🇮🇷 الفبای فارسی

The Persian alphabet

Persian (Farsi) is written in a 32-letter version of the Arabic alphabet, read from right to left. Persian took over all 28 Arabic letters and added four for sounds Arabic lacks: پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh) and گ (g). As in Arabic, letters join together and change shape depending on their position in a word, and there are no capital letters.

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Letters 32

ā / a, e, o · alef

long ā, like the vowel in British 'all'; at the start of a word it carries a, e or o [ɒː, ʔ] ا ا ـا ـا اسب asb — horse Does not join to the following letter. آ (alef with madda) at the start of a word is ā: آب āb "water".

b · be

b in 'boy' [b] ب بـ ـبـ ـب برادر barādar — brother One dot below.

p · pe

p in 'pen' [p] پ پـ ـپـ ـپ پدر pedar — father Persian addition to the Arabic alphabet: three dots below.

t · te

t in 'top' [t] ت تـ ـتـ ـت تابستان tābestān — summer Two dots above.

s · se

s in 'sun' [s] ث ثـ ـثـ ـث ثانیه sāniye — second (of time) Found only in Arabic loanwords; sounds like س.

j · jim

j in 'jam' [d͡ʒ] ج جـ ـجـ ـج جوان javān — young One dot below the bowl.

ch · che

ch in 'chair' [t͡ʃ] چ چـ ـچـ ـچ چای chāy — tea Persian addition: three dots below the bowl.

h · he (he-ye jimi)

h in 'hat' [h] ح حـ ـحـ ـح حال hāl — state; mood Found in Arabic loanwords; sounds the same as ه in Persian.

kh · khe

ch in Scottish 'loch' or German 'Bach' [x] خ خـ ـخـ ـخ خانه khāne — house One dot above the bowl.

d · dāl

d in 'dog' [d] د د ـد ـد دست dast — hand Does not join to the following letter.

z · zāl

z in 'zoo' [z] ذ ذ ـذ ـذ ذرت zorrat — corn Does not join to the following letter. Arabic loanwords only.

r · re

tapped r, as in Spanish 'pero' [ɾ] ر ر ـر ـر روز ruz — day Does not join to the following letter.

z · ze

z in 'zoo' [z] ز ز ـز ـز زن zan — woman; wife Does not join to the following letter. The most common way to write z.

zh · zhe

s in 'measure' [ʒ] ژ ژ ـژ ـژ ژاپن zhāpon — Japan Persian addition: like ز with three dots. Does not join to the following letter.

s · sin

s in 'sun' [s] س سـ ـسـ ـس سلام salām — hello The most common way to write s.

sh · shin

sh in 'shop' [ʃ] ش شـ ـشـ ـش شب shab — night Like س with three dots above.

s · sād

s in 'sun' [s] ص صـ ـصـ ـص صبح sobh — morning Arabic loanwords; sounds like س.

z · zād

z in 'zoo' [z] ض ضـ ـضـ ـض ضعیف za'if — weak Arabic loanwords; sounds like ز.

t · tā

t in 'top' [t] ط طـ ـطـ ـط طلا talā — gold Arabic loanwords; sounds like ت.

z · zā

z in 'zoo' [z] ظ ظـ ـظـ ـظ ظهر zohr — noon Arabic loanwords; sounds like ز.

' · eyn

a glottal stop (the catch in "uh-oh"), often just a pause or a lengthened vowel [ʔ] ع عـ ـعـ ـع عشق eshq — love Arabic loanwords. Not the deep throat sound of Arabic.

gh · gheyn

a gargled sound like the French r in "Paris" [ɣ ~ ɢ] غ غـ ـغـ ـغ غذا ghazā — food In standard Iranian Persian it sounds the same as ق.

f · fe

f in 'fun' [f] ف فـ ـفـ ـف فردا fardā — tomorrow One dot above.

q / gh · qāf

same gargled sound as غ in Iranian Persian [ɢ ~ ɣ] ق قـ ـقـ ـق قند qand — sugar cube Often romanised gh: qand / ghand.

