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II This is a Category II Language.

Persian/Print version

Contents

CoverIntroduction — Background to learning Persian

Lessons

The Alphabet:Lesson 1 ( ١ ) — Introduction to the Persian alphabet (ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح خ)Lesson 2 ( ٢ ) — The alphabet (continued) (د ذ ر ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ)Lesson 3 ( ٣ ) — 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 (ھستم ،ھست، ...، است، ...)Lesson 6 ( ۶ ) — Noun phrases, ezâfe, demonstrative adjectives

Lesson 7 ( ٧ ) — Simple past tense, plurality and formality/deference

Lesson 8 ( ٨ ) — Negation, negative copula (بیستم، بیست، ...)Lesson 9 ( ٩ ) — Plural nouns, Arabic plurals, singular verbs with plural inanimate nouns

Lesson 10 ( ١٠ ) — Indefinite clitic ی, homographs

Lesson 11 ( ١١ ) — Direct objects, prepositions بودن ، داشتن،Lesson 12 ( ١٢ ) — Present tense, negative present, literary present imperfective

Lesson 13 ( ١٣ ) — Personal enclitics for possession or direct object

Lesson 14 ( ١۴ ) — Light verbs, causative with کردن vs. suffix انیدن or اندن. Passive with شدن

Lesson 15 ( ١۵ ) — Questions: Formal and informal, interrogative adverbs and pronounsLevel 2 grammar:

Lesson 16 ( ١۶ ) — Perfective aspect

Lesson 17 ( ١٧ ) — Comparative and superlative adjectives

Lesson 18 ( ١٨ ) — Imperative, subjunctive, conditionalFuture in colloquial and literary Persian

Appendices

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II This is a Category II Language.

Alphabet — The alphabet and transcriptionGrammarGlossaryFurther ReadingSelected WebsitesPersian ComputingPersian HandwritingPersian Phrases Wikibook

Resources

Persian - English Wiktionary

Contribute to this Wikibook

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!

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Contents

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Contents

CoverIntroduction — Background to learning Persian

Lessons

The Alphabet:Lesson 1 ( ١ ) — Introduction to the Persian alphabet (ا ب پ ت ث ج چ ح خ)Lesson 2 ( ٢ ) — The alphabet (continued) (د ذ ر ز ژ س ش ص ض ط ظ)Lesson 3 ( ٣ ) — 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 (ھستم ،ھست، ...، است، ...)Lesson 6 ( ۶ ) — Noun phrases, ezâfe, demonstrative adjectives

Lesson 7 ( ٧ ) — Simple past tense, plurality and formality/deference

Lesson 8 ( ٨ ) — Negation, negative copula (بیستم، بیست، ...)Lesson 9 ( ٩ ) — Plural nouns, Arabic plurals, singular verbs with plural inanimate nouns

Lesson 10 ( ١٠ ) — Indefinite clitic ی, homographs

Lesson 11 ( ١١ ) — Direct objects, prepositions بودن ، داشتن،Lesson 12 ( ١٢ ) — Present tense, negative present, literary present imperfective

Lesson 13 ( ١٣ ) — Personal enclitics for possession or direct object

Lesson 14 ( ١۴ ) — Light verbs, causative with کردن vs. suffix انیدن or اندن. Passive with شدن

Lesson 15 ( ١۵ ) — Questions: Formal and informal, interrogative adverbs and pronounsLevel 2 grammar:

Lesson 16 ( ١۶ ) — Perfective aspect

Lesson 17 ( ١٧ ) — Comparative and superlative adjectives

Lesson 18 ( ١٨ ) — Imperative, subjunctive, conditionalFuture in colloquial and literary Persian

Appendices

Alphabet — The alphabet and transcriptionGrammarGlossaryFurther ReadingSelected WebsitesPersian ComputingPersian HandwritingPersian Phrases Wikibook

Resources

Persian - English Wiktionary

Contribute to this Wikibook

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Introduction

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, conversationallanguage, and formal/literary Persian. By the end, you should be able to read and write Persian but will probably need ahuman 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.

The Persian Language

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

Persian or Farsi?

Farsi is an Arabized form of the word Parsi, one of theoriginal names in Persian for the Persian language. Sincethere is no [p] sound in Arabic, Parsi became Farsi afterthe Arab conquest of Persia. Farsi then became the localname of Persian, but English speakers still call thelanguage “Persian”, just as they say “German”, “Spanish”,and “Chinese” for languages locally called Deutsch,español, and Hanyu. There is considerable opposition tocalling Persian Farsi in English and other languages, as issummarized by the following pronouncement on theEnglish name of Persian language by the Academy ofPersian language and literature:

1. “Persian” has been used in a variety of publicationsincluding cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it carries a very significanthistorical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing “Persian” to “Farsi” would negate this established importantprecedent.

2. Changing the usage from “Persian” to “Farsi” may give the impression that “Farsi” is a new language, although thismay 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 thepredominant (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 theproposal to begin using it would create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official language of Iran.

Persian and English

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”).

Pronunciation

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Although Persian was influenced by Arabic, English speakers should not find it too difficult to pronounce Persian lettersfairly well. Fortunately for English speakers, the glottal stop ء [ʔ] from Arabic is barely pronounced in Persian, and the“emphatic” consonants in Arabic (ع ح ط ض ص ظ) are pronounced without the pharyngealization, making them mucheasier 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 thesounds of Persian but are never totally exact, so pronunciation benefits greatly from listening to native speakers.

Transcription

There are several systems of transcription to represent the sounds of Persian in the Latin alphabet. This book uses theUniPers (also called Pârsiye Jahâni, "Universal Persian") transcription system, which uses the basic Latin alphabet plus afew 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 DiphthongsUniPers ‹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

ConsonantsUniPers ‹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 رث،س،ص

ش ت،ط و خ

ذ، ز،ض،

ظژ ع،

ء

Vocabulary and grammar

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

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 havesimple sentences because the student’s vocabulary is presumably limited, but more complex sentences in later lessonsdemonstrate more typical Persian. It may be helpful to translate these using a Persian-English dictionary. Access to a printdictionary is very helpful. Other sources of Persian, such as newspapers, magazines, and web sites can help to buildvocabulary and to develop a sense of how Persian sentences are put together.

Resources

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

WebsitesPersian - English Wiktionary

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

xub› /ˈxuːb/ (“fine/well/good”)› خوب

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The Alphabet

The Persian Alphabet: الفبا ‹alefbâ›

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

IsolatedInitialMiddleEndPronunciation, ‹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›

‹b› [b] as in big‹be›بببب

‹p› [p] as in park‹pe›پپپپ

‹t› [t] as in tea‹te›تتتت

‹s› [s] as in salad‹se›ثثثث

‹j› [dʒ] as in jade‹jim›جججج

‹c› [tʃ] as in cheese‹ce›چچچچ

‹h› [h] as in house‹he›حححح

‹x› [x] as in Bach or Loch‹xe›خخخخ

‹d› [d] as in dog‹dâl›د—د

‹z› [z] as in zoo‹zâl›ذ—ذ

‹r› [ɾ] as in rain‹re›ر—ر

‹z› [z] as in zoo‹ze›ز—ز

‹ž› [ʒ] as in mirage or French je‹že›ژ—ژ

‹s› [s] as in sand‹sin›سسسس

‹š› [ʃ] as in sugar‹šin›شششش

‹s› [s] as in sand‹sâd›صصصص

‹z› [z] as in zoo‹zâd›ضضضض

t› [t] as in tiger›طططط‹tâ›

‹z› [z] as in zoo‹zâ›ظظظظ

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‹as in uh-oh‹'eyn [ʔ] ‹'›عععع

‹q› [ɣ] Voiced velar fricative.ogg or [ɢ], Voiced uvular stop.oga‹qeyn›غغغغ

‹f› [f] as in France‹fe›فففف

‹q› [ɣ] Voiced velar fricative.ogg or [ɢ], Voiced uvular stop.oga‹qâf›قققق

‹k› [k] as in kid‹kâf›کككک

‹g› [g] as in golf‹gâf›گگگگ

‹l› [l] as in love‹lâm›لللل

‹m› [m] as in music‹mim›مممم

‹n› [n] as in new‹nun›نننن

‹w›, ‹u›, ‹o› and ‹v› as in‹vâv›و—و

‹h› [h] as in horse‹he›ھھھه

‹y› [j] as in year or ‹i› [iː] as in free‹ye›ىییى

Transcription

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

Vowels DiphthongsUniPers ‹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

ConsonantsUniPers ‹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 رث،س،ص

ش ت،ط و خ

ذ، ز،ض،

ظژ ع،

ء

Pronunciation

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

Persian letter Pronunciation

آ اژخر

Differing Systems of Transcription

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

Some common differences include:

,bâbâ› may be written elsewhere as bābā, bábá› بابا ,â› listen may be transcribed as ā, á, A, aa, or a. For example› آbAbA, baabaa, or baba. In texts where ‹â› is transcribed as a, the short ‹a› sound may be written as æ or there may beno written distinction between the long and short sounds.Short ‹a› listen may be transcribed as æ, especially in texts where a represents long ‹â›. For example, ابر ‹abr› maybe written elsewhere as æbr and بابا ‹bâbâ› as baba..cetor› may be written elsewhere as chetor or četor› چطور ,c› may be transcribed as ch or č. For example› چ.xub› may be written elsewhere as khub› خوب ,x› may be transcribed as kh. For example› خ.šomâ› may be written elsewhere as shoma or soma› شما ,š› may be transcribed as sh or s. For example› شLong ‹u›, may be transcribed as oo. For example, دوست ‹dust› may be written elsewhere as doost.

