1.1 Persian Alphabet Overview
Instructions Overview:
There are some basic instructions that you should know about Persian alphabets:
Persian script is written from right to left. There are 32 letters and 6 vowels in the Persian language.
There are no concepts of capital or lowercase letters in the Persian language, instead, base on the position of each letter in the beginning, middle or end of the word, the shape of letter changes.
Some of the Alphabet letters connect to the next letter in the word and some of the alphabet letters don’t connect to the other letters in the word. We call them connector or non-connector. You will learn more about this when we describe each letter.
Let’s begin with vowels:
Persian Vowels:
Persian has 6 vowels: 3 short vowels and 3 long vowels.
| Name | Letter | Sound | Example: Sound in English | Example in Persian |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aa | آ | A | Until / Water | آب |
| ee | ای | EE / EA | Eagle / | ایران |
| u | او | OO / U | Rule | روز |
| Zebar | اَ | a | Cat | اَبر |
| Zir | اِ | e | Egg | پِدر |
| Pish | اُ | o | For | گُل |
Persian Alphabet in Order:
| English word | Sound | Name | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | aa | alef | ا |
| Bee | /b/ | be | ب |
| Pam | /p/ | pe | پ |
| Tom | /t/ | te | ت |
| Sam | /s/ | se | ث |
| Jim | /J/ | jim | ج |
| Chair | /ch/ | che | چ |
| Ham | /h/ | he ( jimi) | ح |
| – | kh/ | khe | خ |
| Dan | /d/ | dal | د |
| Zoo | /z/ | zal | ذ |
| Run | /r/ | re | ر |
| Zoo | /z/ | ze | ز |
| Garage | /zhe/ | zhe | ژ |
| Sam | /s/ | sin | س |
| Shane | /sh/ | shin | ش |
| Sam | /s/ | sad | ص |
| Zoo | /z/ | zad | ض |
| Tom | /t/ | ta | ط |
| Zoo | /z/ | za | ظ |
| UH | – | eyn | ع |
| – | /gh/ | ghein | غ |
| Frank | /f/ | fe | ف |
| – | /gh/ | ghaf | ق |
| Kite | /k/ | kaf | ک |
| Gang | /g/ | gaf | گ |
| Lab | /l/ | lam | ل |
| Man | /m/ | mim | م |
| No | /n/ | nun | ن |
| Video | /v/ | vav | و |
| Hot | /h/ | he ( do cheshm) | ه |
| Yellow | /y/ | ye | ی |
As you see in the Alphabet table of Persian language, there are a few letters that represent more than one sound and there are some similar sounds that represent multiple letters:
Table 1: One sound, Multiple letters
| One Sound | Multiple Letter in Persian |
|---|---|
| /h/ | ح – ه |
| /s/ | ث – س – ص |
| /t/ | ت – ط |
| /gh/ | ق – غ |
| /z/ | ظ – ض – ذ – ز |
Table 2: One letter, Multiple sounds
| One Letter in Persian | Multiple Sounds |
|---|---|
| و | /ow/ ( دولت) – /o/ ( دو ) – /u/ (روز) – /v/ ( وام) |
| ه | /e/ (خانه) – /h/ (هوا) |
| ی | /ey/ (نِی) – /i/میز) ا) – / y/ (یِِک) |
For additional information and Grammatical points regarding alphabets and vowels, I would recommend following this website:
Persian Letters and Pronunciation
Activity 1:
Key Takeaways
- You can recognize Persian alphabets.
- You can read the alphabet in order.
- You can talk about basic structure of the alphabet.
!سپاس