k · kāf

k in 'kite' [k] ک کـ ـکـ ـک کتاب ketāb — book Persian ک has no zigzag mark inside, unlike Arabic ك.

g · gāf

hard g in 'go' [ɡ] گ گـ ـگـ ـگ گل gol — flower Persian addition: ک with an extra stroke on top.

l · lām

l in 'look' [l] ل لـ ـلـ ـل لب lab — lip ل + ا combine into the ligature لا.

m · mim

m in 'moon' [m] م مـ ـمـ ـم مادر mādar — mother Small round loop.

n · nun

n in 'no' [n] ن نـ ـنـ ـن نان nān — bread One dot above.

v / u / o · vāv

v in 'van'; also the vowel u as in 'food' or o [v, u, o] و و ـو ـو ورزش varzesh — sport Does not join to the following letter. و as a word means "and" (pronounced o or va).

h / e · he (he-ye do-cheshm)

h in 'hat'; at the end of a word often the vowel e [h, e] ه هـ ـهـ ـه هوا havā — air; weather Word-final ه after a consonant is usually just the vowel e: خانه khāne.

y / i · ye

y in 'yes'; also the vowel i as in 'see' [j, i] ی یـ ـیـ ـی یک yek — one Persian ی has no dots in its isolated and final forms.

If you already read Arabic, you can read Persian letters in an afternoon — but the sounds are simpler: Persian has no emphatic or deep throat consonants, so several letters share a sound (s is written ث س ص, z is written ذ ز ض ظ, t is ت ط, h is ح ه). The challenge is spelling, not pronunciation: you have to learn which letter each word uses. Short vowels (a, e, o) are normally not written, so focus on high-frequency words and the seven letters that don't join to the next one.

How to learn it fast

Learn the four Persian-only letters first as pairs with their Arabic look-alikes: ب/پ, ج/چ, ز/ژ, ک/گ — the only difference is the extra dots or stroke.
Seven letters never join to the following letter: ا د ذ ر ز ژ و. Use these breaks to split words into readable chunks.
Group the same-sound letters: s = ث س ص, z = ذ ز ض ظ, t = ت ط, h = ح ه, gh = غ ق. The less common spellings (ث ص ذ ض ظ ط ح ع) almost always mark Arabic loanwords.
Short vowels a, e, o are usually not written; long vowels are: ā = ا, i = ی, u = و. A word-final ه after a consonant usually just spells e (خانه khāne "house").
Watch for the zero-width non-joiner (nim-fāsele): prefixes and suffixes like می‌ and ها stay visually separate without a full space, as in می‌خواهم "I want" and کتاب‌ها "books".

Did you know?

Persian added four letters to the Arabic alphabet — پ چ ژ گ — to write sounds that Arabic does not have.
Persian spoken in Tajikistan (Tajik) is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, while Dari in Afghanistan uses the same Persian-Arabic script as Iran.
Persian uses its own forms of the Eastern Arabic digits: ۴ ۵ ۶ look different from Arabic ٤ ٥ ٦.
Persian has no grammatical gender — the same pronoun او means both "he" and "she".
Persian calligraphy developed the hanging Nastaʿlīq style, still the standard for poetry and decorative writing in Iran.

Quick quiz: which sound is this?

Questions

How many letters are in the Persian alphabet?

32. It is written right to left.

How long does it take to learn the Persian alphabet?

Most learners can recognise every letter within one to two weeks of short daily practice, and read slowly but accurately within a month. Reading real text — even very simple text — is what makes the letters automatic.

What's the best way to learn it?

Learn the four Persian-only letters first as pairs with their Arabic look-alikes: ب/پ, ج/چ, ز/ژ, ک/گ — the only difference is the extra dots or stroke. Seven letters never join to the following letter: ا د ذ ر ز ژ و. Use these breaks to split words into readable chunks. Group the same-sound letters: s = ث س ص, z = ذ ز ض ظ, t = ت ط, h = ح ه, gh = غ ق. The less common spellings (ث ص ذ ض ظ ط ح ع) almost always mark Arabic loanwords.