Duplicate Letters

Diacritical Markings

Name Pronunciation Symbol

Hamze ءAlef hamze أVâv hamze ؤAlef Tanvin ا

Tashdid Short "a" ـShort "o" ـShort "e" ـ

This section of the Persian Language Wikibook is a stub.You can help Wikibooks by expanding it (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit). (See the Persian course Planning page.)

Lesson One

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

Dialogue: ‹salâm!›

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, thenative Persian script is shown along with a transcription.

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The Coat of Arms ofTajikistan

The two forms of ‹alef›:

Shirin : ‹salâm, âraš!› “Hello Arash!”

Arash : ‹salâm, širin! cetori?› “Hello, Shirin! How are you?”

Shirin : ‹mersi, xubam. tow cetori?› “Thank you, I’m fine. How are you?”

Arash : ‹man xubam.› “I'm fine.”

Explanation

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

Vocabulary

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

‹cetori› /tʃeˈtoɾiː/ — “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 Alphabet

The Persian language has six vowel sounds and twenty-three consonant sounds. Old Persian was written using its owncuneiform 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 inArabic ( پ ‹pe›, چ ‹ce›, ژ ‹že›, and گ ‹gâf›), and letters for several foreign Arabic sounds arepronounced 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 asummary of the whole alphabet in the "Alphabet summary" section of Lesson 4.

Culture Point: The Tajik (тоҷикӣ) languageNot 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 writtenin the Cyrillic alphabet.

The language diverged from Persian as spoken in Afghanistan and Iran as a result of politicalborders, geographical isolation, and the influence of Russian and neighboring languages. Thestandard language is based on the north-western dialects of Tajik, which were influenced bythe neighboring Uzbek language. Tajik also retains numerous archaic elements in itsvocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar that have been lost elsewhere in the Persian world.

‹alef› ا

The first letter in Persian is ا ‹alef›.

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اآ ‹â›

At the beginning of a word (on the right side), alef has two forms. The form on the far right herewith the madde (the small "hat" on top: آ ) is written as a tall, vertical stroke from top to bottomfollowed by the madde on top written from right to left as a straight ( - ) or curved ( ~ ) line. Thisform 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 inthe mouth, like a slow version of the vowel in the Queen's English pronunciation of hot, American English caught, or SouthAfrican 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/) asin 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 representslong ‹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 thewhole word at this stage. To see the correct answer, click “[show ▼]”.

آب

(long) ‹â›

اتو

(short) ‹a›

اسب

(short) ‹a›

آن

(long) ‹â›

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing آ ‹alef madde› and ا ‹alef›. Remember to write from right toleft and to keep the base lines even.

آ آآآ ا ااا آ�آآآ�ا�ااا����

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← (read from right to left) ←

ثتپب‹be›‹pe›‹te›‹se›

ب ‹be›

آب←بآ←آب ‹âb›‹â›‹b›

بابا← اب اب ←بابا ‹bâb⛋b›‹â›‹b›‹â›

پ�پ← پ پ پ ←پ

‹se› ث ,‹te› ت ,‹pe› پ ,‹be› ب

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

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

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

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

Connecting lettersLike English cursive, most Persian letters in a word connect with each other, but separate Persian words never connect. Forexample, ب connects with the letter that follows it. Notice, though, that the letters in آب above do not connect with eachother. 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 connectedwith letters before or after them:

ب ب ب ب ← ب�ب�ب

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 theprevious letter. Notice that the upward-swooping tail only appears in the isolated and final forms. Many Persian lettershave tails that behave this way.

As the remaining alphabet lessons will explain, all but seven Persian letters connect with the letter that follows.

As shown on the right, the swooping stroke of each ب connects with the following اto 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 aswooping stroke that sits on the baseline and connects with the following letter, andeach has one or more dots that are written after all of the connected strokes of theword.

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”.

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

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‹pe›connecting forms

پا← اپ ←پا ‹p⛋p›‹â›

ت�ت← ت ت ت ←ت ‹te›connecting forms

تا← ات ←تا‹t⛋t›‹â›

ث�ث← ث ث ث ←ث ‹se›connecting forms

اثاث←ث اث ا←اثاث‹asâs›‹a›‹s›‹â›‹s›

strokes of the word are written, the three dots of پ are written below the baseline.

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

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

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

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

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

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 analef in the middle of a word, pronounced as long ‹â›.

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ب ‹be›, پ ‹pe›, ت ‹te› and ث ‹se›. Remember to write fromright to left and to keep the base lines even.

ب ببب پ پپپ ت تتت ث ثثثب�ب�ب�پ�پ�پ�ت�ت�ت�ث�ث�ث

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خحچج‹jim›‹ce›‹he›‹xe›

���← ج ج ج ←ج ‹jim›connecting forms

جا← اج ←جا‹j⛋j›‹â›

���← چ چ چ ←چ‹ce›connecting forms

���← ح ح ح ←ح‹he›connecting forms

حب← بح ←حب‹hab›‹h›‹b›

‹xe› خ ,‹he› ح ,‹ce› چ ,‹jim› ج

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unwritten vowels

You probably noticed that the short vowel ‹a› is not represented in حب ‹hab›. That isbecause Persian makes an important distinction between short and long vowels. The

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���← خ خ خ ←خ‹xe›connecting forms

خاج←ج اخ ←خاج‹xâj›‹x›‹â›‹j›

short vowels (‹a›, ‹e› and ‹o›) are not usually written in Persian. When you comeacross a new word in writing you might have to find out how it is pronounced from adictionary or someone who speaks Persian. Although there is a system of markingvowel sounds (see Alefba), it is only usually seen in children's books, because itdisrupts the normal layout of text. In contrast, long vowels have their own letters andare written down.

More details about writing and pronouncing vowels will be presented in the Lesson 4.

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

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ج ‹jim›, چ ‹ce›, ح ‹he› and خ ‹xe›. Remember to write fromright to left and to keep the base lines even.

ج ججج چ چچچ ح ححح خ خخخج�����چ�����ح�����خ����

Exercises

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

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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: [dʒ]).

ا

The letter ‹alef› without madde, which represents the long vowel sound ‹â› (/ɒː/) in the middle or end of aword, 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

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The letter ‹alef›, without a madde, it represents the long vowel sound ‹â›, or at the beginning of a word, a shortvowel 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?

.‹gâf› گ že› and› ژ,‹ce› چ ,‹pe› پ

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›.

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Review

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

Core vocabulary:

‹salâm› IPA: /sæˈlɒːm/ —“peace, hello”

‹cetori› /tʃeˈtoɾiː/ — “how are(you)” (informal)‹tow› /tow/ — “you” (informal)‹tow cetori?› — “How are you?”(informal)‹mersi› /'meɾsiː/ — “thanks”‹man› /mæn/ — “I, me”‹xubam› /ˈxuːbæm/ — “(I) amfine/well/good”‹man xubam.› — “I’m fine.”

Letters:

‹alef› ا

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

Bonus words:

”âb› — “water› آب

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

Next: Lesson 2 ( ٢ ), The alphabet (continued)

Continue to Lesson 2 ( ٢ ), The alphabet (continued) >>

Lesson Two

In lesson 1, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words withthose letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change theirshape 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.

Dialogue: ‹hâl-e šomâ cetor e?›

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 areyou?”

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload yourvoice.

Arash : ‹man xubam, mersi. xodâ hâfez, âqâ-yepeymân.›“I am well, thanks. Goodbye, Mr. Peyman!”

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload yourvoice.

Peyman:

‹xodâ hâfez.›“Goodbye.” Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your

voice.

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Explanation

Arash and Peyman are using a more formal style of speech typically used to show respect. That is why they use theformal 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› /tʃeˈtoɾ/ — “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. “MayGod 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 پیمان ‹peyman› .

The feminine version of آقا ‹âqâ› (“sir, Mr.”) is آغا ‹âqâ› (“madam, Miss”). The two words are pronounced the same wayand are sometimes confused for each other as a misspelling, but آقا is the proper spelling for use with male names and آغاfor female names.

Family names are a relatively new aspect of Persian culture, having been introduced in Iran in 1912.

Syllable stressIn 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:

‹šom⛋cetor›‹mamnun›‹xod⛋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 whentalking 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 isstressed ‹âraš› when talking about him.‹peymân› — First syllable is stressed when addressing Peyman as in the conversation above, but the last syllable isstressed ‹peyman› when talking with someone else about him.

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← (read from right to left) ←

ذد

‹dâl›‹zâl›

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

داد←داد←داد ‹dâd›‹d›‹â›‹d›

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

ذات←تاذ←ذات‹zât›‹z›‹â›‹t›

‹zâl› ذ ,‹dâl› د

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

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

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

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

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing د ‹dâl› and ذ ‹zâl›. Remember to write from right to left andto keep the base lines even.

