. as ۀ ‹he-ye› . It looks like a hamze, and is considered such by some, but others consider this a ligature of ه‌ی.

Like the accent mark over the e in café, Persian diacritics (symbols written above or below the letters) are not actual letters in the Persian alphabet.

• ّ ‹tašdid› (“strengthening”)

Tashdid is a mark that looks like a small, curly w, placed above a consonant to double or strengthen it. It may be omitted, but is used in many situations for clarity.

The diacritic ‹hamze›, isolated and over ‹he›:
ء	هٔ
‹’›, ‹ye› (help·info)

The symbol on the right is called همزه ‹hamze› . It is never at the beginning of a word and has different pronunciations, depending on whether it is in a native Persian word or one borrowed from Arabic.

خانهٔ	←	خ	ا	ن	هٔ		←	خانهٔ
‹xuneye›		‹x›	‹â›	‹n›	‹e-ye›

In Persian words, hamze may be written over silent final ‹he› ( هٔ ), as shown on the right, to represent the sound ‹ye› in a construction called ‹ezâfe› that will be explained in Lesson 6. The hamze for this purpose is usually left unwritten and is only added for extra clarity. Rarely, it is used in the same way with words ending in ی (that is, ئ).

Historically		Modern
جملهٔ		جمله‌ای ‹jomlei› (“a sentence”)
قهوهٔ رنگ		قهوه‌ای رنگ ‹qahvei rang› (“brown”)
خستهٔ		خسته‌ای ‹xaste i› (“you are tired”)
شیمیائی		شیمیایی ‹šimiāi› (“chemical”)
بگوئید		بگویید ‹beguid› (“say”)

Historically, Persian words with the sounds ‹âi› or ‹ui› were written with a hamze (that is, with ائی or وئی) to show that the vowel sounds were separate, but today such words are usually written with a doubled ی (that is, ‹âi› is written as ایی and ‹ui› as ویی) instead. Similarly, words ending with ‹ei› were once written as هٔ, but today that ending is written as ه‌ای.

ژوئن	←	ژ	و	ئ‍	‍ن		←	ژوئن
‹žuan›		‹ž›	‹u›	‹-›	‹n›

As shown on the right, ئـ is used in some foreign words, like ژوئن  ‹žuan› (“June”) (from French juin), to show a transition between vowels.

أ ‹a’›/‹’a›	متأسف ‹mota’assef› (“sorry”) تأسیس ‹ta’sis› (“foundation”)
ؤ ‹o’›	مؤمن ‹mo’men› (“believer”) مسئول ‹mas’ul› (“responsible”)
ئو ‹’u›, ئـ ‹’›	مسأله\مسئله ‹mas’ale› (“problem”)

In words taken from Arabic, like the ones on the right, hamze may appear anywhere after the first letter of a word to represent a glottal stop [ʔ], i.e. the same ‹’› sound that ع ‹’eyn› represents. Usually, though, أ is written without the hamze, e.g. متاسف ‹mota’assef› , مساله ‹masale› .

جزء	←	ج‍	‍زء				←	جزء
‹joz›		‹j›	‹z›

At the end of an Arabic word, ء is usually silent and written by itself, e.g. جزء ‹joz› (“part”).

Arabic loanwords ending with a final اء are sometimes still spelled that way, but the final hamze in such words is silent, so the hamze is usually omitted. For example, ابتداء ‹ebtedâ› (“beginning”) is now usually written ابتدا .

In children's books and some other learning resources, short vowel are marked using the following symbols:

• َ , called زَبَر ‹zabar› (“above”) or فتحه‎‎  ‹fatha› (“opening”), is used to represent short ‹a›. E.g. دَر  ‹dar› (“door, at”)
• ِ , called زير ‹zir› (“below”) or كَسره  ‹kasra› (“breaking”), is used to represent ‹e›.
• ُ , called پيش ‹piš› (“before”) or ضَمّه  ‹zamah›, is used to represent ‹o›.

The short vowel diacritics may be doubled at the end of an Arabic loanword to indicate that the vowel is followed by ‹-n›, known as تنوين ‹tanvin› (“nunation”) (also, تنوين نصب ‹tanvin nasb› (“marking a consonant with tanvin”)). In Arabic, the signs indicate grammatical case endings: ـً ‹-un› (nominative), ـٍ ‹-en› (accusative), and ـٌ ‹-an› (genitive).

A related mark is سُكون ‹sokun› , also called جَزْم ‹jazm› (“amputation”). It is used to indicate the absence of a vowel and is written as a superscripted o: ْ

Recognizing letters: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters?