د ددد ذ ذذذ د�ددد�ذ�ذذذ����

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ژزر‹re›‹ze›‹že›

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

در←رد←در ‹dar›‹d›‹r›

چرا←ا رچ ←چرا‹cer⛋c›‹r›‹â›

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

رز←زر←رز

‹roz›‹r›‹z›

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

ژخ←خژ←ژخ

‹že› ژ ,‹ze› ز ,‹re› ر

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

The letter ر ‹re› is pronounced as [ɾ], that is, it is produced bystriking the tongue against the roof of the mouth just behind theteeth, then expelling air over the middle of the tongue, similar tothe r in the Scottish English pronunciation of free or the tt in theAmerican 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 Englishword "ray".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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‹žax›‹ž›‹x›

شس‹sin›‹šin›

سسس← س س س ←س ‹sin›connecting forms

سر← رس ←سر‹sar›‹s›‹r›

ششش← ش ش ش ←ش ‹šin›connecting forms

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ر ‹re›, ز ‹ze› and ژ ‹že›. Remember to write from right toleft and to keep the base lines even.

ر ررر ز ززز ژ ژژژ ر�ررر�ز�ززز�ژ�ژژژ��

‹šin› ش ,‹sin› س

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

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

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

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 betranscribed as sh, sch, ʃ, or ş. Its name sounds like the English word“sheen”.

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شب← بش ←شب‹šab›‹š›‹b›

ضص‹sâd›‹zâd›

صصص← ص ص ص ←ص ‹sâd›connecting forms

صد← دص ←صد‹sad›‹s›‹d›

ضضض← ض ض ض ←ض ‹zâd›connecting forms

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing س ‹sin› and ش ‹šin›. Remember to write from right to leftand to keep the base lines even.

س سسس ش ششش س�سسس�ش�ششش����

‹zâd› ض ,‹sâd› ص

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

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

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

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

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ضد← دض ←ضد‹zed›‹z›‹d›

ظط‹t⛋zâ›

ططط← ط ط ط ←ط ‹tâ›connecting forms

طاس←س اط ←طاس‹tâs›‹s›‹â›‹s›

ظظظ← ظ ظ ظ ←ظ‹zâ›connecting forms

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ص ‹sâd› and ض ‹zâd›. Remember to write from right toleft and to keep the base lines even.

ص صصص ض ضضض

ص�صصص�ض�ضضض����

‹zâ› ظ ,‹tâ› ط

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

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

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

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

.joins with the letter that follows it ظ

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Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ط ‹tâ› and ظ ‹zâ›. Remember to write from right to left andto keep the base lines even.

ط ططط ظ ظظظ ط�ططط�ظ�ظظظ����

Exercises

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 ‹sâ›, which represents the sound ‹s›.

ذ

The letter ‹zâl›, which represents the sound ‹z›.

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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›: ج ر ا

صبح

‹sobh›: ص ب ح

بابا

‹bâbâ›: ب ا ب ا

اسمThis exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

چرا

‹čerâ›: ج ر ا

اثاث

‹asâs›: ا ث ا ث

توتThis exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

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

See if you can recognize these familiar words:ژاكت

žâkat› (“jacket”)› ژاكت

بازار

bâzâr› (“bazar, marketplace”)› بازار

بد

bad› (“bad (not good)”)› بد

Review

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

Core vocabulary:

‹âqâ› IPA: /ˈɒːɣɒː/ — “Mr.”

‹hâl› /ˈhɒːl/ — “health”‹šomâ› /ʃoˈmɒː/ — “you” (formal, showsspeaker's respect for listener)‹cetor› /tʃeˈtoɾ/ — “how”‹xodâ hâfez› /xoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez/ — “May Godkeep 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:

‹dâl› د

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

Bonus words:

dâd› — “(he/she/it)› دادgave”

”zât› — “essence› ذات”dar› — “to, for, at› در”roz› — “rose› رز”cerâ› — “why› چرا”žax› — “wart› ژخ”sar› — “head› سر”šab› — “evening› شب”sad› — “hundred› صد”zed› — “opposite› ضد”tâs› — “bald› طاس

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

All vocabulary Lessons 1 - 2 edit (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Glossary&action=edit)

English gloss Notes ‹fârsi› فارسیLetter: [ɒː], [æ], [e], [o] Lesson 1 ‹alef› اNoun: gentleman, sir, Mr. Lesson 2 ‹âqâ› آقاLetter: [b] Lesson 1 ‹be› بLetter: [p] Lesson 1 ‹pe› پ

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Letter: [t] Lesson 1 ‹te› تPronoun: you (singular, informal) Lesson 1 ‹tow› توLetter: [s] Lesson 1 ‹se› ثLetter: [dʒ] Lesson 1 ‹jim› جLetter: [tʃ] Lesson 1 ‹ce› چAdjective: how Lesson 2 ‹cetor› چطورPhrase: How are you? (informal) Lesson 1 ‹cetori?› چطوری؟Letter: [h] Lesson 1 ‹he› حNoun: health Lesson 2 ‹hâl› حالLetter: [x] Lesson 1 ‹xe› خPhrase: May God keep you. (Goodbye.) Lesson 2 ‹xodâ hâfez.› خداحافظ.Phrase: I’m fine. Lesson 1 ‹(man) xubam.› (من) خوبم.Letter: [d] Lesson 2 ‹dâ› دLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ذLetter: [ɾ] Lesson 2 ‹re› رLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹ze› زLetter: [ʒ] Lesson 2 ‹že› ژLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sin› سPhrase: Peace (hello)! Lesson 1 ‹salâm!› سالم!Letter: [ʃ] Lesson 2 ‹šin› شPronoun: you (plural or polite singular) Lesson 2 ‹šomâ› شماLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sâd› صLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâd› ضLetter: [t] Lesson 2 ‹tâ› طLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ظInterjection: thanks Lesson 1 ‹mersi› مرسیPronoun: I, me Lesson 1 ‹man› من

Next: Lesson 3 ( ٣ ), The alphabet (continued)

Continue to Lesson 3 ( ٣ ), The alphabet (continued) >>

Lesson Three

In lessons 1 and 2, you learned some greetings, the first twenty letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell severalwords 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 shortvowels in Persian.

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← (read from right to left) ←

غع‹’eyn›‹qeyn›

Dialogue: ‹sobh bexeyr›

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 yourhealth?”

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload yourvoice.

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 commonnickname 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 formalityIn any language, speakers use various levels of formality in various social settings. For example, an English speaker in aformal setting may use proper grammar, pronounce -ing clearly (i.e., so that "walking" does not sound like "walkin'"), maychoose formal or technical words (e.g. sodium chloride rather than salt and child rather than kid), and refrain from sayingain'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 Persianformality system is that referring to an individual with a plural pronoun and/or plural verb indicates respect for thatindividual. In polite Persian conversations, it is therefore customary to use the plural pronoun شما ‹šomâ› to whenspeaking with a superior or someone whom one has just met, and to use the singular pronoun تو ‹to› only when talking tofriends, family members, and the like.

‹qeyn› غ ,‹eyn’› ع

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

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ععع← ع ع ع ←ع ‹’eyn›connecting forms

رعد← دع ر←رعد ‹ra'd›‹r›‹’›‹d›

غغغ← غ غ غ ←غ ‹qeyn›connecting forms

باغ←غ اب ←باغ

‹bâq›‹b›‹â›‹q›

The Persian letter ع ‹’eyn› represents the sound [ʔ], i.e. the glottal stop in themiddle 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 aglottal stop instead of an m. The top loop sits on the baseline. When it is the last (oronly) letter in a word, its lower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letterfollows it, it has a different form.

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”).

The Persian letter غ ‹qeyn› represents the sound [ɣ], that is, it is produced byplacing the back part of the tongue against the soft palate and vibrating the vocalcords 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, itslower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letter follows it, it has adifferent form.

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ع ‹'eyn› and غ ‹qeyn›. Remember to write from right to leftand to keep the base lines even.

ع ععع غ غغغ ع�ععع�غ�غغغ����

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قف‹fe›‹qaf›

ففف← ف ف ف ←ف ‹fe›connecting forms

فردا←اد رف ←فردا‹fard⛋f›‹r›‹d›‹â›

ققق← ق ق ق ←ق ‹qaf›connecting forms

آقا← اق آ←آقا‹âq⛋⛋q›‹â›

‹qaf› ق ,‹fe› ف

The next two letters are shown on the right.

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

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”).

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

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ف ‹fe› and ق ‹qaf›. Remember to write from right to leftand to keep the base lines even.

ف ففف ق ققق ف�ففف�ق�ققق����

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گک‹kaf›‹gaf›

ککک← ک ک ک ←ک ‹kaf›connecting forms

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

گگگ← گ گ گ ←گ ‹gaf›connecting forms

بزرگ←گر زب ←بزرگ ‹bozorg›‹b›‹z›‹r›‹g›

‹gaf› گ kaf› and› ک

The next two letters are shown on the right.

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

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”).

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 ofthe word’s dotted letters.

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ک ‹kaf› and گ ‹gaf›. Remember to write from right to leftand to keep the base lines even.