ﻭ The letter ‹vâv›, which represents the consonant ‹v›, the long vowel ‹u›, or the short vowel ‹o›. ى The letter ‹ye›, which represents the long vowel ‹i› or ‹ay› in a dipthong, e.g. ‹ye›, ‹ay›, ‹ey›, .... ن The letter ‹nun›, which represents the sound ‹n›. ﻩ The letter ‹he›, which represents the consonant ‹h› or the short vowel ‹e›. م The letter ‹mim›, which represents the sound ‹m›.

Non-connecting letters.

Which seven Persian letters do not join with the letter that follows? ا ‹alef›, ﺩ ‹dâl›, ﺫ ‹zâl›, ﺭ ‹re›, ﺯ ‹ze›, ژ ‹že› and ﻭ ‹vâv›.

Reading words: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts.

ما ‹mâ›: م‍  ‍ا ماه ‹mâh›: م‍  ‍ا ه نه ‹nah›: ن‍  ‍ه هفت ‹haft›: ه‍  ‍ف‍ ‍ت طناب ‹tanâb›: ط‍ ‍ن‍ ‍ا ب اسم ‹esm›: ا س‍ ‍م

The Persian script: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Determine which of these words has unwritten vowels (vowels not included in the spelling of the word).

ما No, the one vowel ‹â› is written, like all long vowels in Persian. ماه No, the one vowel ‹â› is written, like all long vowels in Persian. نه Yes, نه  ‹nah› (“not”) has an unwritten short vowel: ‹a›. چرا Yes, چرا  ‹cerâ› (“why”) has a written long vowel ‹â› and an unwritten short vowel ‹e›. هفت Yes, هفت  ‹haft› (“seven”) has an unwritten short vowel: ‹a›. آب No, the one vowel ‹â› is written, like all long vowels in Persian. بابا No, the vowel ‹â› is written, like all long vowels in Persian. اسم No, the vowel ‹â› is written, like all long vowels in Persian. چرا This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it. اثاث Yes, the vowel ‹â› in the middle of the word is written, but the short vowel ‹e› at the beginning of the word is unwritten. توت This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it.

Word recognition: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

See if you can recognize these familiar words.

شاه شاه  ‹šâh› (“shah, king”) افغانستان افغانستان  ‹afqânestân› (“Afghanistan”) زعفران زعفران  ‹za'ferân› (“saffron”) پايجامه پايجامه  ‹payjâma› (“pajamas”) مادر مادر  ‹mâdar› (“mother”)

In this lesson, you learned the final letters of the Persian Alphabet and some diacritics. You also learned about a Persian tradition called ‹haft sin›.

Congratulations! You now know how to read, write, and pronounce Persian words!

Core vocabulary: ‹bebaxšin›   — “excuse me” ‹esm›   — “name” ‹ci›   — “what” ‹xânom›    /xɒːnom/ — “Miss”

Letters: و  ‹vâv› ه  ‹he› ی  ‹ye› Diacritics and ligatures: لا ‹lâ› (‹lâm› + ‹alef›) ۀ ‹he ye› اً ‹tanvin nasb› ّ ‹tašdid› ء ‹hamze› َ ‹fatha› ِ ‹kasra› ُ ‹zamma›

Bonus words: آواز  ‹âvâz› — “voice, song” چوب  ‹cub› — “wood” اوت  ‹ut› — “August” تو  ‹to› — “you” (informal) جوجه  ‹jojeh› — “chicken” یک  ‹yek› — “one” سیب  ‹sib› — “apple” فارسی  ‹fârsi› — “Persian” ايران  ‹irân› — “Iran” هفت  ‹haft› — “seven” هفت‌سین  ‹haft sin› — “seven Ss” (Iranian New Year tradition) سیر  ‹sir› — “garlic” سنجد  ‹senjed› — “senjed” (the dried fruit of the oleaster tree) سمنو  ‹samanu› — “samanu” (a kind of wheat pudding)

Continue to Lesson 5 ( ۵ ), Introduction to Verbs >>

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In lessons 1 through 4, you learned some greetings and how to read, write, and pronounce Persian words.

In this lesson, you will learn about Persian verbs: their agreement with the subject, their location in a sentence, and how to conjugate the most common one, بودن  ‹budan› (“to be”), in the simple present tense.