ک ککک گ گگگ ک�ککک�گ�گگگ����

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للل← ل ل ل ←ل‹lâm›connecting forms

�ل← لگ ←گل‹gol›‹g›‹l›

ممم← م م م ←م ‹mim›connecting forms

اسم← مس ا←اسم ‹esm›‹e›‹s›‹m›

‹lâm› ل

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

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ل ‹lâm›. Remember to write from right to left and to keepthe base lines even.

ل للل ل�للل������

‹mim› م

The Persian letter م is pronounced as /m/.

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

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ن�ن← ن ن ن ←ن ‹nun›connecting forms

نان←ن ان ←نان

‹nun›‹n›‹â›‹n›

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing م ‹mim›. Remember to write from right to left and to keepthe base lines even.

م ممم م�ممم������

‹nun› ن

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

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

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ن ‹nun›. Remember to write from right to left and to keepthe base lines even.

ن ننن ن�ن�ن������

Exercises

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

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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

bâzâr› (“bazaar, market”)› بازار

چادر

câdor› (“chador, covering”)› چادر

بانک

bânk› (“bank”)› بانک

چک

chek› (“Czech”)› چک

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Review

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

Core vocabulary:

‹nistam› IPA: /ˈniːstam/ — “(I) am not”

‹sobh bexeyr› /sobh beˈxejɾ/ — “Goodmorning”‹hâlet› /ˈhɒːlet/ — “your health” (informal)‹bad› /bæd/ — “bad” similar meaning andpronunciation as the English word‹xeyli› — “very”

Letters:

‹eyn’› ع

‹qeyn› غ‹fe› ف‹qaf› ق‹kaf› ک‹gaf› گ‹lâm› ل‹mim› م‹nun› ن

Bonus words:

”ra’d› — “thunder› رعد

”bâq› — “garden› باغ— ‹fardâ› فردا“tomorrow”,.âqâ› — “sir, Mr› آقاgentleman””ketâb› — “book› کتاب”bozorg› — “big› بزرگ

All vocabulary Lessons 1 - 3 edit (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Glossary&action=edit)

English gloss Notes ‹fârsi› فارسیLetter: [ɒː], [æ], [e], [o] Lesson 1 ‹alef› اNoun: gentleman, sir, Mr. Lesson 2 ‹âqâ› آقاLetter: [b] Lesson 1 ‹be› بAdjective: bad Lesson 3 ‹bad› بدLetter: [p] Lesson 1 ‹pe› پLetter: [t] Lesson 1 ‹te› تPronoun: you (singular, informal) Lesson 1 ‹tow› توLetter: [s] Lesson 1 ‹se› ثLetter: [dʒ] Lesson 1 ‹jim› جLetter: [tʃ] Lesson 1 ‹ce› چAdjective: how Lesson 2 ‹cetor› چطورPhrase: How are you? (informal) Lesson 1 ‹cetori?› چطوری؟Letter: [h] Lesson 1 ‹he› حNoun: health Lesson 2 ‹hâl› حالNoun: your health (informal) Lesson 3 ‹hâlet› حالتLetter: [x] Lesson 1 ‹xe› خPhrase: May God keep you. (Goodbye.) Lesson 2 ‹xodâ hâfez.› خداحافظ.Phrase: I’m fine. Lesson 1 ‹(man) xubam.› (من) خوبم.very Lesson 3 ‹xeyli› خیلیLetter: [d] Lesson 2 ‹dâ› دLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ذLetter: [ɾ] Lesson 2 ‹re› رLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹ze› ز

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Letter: [ʒ] Lesson 2 ‹že› ژLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sin› سPhrase: Peace (hello)! Lesson 1 ‹salâm!› سالم!Letter: [ʃ] Lesson 2 ‹šin› شPronoun: you (plural or polite singular) Lesson 2 ‹šomâ› شماLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sâd› صInterjection: Good morning Lesson 3 ‹sobh bexeyr› صبح بخیرLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâd› ضLetter: [t] Lesson 2 ‹tâ› طLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ظLetter: [ʔ] Lesson 3 ‹’eyn› عLetter: [ɣ], [ɢ] Lesson 3 ‹qeyn› غLetter: [f] Lesson 3 ‹fe› فLetter: [ɢ], [ɣ], [q] Lesson 3 ‹qaf› قLetter: [k] Lesson 3 ‹kaf› کLetter: [g] Lesson 3 ‹gaf› گLetter: [l] Lesson 3 ‹lâm› لLetter: [m] Lesson 3 ‹mim› مInterjection: thanks Lesson 1 ‹mersi› مرسیPronoun: I, me Lesson 1 ‹man› منLetter: [n] Lesson 3 ‹nun› نVerb: (I) am not Lesson 3 ‹nistam› نیستمConjunction: and Lesson 3 ‹va, vo, o› و

Next: Lesson 4 ( ۴ ), The alphabet (continued)

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

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Lesson Four

In lessons 1, 2, and 3, you learned some greetings, the first twenty-seven letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spelland 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 readingand writing Persian vowels. You will also learn about a Persian tradition called ‹haft sin›.

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

آواز←زاوآ←آواز‹âvâz›‹â›‹v›‹â›‹z›

چوب←ب وچ ←چوب‹cub›‹c›‹u›‹b›

Dialogue: ‹esm-e šomâ ci e?›

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 areexplained later in this lesson, so read the UniPers transcription for now, then come back to read the Persian script version after completing thislesson.

Shirin: ‹bebaxšin, esm-e šomâ ci-st?›“Excuse me, what is your name?” ببخشید،�اسم�شما����است؟

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.

ش��ين:

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�ش��ین�است.

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.

ش��ين:

Reza: ‹xošbaxtam, xânom-e širin.›“Nice to meet you, Miss Shirin.” خوشبختم،�خانم�ش��ین.

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload your voice.

رضا:

Explanation

Shirin meets Reza.

Vocabulary

”bebaxšid› — “excuse me› ببخشید

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

‹vâv› و

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

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.

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.

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اوت←توا←اوت‹ut›‹-›‹u›‹t›

تو← وت ←تو‹to›‹t›‹o›

��ھ← ه ھ ھ ←ه ‹he›connecting forms

جوجھ← هج وج ←جوجه‹jojeh›‹j›‹o›‹j›‹h›

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

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

to› (“you (informal)”)› توdo› (“two”)› دو

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing و ‹vâv›. Remember to write from right to left and to keepthe base lines even.

و ووو و�ووو������

‹he› ه

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-yejimi›, in reference to the similar form shared with ج ‹jim› . Or, because of thetraditional arrangements of letters in chronograms, they may be distinguished as حاء. ه he-ye havvaz› for› ھاء ھوز and ح he-ye hotti› for› حطی

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

râh› (“road, path”)› راهjojeh› (“chicken”)› جوجھ

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”)

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ه ‹he›. Remember to write from right to left and to keep thebase lines even.

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ی��← ی ی ی ←ی ‹ye›connecting forms

ه ھھه ه���ھ������

Duplicate LettersIn Persian there is more than one letter available for some sounds because words imported from Arabic are spelled usingtheir 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›:سsad› (“hundred”)› صد .e.g , صث

‹z›:زذظrâzi› (“satisfied”)› راضی .e.g ,ض

‹t›:تtowr› (“method”)› طور .e.g ,ط

‹q›:âqâ› (“sir”)› آقا .e.g ,قâqâ› (“madam”)› آغا .e.g ,غ

‹h›:هح

<'>:

In Arabic, a symbol known as hamza ( ء ) is used to separate two vowels. This convention only used inPersian for words of Arabic origin.

râ's› (“head”)› رأس .e.g ,ءra'd› (“thunder”)› رعد .e.g ,ع

‹ye› ی

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 atail and no dots in the isolated and final forms, but it has two dots and no tail in theinitial and medial forms,.

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یک← کی ←یک

‹yek›‹y›‹k›

س�ب← ب ی س ←سیب‹sib›‹s›‹i›‹b›

ایران←نا ری ا←ایران‹irân›‹-›‹i›‹r›‹â›‹n›

این← نی ا←این‹in›‹-›‹i›‹n›

فار���← یس ر اف ←فارسی‹fârsi›‹f›‹â›‹r›‹s›‹i›

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

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

In فارسی ‹fârsi› (“Persian (language)”), ی as the last letter of the word ispronounced 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, thespecific 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.in› (“this”)› این

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.

Writing practice

Get out a pen and paper and practice writing ی ‹ye›. Remember to write from right to left and to keepthe base lines even.