Reza and Shirin have just met:

Shirin:	‹xošvaqtam, âqâ rezâ. šomâ kojâi hastid? › “Nice to meet you, Reza. Where are you from?”	خوشوقتم، آقا رضا. شما کجایی هستید؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	شيرين:
Reza:	‹man irâniyam. az mašhad hastam. šomâ cetor?› “I’m Iranian. I’m from Mashhad. How about you?”	من ایرانیم. از مشهد هستم. شما چطور؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	رضا:
Shirin:	‹man az tehrân hastam.› “I’m from Tehran.”	من از تهران هستم. Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	شيرين:
Reza:	‹va âqâ-ye esmit? engelisi-st?› “And Mr. Smith? Is he English?”	و آقای اسمیت؟ انگلیسی است؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	رضا:
Shirin:	‹xeyr, u âmrikâiy-st.› “No, he’s American.”	خیر، او آمریکایی است. Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.	شيرين:
If you intend to help complete this dialogue, please see #Exercises and Persian/Planning#Dialogue for suggestions that emphasize this lesson's topic: simple present tense forms of بودن .

Explanation

Shirin and Reza have just met.

While "âqâ" is an honorific used in Persian before Male given names, it is not translated to "Mr." in English.

Vocabulary

• کجایی  ‹kojâi› — “from where?”

• ایرانیم  ‹irâniyam› — “(I) am Iranian.”
• او  ‹u›  /uː/ — “he, she, it”
• انگلیسی  ‹engelisiy› — “English”
• خیر  ‹xeyr› — “no”
• آمریکایی  ‹âmrikâiy› — “American”
• ما  ‹mâ›  /mɒː/ — “we, us”
• آنها  ‹ânhâ›  /ɒːnˈhɒː/ — “they”

In both English and Persian, sentences have subjects and verbs. In a sentence that expresses an action, the subject is usually the main actor or agent. In a sentence that makes a comment about a topic, the subject is usually that topic. A verb is a word like talk that expresses an action, or one like is that links the subject to the words that comment about it:

Sentence	Subject	Verb
“I am a student.”	“I”	“am”
“Did you complete the assignment?”	“you”	“Did complete”
“Study this grammar topic!”	“(you)”[1]	“Study”

Each sentence above, like all complete sentences in English and Persian, has a subject and a verb, even if the subject is only implied. Subjects have grammatical “number” and “person”:

• First, second, or third person: indicates whether the speaker or addressee is included
• Singular or plural number: indicates how many people or things are included ^[2]

Grammatical person and number may be represented by the following pronouns:

Grammatical number and person	Number
	Singular (one)	Plural (more than one)[2]
First person (the speaker)	من	ما
	‹man›	‹mâ›
	“I”	“we”
Second person (the addressee)	تو	شما
	‹to›	‹šomâ›
	“you”	“you”
Third person (someone else)	او	آنها
	‹u›	‹ânhâ›
	“he/she/it”	“they”

بودن ‹budan› (“to be”) Simple present tense, “full” form Stem: هست‍ ‹hast-›	Number
	Singular	Plural
First person	(من) هستم	(ما) هستیم
	(‹man›) ‹hastam›	(‹mâ›) ‹hastim›
	“(I) am”	“(we) are”
Second person	(تو) هستی	(شما) هستید
	(‹to›) ‹hasti›	(‹šomâ›) ‹hastin›[3]
	“(you) are”	“(you) are”
Third person	(او) هست	(آنها) هستند
	(‹u›) ‹hast›	(‹ânhâ›) ‹hastan›[3]
	“(he/she/it) is”	“(they) are”

Persian verbs are conjugated by adding suffixes, similar to the way English verbs like talk take the suffixes -s, -ed, and -ing to make verb forms like talks , talked , and talking . In Persian, though, the verb’s suffix clearly indicates its grammatical person and number. For example, the table on the right shows the simple present tense “full” forms of the Persian verb بودن  ‹budan› (“to be”), consisting of the stem هست‍ ‹hast-› and various suffixes to indicate the person and number:

Conjugation:

Say each of the personal pronouns from the table above. While saying each one, imagine and point to the people to whom the pronoun might refer. For example, while saying ما  ‹mâ› (“we, us”), imagine another person next to you and point to that person and yourself.

Repeat the personal pronouns as above, but after each one, say the corresponding simple present tense full forms of بودن ‹budan› from the table above. For example, when saying شما  ‹šomâ› (“you (plural)”), point to two imaginary addressees and then say هستید ‹hastin› .[3]

The full simple present tense of بودن ‹budan› appeared as هستید ‹hastin› and هستم ‹hastam› in the first and third lines of the dialogue above.