ی ییی

ی�ی��������

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Culture Point: ھفت سین ‹haft sin›

Do you remember the letter س ‹sin› from leson 3? Combined with ھفت ‹haft› (“seven”) from this lesson makes an important Iranian New Yeartradition of ھفت سین ‹haft sin› (“seven Ss”). During the Persian NewYear ‹nowruz›, the سفره ‹sofreh› (“tablecloth”) is arranged with sevenitems beginning with the letter س ‹s›. That might include:

1. ‹sabzeh›2. ‹sib›3. ‹sir›4. ‹samanu›5. ‹senjed›6. ‹serkeh›7. ‹somâk›

Originally called ھفت چین ‹haft cin›

Which of the following items would go on your traditional ھفت 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

سیر

sir (garlic)- yes

سركھ

serke (vinegar)- yes

سوسک

(cockroach)- no

سبزه

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ال← ال ←ال‹l⛋l›‹â›

سالم←م ا ل س ←سالم‹salâm›‹s›‹l›‹â›‹m›

ۀ← یه ←ۀ‹he-ye›‹he›‹ye›

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

Ligatures

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

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

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

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

Diacritics

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

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The diacritic ‹hamze›, isolated and over ‹he›:

هء ‹’›, ‹ye›

خانھ←هناخ←خانه‹xuneye›‹x›‹â›‹n›‹e-ye›

Historically Modern

جمله jomlei› (“a sentence”)› جمله ای

قھوه رنگ qahvei rang› (“brown”)› قھوه ای رنگ

خسته xaste i› (“you are tired”)› خسته ای

شیمیائی šimiāi› (“chemical”)› شیمیایی

بگوئید beguid› (“say”)› بگویید

ژوئن← نئ وژ←ژوئن

‹žuan›‹ž›‹u›‹-›‹n›

‹a’›/‹’a› أ mota’assef› (“sorry”)› متأسفta’sis› (“foundation”)› تأسیس

‹’o› ؤ mo’men› (“believer”)› مؤمنmas’ul› (“responsible”)› مسئول

‹’› ئـ ,‹u’› ئو mas’ale› (“problem”)› مسأله\مسئله

جزء← زءج ←جزء‹joz›‹j›‹z›

‹hamze› ء

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

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

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

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.

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

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 finalhamze in such words is silent, so the hamze is usually omitted. For example, ابتداء‹ebtedâ› (“beginning”) is now usually written ابتدا .

Short vowel marks

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

, called زبر ‹zabar› (“above”) or فتحھ ‹fatha› (“opening”), is used to represent short ‹a›. E.g. در ‹dar› (“door, at”) , called زير ‹zir› (“below”) or كسره ‹kasra› (“breaking”), is used to represent ‹e›.

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, called پیش ‹piš› (“before”) or ضمھ ‹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: ـ ‹-un› (nominative), ـ ‹-en› (accusative), and ـ ‹-an› (genitive).

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

Exercises

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?

.‹vâv› و že› and› ژ ,‹ze› ز ,‹re› ر ,‹zâl› ذ ,‹dâl› د ,‹alef› ا

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

نھ

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‹nah›: ن ه

ھفت

‹haft›: ھ 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.

نھ

Yes, نھ ‹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›.

ھفت

Yes, ھفت ‹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.

اسمThis exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

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چراThis exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

اثاث

Yes, the vowel ‹â› in the middle of the word is written, but the short vowel ‹e› at the beginning of the word isunwritten.

توتThis exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

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

See if you can recognize these familiar words.شاه

šâh› (“shah, king”)› شاه

افغانستان

afqânestân› (“Afghanistan”)› افغانستان

زعفران

za'ferân› (“saffron”)› زعفران

پایجامھ

payjâma› (“pajamas”)› پایجامھ

مادر

mâdar› (“mother”)› مادر

Review

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

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

Core vocabulary:

‹bebaxšin› — “excuse me”

‹esm› — “name”‹ci› — “what”

Letters:

‹vâv› و

‹he› ه‹ye› ی

Bonus words:

”âvâz› — “voice, song› آواز

”cub› — “wood› چوب”ut› — “August› اوت

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‹xânom› /xɒːnom/ — “Miss” Diacritics and ligatures:

lâ› (‹lâm› + ‹alef›)› ال‹he ye› ۀ‹tanvin nasb› ا ‹tašdid›‹hamze› ء ‹fatha› ‹kasra› ‹zamma›

to› — “you” (informal)› تو”jojeh› — “chicken› جوجھ”yek› — “one› یک”sib› — “apple› سیب”fârsi› — “Persian› فارسی”irân› — “Iran› ایران”haft› — “seven› ھفتhaft sin› — “seven› ھفت سینSs” (Iranian New Year tradition)”sir› — “garlic› سيsenjed› — “senjed” (the› سنجدdried fruit of the oleaster tree)samanu› — “samanu” (a› سمنوkind of wheat pudding)

All vocabulary Lessons 1 - 4 edit (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Glossary&action=edit)

English gloss Notes ‹fârsi› فارسیLetter: [ɒː], [æ], [e], [o] Lesson 1 ‹alef› اNoun: gentleman, sir, Mr. Lesson 2 ‹âqâ› آقاNoun: name Lesson 4 ‹esm› اسمLetter: [b] Lesson 1 ‹be› بInterjection: excuse me Lesson 4 ‹bebaxšid› ببخشیدAdjective: bad Lesson 3 ‹bad› بدLetter: [p] Lesson 1 ‹pe› پLetter: [t] Lesson 1 ‹te› تPronoun: you (singular, informal) Lesson 1 ‹tow› توLetter: [s] Lesson 1 ‹se› ثLetter: [dʒ] Lesson 1 ‹jim› جLetter: [tʃ] Lesson 1 ‹ce› چAdjective: how Lesson 2 ‹cetor› چطورPhrase: How are you? (informal) Lesson 1 ‹cetori?› چطوری؟Pronoun: what? Lesson 4 ‹ci› چیLetter: [h] Lesson 1 ‹he› حNoun: health Lesson 2 ‹hâl› حالNoun: your health (informal) Lesson 3 ‹hâlet› حالتLetter: [x] Lesson 1 ‹xe› خPhrase: May God keep you. (Goodbye.) Lesson 2 ‹xodâ hâfez.› خداحافظ.Noun: (person) wife, lady, Miss Lesson 4 ‹xânom› خانمPhrase: I’m fine. Lesson 1 ‹(man) xubam.› (من) خوبم.Phrase: Nice to meet you. Lesson 4 ‹xošbaxtam› خوشبختمvery Lesson 3 ‹xeyli› خیلی

Letter: [d] Lesson 2 ‹dâ› د

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Lesson 2 دLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ذLetter: [ɾ] Lesson 2 ‹re› رLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹ze› زLetter: [ʒ] Lesson 2 ‹že› ژLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sin› سPhrase: Peace (hello)! Lesson 1 ‹salâm!› سالم!Letter: [ʃ] Lesson 2 ‹šin› شPronoun: you (plural or polite singular) Lesson 2 ‹šomâ› شماLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sâd› صInterjection: Good morning Lesson 3 ‹sobh bexeyr› صبح بخیرLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâd› ضLetter: [t] Lesson 2 ‹tâ› طLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ظLetter: [ʔ] Lesson 3 ‹’eyn› عLetter: [ɣ], [ɢ] Lesson 3 ‹qeyn› غLetter: [f] Lesson 3 ‹fe› ف

Letter: [ɢ], [ɣ], [q] Lesson 3 ‹qaf› قLetter: [k] Lesson 3 ‹kaf› کLetter: [g] Lesson 3 ‹gaf› گLetter: [l] Lesson 3 ‹lâm› لLetter: [m] Lesson 3 ‹mim› مInterjection: thanks Lesson 1 ‹mersi› مرسیPronoun: I, me Lesson 1 ‹man› منLetter: [n] Lesson 3 ‹nun› نVerb: (I) am not Lesson 3 ‹nistam› نیستمLetter: [v], [u], [ow] Lesson 4 ‹vâv› وConjunction: and Lesson 3 ‹va, vo, o› وLetter: [h] Lesson 4 ‹he› هNoun: Persian New Year’s tradition of“seven S’s” Lesson 4 ‹haftsin› ھفت سین

Letter: [j], [i], [ej] Lesson 4 ‹ye› یSymbol: (ligature) lam-alef Lesson 4 ‹lâ› الSymbol: (diacritic) tashdid(“strengthening”) Lesson 4 ‹tašdid›

Symbol: (diacritic) hamze Lesson 4 ‹’› ءSymbol: (diacritic) zabar (“above”) Lesson 4 ‹a› Symbol: (diacritic) zir (“below”) Lesson 4 ‹e› Symbol: (diacritic) pish (“before”) Lesson 4 ‹o› Symbol: (diacritic) sokun Lesson 4 ‹-›

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Next: Lesson 5 ( ۵ ), Introduction to Verbs

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

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Lesson Five

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 toconjugate the most common one, بودن ‹budan› (“to be”), in the simple present tense.

Dialogue: شما کجایی ھستید؟ ‹šomâ kojâi hastid?›

Reza and Shirin have just met:

Shirin: ‹xošbaxtam, âqâ-ye rezâ. šomâ kojâi hastid?›“Nice to meet you, Mr. Reza. Where are youfrom?”

خوشبختم،�آقای�رضا.�شما�کجا�ی��س�ید؟ Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and upload

your voice.

ش��ين:

Reza: ‹man irâniyam. az mašhad hastam. šomâcetor?›“I’m Iranian. I’m from Mashhad. How aboutyou?”

من�ایرانیم.�از�مش�د��ستم.�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���ران��ستم.

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and uploadyour voice.

ش��ين:

Reza: ‹va âqâ-ye esmit? engelisi-st?›“And Mr. Smith? Is he English?” و�آقای�اسمیت؟�ان�ل�����است؟

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and uploadyour voice.

رضا:

Shirin: ‹xeyr, u âmrikâiy-st.›“No, he’s American.” خ��،�او�آمر��ا�ی�است.

Missing audio. If you are fluent in Persian, record and uploadyour voice.

ش��ين:

If you intend to help complete this dialogue, please see #Exercises and Persian/Planning#Dialogue for suggestions thatemphasize this lesson's topic: simple present tense forms of بودن .

Explanation

Shirin and Reza have just met.

Vocabulary

”?kojâi› — “from where› کجایی

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

Subjects

In both English and Persian, sentences have subjects and verbs. In a sentence that expresses an action, the subject is usuallythe main actor or agent. In a sentence that makes a comment about a topic, the subject is usually that topic. A verb is a wordlike 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 onlyimplied. Subjects have grammatical “number” and “person”:

First, second, or third person: indicates whether the speaker or addressee is includedSingular 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 NumberSingular

(one)

Plural

(more than one)[2]

First person

(the speaker)

من ما‹man› ‹m⛓I” “we”

Second person

(the addressee)

تو شما‹to› ‹šom⛓you” “you”

Third person

(someone else)

او آنھا‹u› ‹ânh⛓he/she/it” “they”

Present tense forms of بودن ‹budan› (“to be”)

Persian verbs are conjugated by adding suffixes, similar to the way English verbs like talk take the suffixes -s, -ed, and -ingto make verb forms like talks, talked, and talking. In Persian, though, the verb’s suffix clearly indicates its grammaticalperson and number. For example, the table on the right shows the simple present tense “full” forms of the Persian verb بودن

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budan› (“to be”)› بودن

Simple present tense, “full” formStem: ھست ‹hast-›

Number

Singular Plural

First person(من) ھستم (ما) ھستیم(‹man›) ‹hastam› (‹mâ›) ‹hastim›“(I) am” “(we) are”

Second person(تو) ھستی (شما) ھستید

(‹to›) ‹hasti› (‹šomâ›) ‹hastin›[3]

“(you) are” “(you) are”

Third person(او) ھست (آنھا) ھستند

(‹u›) ‹hast› (‹ânhâ›) ‹hastan›[3]

“(he/she/it) is” “(they) are”

‹budan› (“to be”), consisting ofthe stem ھست ‹hast-› and varioussuffixes to indicate the person andnumber:

ConjugationSay each of the personal pronouns from the table above. While saying each one, imagine and point to the people to whomthe pronoun might refer. For example, while saying ما ‹mâ› (“we, us”), imagine another person next to you andpoint 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 ھستید ‹hastin› .[3]

The full simple present tense of بودن ‹budan› appeared as ھستید ‹hastin› and ھستم ‹hastam› in the first and thirdlines of the dialogue above.

‹am-› م e› [3] and once as the suffix› است budan› also appears in abbreviated form above, once as the word› بودنfollowing ایرانی ‹irâniy› (“Iranian”). That's because the verb بودن ‹budan› has both a full form using the stem ھست‹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 formis 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]:

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“I am fine.” من�خوب��ستم.

ھستمخوبمن ← ‹man›‹xub›‹hastam› ← “I”“fine”“am”

“You are a student.” تو�دا���و��س��.

ھستیدانشجوتو ← ‹to›‹danešju›‹hasti› ← “you”“student”“are”

“The university isbig.”

دا�ش�اه�بزرگ�است.

استبزرگدانشگاه ← ‹dânešgâh›‹bozorg›‹e› ← “university”“big”“is”

budan› (“to be”)› بودن

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 personاست ... + ند

‹ast›, ‹...e›, ‹...s› [3] ‹...+an›[3]

“(he/she/it) is” “(they) are”

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

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

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

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

Word order

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

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

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Exercises

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 bycompleting it (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

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

Fill in the blanks.

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

Translate the following English sentences into Persian:He is Hassan.

This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

Hassan is my friend.This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).This exercise is incomplete. Help the English Wikibooks Persian Language course by completing it(https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Print_version&action=edit).

Review

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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:

”?kojâi› — “from where› کجایی

irâniyam› — “(I) am› ایرانیمIranian.””u› /uː/ — “he, she, it› او”âmrikâiy› — “American› آمریکایی”mâ› /mɒː/ — “we, us› ما”ânhâ› /ɒːnˈhɒː/ — “they› آنھا

...s:

‹abepesete› ابپثت— “lorem ipsumdolor...”

... words:

abepesete› — “lorem› ابپثتipsum dolor...”

All vocabulary Lessons 1 - 5 edit (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Glossary&action=edit)

English gloss Notes ‹fârsi› فارسیLetter: [ɒː], [æ], [e], [o] Lesson 1 ‹alef› اNoun: gentleman, sir, Mr. Lesson 2 ‹âqâ› آقاAdjective: American Lesson 5 ‹âmrikâyi› آمریکاییPronoun: they Lesson 5 ‹ânhâ, onâ› آنھا

Verb: am, is, are Lesson 5 ‹am, i, ast, im, in, an› ام، ای، است، ایم،اید، اند

Noun: name Lesson 4 ‹esm› اسمPronoun: he, she Lesson 5 ‹u› اوAdjective: Iranian Lesson 5 ‹irâni› ایرانیLetter: [b] Lesson 1 ‹be› بInterjection: excuse me Lesson 4 ‹bebaxšid› ببخشیدAdjective: bad Lesson 3 ‹bad› بدVerb: to be Lesson 5 ‹budan› بودنLetter: [p] Lesson 1 ‹pe› پLetter: [t] Lesson 1 ‹te› تPronoun: you (singular, informal) Lesson 1 ‹tow› توLetter: [s] Lesson 1 ‹se› ثLetter: [dʒ] Lesson 1 ‹jim› جLetter: [tʃ] Lesson 1 ‹ce› چAdjective: how Lesson 2 ‹cetor› چطورPhrase: How are you? (informal) Lesson 1 ‹cetori?› چطوری؟Pronoun: what? Lesson 4 ‹ci› چیLetter: [h] Lesson 1 ‹he› حNoun: health Lesson 2 ‹hâl› حالNoun: your health (informal) Lesson 3 ‹hâlet› حالتLetter: [x] Lesson 1 ‹xe› خPhrase: May God keep you. (Goodbye.) Lesson 2 ‹xodâ hâfez.› خداحافظ.

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Noun: (person) wife, lady, Miss Lesson 4 ‹xânom› خانمPhrase: I’m fine. Lesson 1 ‹(man) xubam.› (من) خوبم.Phrase: Nice to meet you. Lesson 4 ‹xošbaxtam› خوشبختمInterjection: no Lesson 5 ‹xeyr› خیرvery Lesson 3 ‹xeyli› خیلیLetter: [d] Lesson 2 ‹dâ› دLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ذLetter: [ɾ] Lesson 2 ‹re› رLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹ze› زLetter: [ʒ] Lesson 2 ‹že› ژLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sin› سPhrase: Peace (hello)! Lesson 1 ‹salâm!› سالم!Letter: [ʃ] Lesson 2 ‹šin› شPronoun: you (plural or polite singular) Lesson 2 ‹šomâ› شماLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sâd› صInterjection: Good morning Lesson 3 ‹sobh bexeyr› صبح بخیرLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâd› ضLetter: [t] Lesson 2 ‹tâ› طLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ظLetter: [ʔ] Lesson 3 ‹’eyn› عLetter: [ɣ], [ɢ] Lesson 3 ‹qeyn› غLetter: [f] Lesson 3 ‹fe› فLetter: [ɢ], [ɣ], [q] Lesson 3 ‹qaf› قLetter: [k] Lesson 3 ‹kaf› کAdjective: from where? Lesson 5 ‹kojâi› کجاییLetter: [g] Lesson 3 ‹gaf› گLetter: [l] Lesson 3 ‹lâm› لLetter: [m] Lesson 3 ‹mim› مPronoun: us Lesson 5 ‹mâ› ماInterjection: thanks Lesson 1 ‹mersi› مرسیPronoun: I, me Lesson 1 ‹man› منLetter: [n] Lesson 3 ‹nun› نVerb: (I) am not Lesson 3 ‹nistam› نیستمLetter: [v], [u], [ow] Lesson 4 ‹vâv› وConjunction: and Lesson 3 ‹va, vo, o› وLetter: [h] Lesson 4 ‹he› ه

Verb: am, is, are Lesson 5 ‹hastam, hasti, hast, hastim,hastin, hastan›

ھستم، ھستی،ھست، ھستیم،ھستید، ھستند

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Noun: Persian New Year’s tradition of“seven S’s” Lesson 4 ‹haftsin› ھفت سین

Letter: [j], [i], [ej] Lesson 4 ‹ye› یSymbol: (ligature) lam-alef Lesson 4 ‹lâ› الSymbol: (diacritic) tashdid(“strengthening”) Lesson 4 ‹tašdid›

Symbol: (diacritic) hamze Lesson 4 ‹’› ءSymbol: (diacritic) zabar (“above”) Lesson 4 ‹a› Symbol: (diacritic) zir (“below”) Lesson 4 ‹e› Symbol: (diacritic) pish (“before”) Lesson 4 ‹o› Symbol: (diacritic) sokun Lesson 4 ‹-›

Notes

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 similarconstructions, and both plural pronouns and plural verb forms are often used as a polite version of the singular. Moreabout 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 showstypical 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 differencesbetween spoken and written Persian will be given in the lessons that follow.