بودن ‹budan› also appears in abbreviated form above, once as the word است ‹e› ^[3] and once as the suffix ‍م ‹-am› following ایرانی ‹irâniy› (“Iranian”). That's because the verb بودن ‹budan› has both a full form using the stem هست‍ ‹hast-› and a short form. The long form is a bit more formal in tone and often carries the sense of “exists”.

The short form is used more often than the long form, especially in casual speech. As shown below, most of the short form is written as suffixes (technically clitics since they attach to phrases rather than just words) like ‍ید ‹-in› ^[3] in چطورید ‹cetorin› (“how are you”), but the third person singular form is written as a separate word: است ‹e› (“is”)^[3]:

بودن ‹budan› (“to be”) Simple present tense, short form	Number
	Singular	Plural
First person	... + ‍م	... + ‍یم
	‹...am›	‹...im›
	“(I) am”	“(we) are”
Second person	... + ‍ی	... + ‍ید
	‹...i›	‹...id›, ‹...in›[3]
	“(you) are”	“(you) are”
Third person	است	... + ‍ند
	‹ast›, ‹...e›, ‹...s› [3]	‹...+an›[3]
	“(he/she/it) is”	“(they) are”

است ‹ast› can be used with singular or plural subjects to express existence, like "there is" or "there are" in English.

For plural “animate” subjects (one that refers to multiple people or to a thing that might be thought to behave figuratively like multiple people), existence can also be expressed with the plural form هستند ‹hastan› .

Some sources disagree with this and say است is only used as a copula, never used for existence.

Colloquially, هستند ‹hastand› may be a suffix pronounced ‹an› after consonant or ‹n› after vowel.

As the previous dialogues have shown, the verb usually comes last in a simple Persian sentence. For example, the last word in each Persian sentence below is a form of the verb بودن  ‹budan› (“to be”):

		“I am fine.”
	من خوب هستم.
	من	خوب	هستم
←	‹man›	‹xub›	‹hastam›
←	“I”	“fine”	“am”

		“You are a student.”
	تو دانشجو هستی.
	تو	دانشجو	هستی
←	‹to›	‹danešju›	‹hasti›
←	“you”	“student”	“are”

		“The university is big.”
	دانشگاه بزرگ است.
	دانشگاه	بزرگ	است
←	‹dânešgâh›	‹bozorg›	‹e›
←	“university”	“big”	“is”

Grammatically, subjects are optional in Persian. Since the suffix of a conjugated verb clearly indicates the number and person of the subject, subject pronouns are often omitted from Persian sentences, except when used for emphasis.

Reading Persian sentences: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Translate the following Persian sentences into English:

او آرش است. He is Arash. آرش خوش است. Arash is happy. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it.

Creating Persian sentences: (To check your answers, click “[show ▼]”.)

Fill in the blanks. [...] کجاست؟ ‹Where is [...]?› Fill in the blank with someone's name. شما [...] هستید؟ ‹šomâ [...] hastin?› (“Are you a [...]?”) Fill in the blank with an occupation (e.g. دکتز ‹doktor› (“doctor”)), a role (e.g. دانشجو ‹dânešju› (“student”)), or a nationality (e.g. ایرانی ‹irâni› (“Iranian”)). نه، من [...]م. ‹nah, man [...]am.› (“No, I am a [...].”) Fill in the blank with an occupation. شما کجایی هستید؟ ‹šomâ kojey hastin?› (“Where are you from?”) من آمریکاییم. ‹man âmrikâiyam.› (“I'm American.”) من ایرانیم. شما چطور؟ ‹man irâniam. šomâ cetor?› (“I'm Iranian. How about you?”) ببخشید، شما کجایی هستد؟ to ask about someone's nationality من انگلیسیم. ‹man engelisiam.› (“I'm English.”) or other nationalities سما هم انگلیسی هستین؟ ‹šomâm engelisi hastin?› (“Are you also English?”) نه، من انگلیسی نیستم. آمریکاییم. ‹nah, man engelisi nistam. âmrikâiyam.›

Translate the following English sentences into Persian:

He is Hassan. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it. Hassan is my friend. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it. This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it.

In this lesson, you learned how to conjugate two sets of simple present tense forms of the Persian verb بودن  ‹budan› (“to be”)....

Core vocabulary: کجایی  ‹kojâi› — “from where?” ایرانیم  ‹irâniyam› — “(I) am Iranian.” او  ‹u›  /uː/ — “he, she, it” آمریکایی  ‹âmrikâiy› — “American” ما  ‹mâ›  /mɒː/ — “we, us” آنها  ‹ânhâ›  /ɒːnˈhɒː/ — “they”

...s: ابپثت  ‹abepesete› — “lorem ipsum dolor...”