Next: Lesson 6 ( ۶ ), Noun phrases, ezâfe

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

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Appendix One: Persian HandwritingNaskh نسخ

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

Nastaliq نستعلیق

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

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A comparison of Naskh and Nasta'liq writing

Shekasteh شکستھ

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

Appendix Two: GlossaryAll vocabulary Lessons 1 - 999 edit (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Persian/Glossary&action=edit)

English gloss Notes ‹fârsi› فارسیLetter: [ɒː], [æ], [e], [o] Lesson 1 ‹alef› اNoun: water ‹âb› آبAdjective: blue ‹âbi› آبیInterjection: yep, yes (informal) ‹âre› آرهNoun: gentleman, sir, Mr. Lesson 2 ‹âqâ› آقاNoun: black cherry ‹âlbâlu› آلبالوNoun: prune ‹âlu› آلوNoun: damson ‹âluce› آلوچهAdjective: American Lesson 5 ‹âmrikâyi› آمریکاییDeterminer: that ‹ân, on› آنPronoun: they Lesson 5 ‹ânhâ, onâ› آنھاNoun: furniture ‹asâs› اثاثNoun: Sociology ‹ejtemâ’i› اجتماعی

Verb: am, is, are Lesson 5 ‹am, i, ast, im, in, an› ام، ای، است، ایم،اید، اند

Noun: name Lesson 4 ‹esm› اسمAdverb: today ‹emruz› امروزNoun: pomegranate ‹anâr› انارNoun: mango ‹anbe› انبهNoun: English ‹engelisi› انگلیسیNoun: grapes ‹angur› انگورPronoun: he, she Lesson 5 ‹u› اوProper noun: Iran ‹irân› ایرانAdjective: Iranian Lesson 5 ‹irâni› ایرانیDeterminer: this ‹in› اینLetter: [b] Lesson 1 ‹be› ب

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Preposition: with ‹bâ› باAdjective: smart ‹bâhuš› باھوشInterjection: excuse me Lesson 4 ‹bebaxšid› ببخشیدNoun: (person) child, infant ‹bacce› بچهAdjective: bad Lesson 3 ‹bad› بدNoun: (person) brother ‹barâdar› برادرPreposition: for, in order to ‹barâye› برایInterjection: goodbye (said to the personwho is leaving) ‹besalâmat› بسالمت

Phrase: What can I do for you? ‹befarmâin› بفرماییدPhrase: in the afternoon ‹ba’d az zohr› بعد از ظھرInterjection: yes (formal) ‹bale› بلهAdjective: purple ‹banafš› بنفشVerb: to be Lesson 5 ‹budan› بودنin, at, to, for ‹be› بهNumber: twenty (20) ‹bist› بیست (٢٠)Letter: [p] Lesson 1 ‹pe› پNoun: foot ‹pâ› پاNumber: five hundred (500) ‹pânsâd› پانصد (۵٠٠)Noun: (person) father ‹pedar› پدرNoun: (person) grandfather ‹pedarbozorg› پدربزرگNoun: orange ‹porteqâl› پرتغالNoun: bird ‹parande› پرندهAdverb: the day before yesterday ‹pariruz› پریروزAdverb: the day after tomorrow ‹pas fardâ› پس فرداNoun: (person) boy, son ‹pesar› پسرNumber: five (5) ‹panj› پنج (۵)Number: fifty (50) ‹panjâh› پنجاه (۵٠)Number: fifteen (15) ‹panjdah› پانزده (١۵)Noun: Thursday ‹panj-šambe› پنج شنبهLetter: [t] Lesson 1 ‹te› تPronoun: you (singular, informal) Lesson 1 ‹tow› توNoun: berry ‹tut› توتPreposition: until ‹tâ› تاNoun: (classifier) unit ‹tâ› تاNoun: television ‹televizion› تلویزیونNoun: strawberry ‹tut farangi› توت فرنگیNoun: raspberry ‹tamešk› تمشکNoun: history ‹târix› تاریخ

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Letter: [s] Lesson 1 ‹se› ثLetter: [dʒ] Lesson 1 ‹jim› جNoun: place ‹jâ› جاNoun: soul, darling ‹jân› جانNoun: geography ‹joqrâfi› جغرافیNoun: Friday ‹jom’e› جمعهLetter: [tʃ] Lesson 1 ‹ce› چNoun: tea ‹câi› چایNoun: eye ‹cešm› چشمAdjective: how Lesson 2 ‹cetor› چطورPhrase: How are you? (informal) Lesson 1 ‹cetori?› چطوری؟Conjunction: because ‹con› چونNumber: four (4) ‹cahâr, câr› چھار (۴)Number: fourteen (14) ‹cahârdah› چھارده (١۴)Pronoun: what? Lesson 4 ‹ci› چیNoun: Wednesday ‹cahâr-šambe, câršambe› چھارشنبهNumber: four hundred (400) ‹cahârsâd› چھارصد (۴٠٠)Number: forty (40) ‹cehel› چھل (۴٠)Letter: [h] Lesson 1 ‹he› حNoun: health Lesson 2 ‹hâl› حالNoun: your health (informal) Lesson 3 ‹hâlet› حالتNoun: bath (Turkish?) ‹hammâm› حمامLetter: [x] Lesson 1 ‹xe› خNoun: (person) maternal aunt ‹xâle› خالهPhrase: May God keep you. (Goodbye.) Lesson 2 ‹xodâ hâfez.› خداحافظ.Noun: (person) wife, lady, Miss Lesson 4 ‹xânom› خانمNoun: house ‹xâne, xune› خانهfatigue ‹xastegi› خستگیNoun: (person) sister ‹xâhar› خواھرPhrase: Please do [...]. Also used like“you’re welcome.” ‹xâhesh mikonam› خواھش می کنم

Adjective: fine, well, good ‹xub› خوبPhrase: I’m fine. Lesson 1 ‹(man) xubam.› (من) خوبم.Adjective: pleasant, happy ‹xoš› خوشPhrase: Nice to meet you. Lesson 4 ‹xošbaxtam› خوشبختمInterjection: no Lesson 5 ‹xeyr› خیرvery Lesson 3 ‹xeyli› خیلیLetter: [d] Lesson 2 ‹dâ› دNoun: (person) maternal uncle ‹dâyi› دایی

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Noun: (person) girl, daughter ‹doxtar› دخترPreposition: to, for, at ‹dar› درNoun: door ‹dar› درNoun: lesson, lecture ‹dars› درسNoun: hand ‹dast› دستNoun: bathroom ‹dastšuy› دستشوییNoun: notebook ‹daftar› دفترNoun: heart, guts ‹del› دلNoun: tail ‹dom› دمNumber: two (2) ‹do› دو (٢)Number: twelve (12) ‹devâzdah› دوازده (١٢)Noun: (person) friend ‹dust› دوستNoun: Monday ‹do-šambe› دوشنبهNumber: two hundred (200) ‹devist› دویست (٢٠٠)Number: ten (10) ‹dah› ده (١٠)Adverb: yesterday ‹diruz› دیروزLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ذLetter: [ɾ] Lesson 2 ‹re› رrestaurant ‹resturân› رستورانNoun: day ‹ruz› روزPhrase: good day ‹ruz bexeyr› روز بخیرNoun: newspaper ‹ruznâme› روزنامهNoun: mathematics ‹riâzi› ریاضیLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹ze› زAdjective: yellow ‹zard› زردNoun: apricot ‹zardâlu› زردالوNoun: (person) woman, wife ‹zan› زنLetter: [ʒ] Lesson 2 ‹že› ژLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sin› سAdjective: green ‹sabz› سبزAdjective: difficult ‹saxt› سختNoun: head, top ‹sar› سرNoun: (animal) dog ‹sag› سگNoun: watch ‹sâ’at› ساعتPhrase: Peace (hello)! Lesson 1 ‹salâm!› سالم!hello (in response) ‹salâm ’aleykom› سالم علیکمNumber: three (3) ‹se› سه (٣)Noun: Tuesday ‹se-šambe› سه شنبهNumber: thirty (30) ‹si›

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سی (٣٠)Adjective: black ‹siâh› سیاهAdjective: white ‹sefid› سفیدNoun: apple ‹sib› سیبNumber: thirteen (13) ‹sizdah› سیزده (١٣)Number: three hundred (300) ‹sisâd› سیصد (٣٠٠)Noun: chest ‹sine› سینهLetter: [ʃ] Lesson 2 ‹šin› شNumber: sixteen (16) ‹šâzdah› شانزده (١۶)Noun: evening ‹šab› شبPhrase: good night (used for departure orbedtime) ‹šab bexeyr› شب بخیر

Noun: company, firm ‹šerkat› شرکتNumber: six hundred (600) ‹šešsâd› ششصد (۶٠٠)Number: sixty (60) ‹šast› شصت (۶٠)Number: six (6) ‹šeš› شش (۶)Noun: sugar ‹šekar› شکرPronoun: you (plural or polite singular) Lesson 2 ‹šomâ› شماNoun: Saturday ‹šambe› شنبهNoun: (person) husband ‹šohar› شوھرProper noun: Shirin (female personalname) ‹širin› شیرین