... words: ابپثت  ‹abepesete› — “lorem ipsum dolor...”

1. ↑ The word “you” does not usually appear in English commands, but the grammatical subject “you” is implied.
2. ↑ ^{a b} The grammatical number may be different from the semantic number. E.g., in “These scissors are dull”, the subject and verb are grammatically plural but semantically indicate a single item. In Persian, there are similar constructions, and both plural pronouns and plural verb forms are often used as a polite version of the singular. More about this will be explained in later lessons.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Note: The Persian script here uses formal spelling, but the transcriptions in angle brackets shows typical colloquial pronunciation. In colloquial speech, for example, the ending ‍ید ‹-id› is often pronounced as ‹-in› and the word است ‹ast› (“is”) is pronounced as ‹e› after a consonant or as ‹s› after a vowel. Other differences between spoken and written Persian will be given in the lessons that follow.

Continue to Lesson 6 ( ۶ ), Noun phrases, ezâfe >>

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Naskh script (sometimes written as "Nasx") is a commonly used script of the Arabic alphabet used in printed Persian. Due to its simple and clear style, most modern fonts used in Persian word processing are based on the Naskh script; therefore it is the style you will see used in books. It is also the style of writing taught to children.

Nastaliq (sometimes written as nastalique, nastaleeq or nastaligh) is a flowing and stylized form of the Arabic alphabet which originated in then Persia (modern Iran) during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its origins lay in a combination of the Naskh and Ta'liq styles, hence the name "nastaliq". Since the Mughals ruled over Northern India at that time, a simplified version of nastaliq is still used for writing Urdu.

Shekasteh is a form of handwritten Persian, parts of which are based upon the Nastiliq form. Literally meaning "broken", it is difficult to read for the beginner so some time must be spent in learning to read this script.

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Modern Persian

• Iraj Bashiri's Persian For Beginners
• Virtual Persian
• Grammaire Iranien PDF Grammaire Iranien (in French)

Old Persian

• Iranian Studies at Harvard University

• Aryanpour's Persian-English and English-Persian online dictionary
• A comprehensive Persian-English dictionary Francis Steingass's dictionary online, includes a guide to pronunciation.

• Persian verb conjugator

• Persian Media

• BBC Persian
• Radio France International
• NHK Persian (Japan)
• [1]

Europe

• University of Manchester
• University of Cambridge

East Asia

• Peking University School of Foreign Languages北京大學外國語學院東方語言文化係 (in Chinese)
• Shanghai Foreign Languages Univeristy上海外國語大學 東方語學院 (in Chinese)

Middle East

America

• mylanguageexchange.com Find a Persian-speaking language exchange partner

• Iranian Heritage Foundation UK
• British Institute of Persian Studies UK
• American Institue of Iranian Studies UK
• Institut für Iranistik Institute for Iranian Studies, Austria

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• Abrahams, Simin. Modern Persian: A Course-Book, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005. ISBN 0700713271
• Amuzegar, Hooshang. 'How to Speak Read and Write Persian, Ibex Publishers, 2nd edition, 2003. ISBN 0936347058
• Farzad, Narguess.Teach Yourself Modern Persian, McGraw-Hill, 2004. ISBN 007141908X
• Thackston, W.M. An Introduction to Persian, Ibex Publishers, 3rd revised sub-edition, 2003. ISBN 0936347295

• Lambton, Ann K.S. Persian Grammar, Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521091241
• Mace, John. Persian Grammar: For Reference and Revision, RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. ISBN 0700716955

• Aryanpur-Kashani, Abbas. The Combined New Persian-English & English-Persian Dictionary, Mazda Publishers, 1986. ISBN 0939214288
• Dehghani, Yavar. Persian-English English-Persian Learner's Dictionary, Ibex Publishers, 2006. ISBN 1588140342

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You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

1. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
2. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
3. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.
4. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
5. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
6. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
7. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.
8. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
9. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.
10. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.
11. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
12. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
13. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be included in the Modified version.
14. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
15. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the same material does not give you any rights to use it.

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.

"Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site" (or "MMC Site") means any World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration" (or "MMC") contained in the site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.

"CC-BY-SA" means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license published by that same organization.

"Incorporate" means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part of another Document.

An MMC is "eligible for relicensing" if it is licensed under this License, and if all works that were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.

The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document

under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU

Free Documentation License".

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:

with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the

Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.