Noun: chemistry ‹šimi› شیمیLetter: [s] Lesson 2 ‹sâd› صInterjection: Good morning Lesson 3 ‹sobh bexeyr› صبح بخیرNumber: hundred (100) ‹sad› صد (١٠٠)Number: zero (0) ‹sefr› صفر (٠)Noun: chair ‹sandali› صندلیAdjective: pink ‹surati› صورتیLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâd› ضLetter: [t] Lesson 2 ‹tâ› طLetter: [z] Lesson 2 ‹zâ› ظLetter: [ʔ] Lesson 3 ‹’eyn› عNoun: afternoon, evening ‹’asr› عصرPhrase: good afternoon, good evening ‹’asr bexeyr› عصر بخیرNoun: science ‹’olum› علومNoun: (person) paternal uncle ‹’amu› عموNoun: (person) paternal aunt ‹’amme› عمهLetter: [ɣ], [ɢ] Lesson 3 ‹qeyn› غLetter: [f] Lesson 3 ‹fe› ف

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Noun: Persian; Adjective: Persian ‹fârsi› فارسیAdverb: tomorrow ‹fardâ› فرداVerb: to command ‹farmudan› فرمودنNoun: physics ‹fizik› فیزیکAdverb: only ‹faqat› فقطLetter: [ɢ], [ɣ], [q] Lesson 3 ‹qaf› قAdjective: beautiful ‹qašang› قشنگAdjective: old, ancient ‹qadimi› قدیمیAdjective: red ‹qermez› قرمزNoun: food ‹qazâ› غذاNoun: hookah ‹qelyân› قلیانNoun: sugar cube ‹qand› قندNoun: coffee ‹qahve› قھوهNoun: coffeehouse ‹qahve-xâne› قھوه خانهAdjective: brown ‹qahvei› قھوه ایLetter: [k] Lesson 3 ‹kaf› کNoun: work, job ‹kâr› کارVerb: to work ‹kâr kardan› کار کردنNoun: book ‹ketâb› کتابAdjective: from where? Lesson 5 ‹kojâi› کجاییVerb: to do, to make, (vulgar) to have sexwith

(present stem: کن‹kon› )

‹kardan› کردن

Adjective: small ‹kucek, kucik› کوچکPronoun: who ‹ki› کیLetter: [g] Lesson 3 ‹gaf› گAdjective: expensive ‹gerun› گران

Verb: to take (present stem: گیر‹gir› )

‹gereftan› گرفتن

Noun: ear ‹guš› گوشVerb: to listen ‹guš kardan› گوش کردنNoun: conversation, dialogue ‹goftgu› گفتگوVerb: to converse ‹goftgu kardan› گفتگو کردنNoun: hair (poetic) ‹gisu› گیسوNoun: cherry ‹gilâs› گیالسLetter: [l] Lesson 3 ‹lâm› لNoun: (body part) lip ‹lab› لبNoun: lemon ‹limu› لیمو

Letter: [m] Lesson 3 ‹mim› مPronoun: us ‹mâ›

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Lesson 5 ماNoun: (person) mother ‹mâdar› مادرNoun: (person) grandmother ‹mâdarbozorg› مادربزرگNoun: car ‹mâšin› ماشینNoun: property ‹mâl› مالNoun: mama (pet name for mother, like(بابا ‹mâmân› مامان

Noun: (person) man ‹mard› مردInterjection: thanks Lesson 1 ‹mersi› مرسیNoun: pencil ‹medâd› مدادAdverb: usually ‹ma’mulan› معموالAdjective: thankful, thank you ‹mamnun› ممنونPronoun: I, me Lesson 1 ‹man› منNoun: hair ‹mu› موNoun: music ‹musiqi› موسیقیNoun: banana ‹moz› موزAdjective: kind ‹mehrbun› مھربانNoun: table ‹miz› میزNumber: million (1000000) ‹milyun› میلیون (١٠٠٠٠٠٠)Letter: [n] Lesson 3 ‹nun› نAdjective: orange ‹nârenji› نارنجیNoun: tangerine ‹nârengi› نارنگیAdjective: coconut ‹nârgil› نارگیلbread ‹nân, nun› نانNoun: lunch ‹nâhâr› ناھارVerb: to have lunch ‹nâhâr kardan› ناھار کردنInterjection: no (formal) ‹naxeyr› نخیرNoun: look ‹negâh› نگاهVerb: to look, to watch ‹negâh kardan› نگاه کردنNumber: ninety (90) ‹navâd› نود (٩٠)Number: nineteen (19) ‹nuzdah› نوزده (١٩)Noun: beverage ‹nušâbe› نوشابهAdverb: not ‹nah› نهAdjective: new ‹noh› نهNumber: nine (9) ‹noh› نه (٩)Number: nine hundred (900) ‹nohsâd› نھصد (٩٠٠)Verb: (I) am not Lesson 3 ‹nistam› نیستمLetter: [v], [u], [ow] Lesson 4 ‹vâv› وConjunction: and Lesson 3 ‹va, vo, o› و

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Letter: [h] Lesson 4 ‹he› هNumber: eighteen (18) ‹hejdah› ھجده (١٨)Determiner: each ‹har› ھرNumber: thousand (1000) ‹hezâr› ھزار (١٠٠٠)

Verb: am, is, are Lesson 5 ‹hastam, hasti, hast, hastim,hastin, hastan›

ھستم، ھستی،ھست، ھستیم،ھستید، ھستند

Number: eight (8) ‹hašt› ھشت (٨)Number: eighty (80) ‹haštâd› ھشتاد (٨٠)Number: eight hundred (800) ‹haštsâd› ھشتضد (٨٠٠)Number: seven (7) ‹haft› ھفت (٧)Number: seventy (70) ‹haftâd› ھفتاد (٧٠)Noun: Persian New Year’s tradition of“seven S’s” Lesson 4 ‹haftsin› ھفت سین

Number: seven hundred (700) ‹haftsâd› ھفتصد (٧٠٠)Number: seventeen (17) ‹hefdah› ھفده (١٧)Noun: peach ‹holu› ھلو

also, each other

as suffixcolloquially pronounced‹m›, e.g. ‹šomâm› (“youtoo”)

‹ham› ھم

Noun: (person) spouse ‹hamsar› ھمسرAdverb: always ‹hamiše› ھمیشهNoun: peach ‹holu› ھلوNoun: watermelon ‹hendevâne, hendevune› ھندوانهLetter: [j], [i], [ej] Lesson 4 ‹ye› یParticle: of Lesson 6 ‹ye, e› یmemory ‹yâd› یادVerb: to learn ‹yâd gereftan› یاد گرفتنNumber: eleven (11) ‹yâzdah› یازده (١١)Number: one (1) ‹yek› یک (١)Noun: Sunday ‹yek-šambe› یک شنبهSymbol: (ligature) lam-alef Lesson 4 ‹lâ› الSymbol: (diacritic) tashdid(“strengthening”) Lesson 4 ‹tašdid›

Symbol: (diacritic) hamze Lesson 4 ‹’› ء

Symbol: (diacritic) zabar (“above”) Lesson 4 ‹a› Symbol: (diacritic) zir (“below”) Lesson 4 ‹e› Symbol: (diacritic) pish (“before”) Lesson 4 ‹o› Symbol: (diacritic) sokun Lesson 4 ‹-›

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Appendix Three: WebsitesLessons

Modern Persian

Farhang Sara - Let's Learn Persian (http://www.farhangsara.com/learn.htm)Iraj Bashiri's Persian For Beginners (http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Lessons/PfBindex.html)Hassan's EasyPersian: Persian language lessons (http://www.easypersian.com/persian/New/Farsi_Lessons.htm)Lessons, Readings and Dialogues for Persian Language at Princeton University(http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eplhulick/persian/)Virtual Persian (http://www.nyu.edu/pages/gsasweb/dept/mideast/virtualpersian/index.html)Grammaire Iranien (http://anamnese.online.fr/iran/gramm_iranien.pdf) PDF Grammaire Iranien (in French)

Old Persian

Iranian Studies at Harvard University (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~iranian/)

Online Dictionaries

Aryanpour's Persian-English and English-Persian online dictionary (http://www.aryanpour.com/)English-Persian Dictionary (http://www.math.columbia.edu/~safari/masood/cgi-bin/)A comprehensive Persian-English dictionary (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/steingass/) Francis Steingass'sdictionary online, includes a guide to pronunciation.

Language Tools, Games and Software

Persian verb conjugator (http://jahanshiri.ir/pvc/pvc.php)Persian alphabet learning game (http://www.assuna.de./#)Persian Word Processing Guide (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/persian/persianword/persianwp.htm)Persian Transliteration (http://www.emonshi.com)

Persian Media

Persian Media (http://www.persianmedia.co/)

BBC Persian (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/)Radio France International (http://www.rfi.fr/langues/statiques/rfi_persan.asp)NHK Persian (Japan) (http://web.archive.org/20081008044547/www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/persian/aboutpersian.html)Faryad Magazine (http://www.faryadmagazine.com)[1] (http://www.b2biran.com)

Discussion Forums

Unilang Persian Forums (http://home.unilang.org/main/forum/viewforum.php?f=73)

[2] (http://www.Persian-Media.com)Persian Media

Universities teaching Persian as a Foreign Language

Europe

INALCO (http://www.inalco.fr/ina_gabarit_rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=47) Institut National des Langues etCivilisations Orientales, ParisSOAS (http://www.soas.ac.uk/studying/courseinfo.cfm?courseinfoid=82) University of London School of Orientaland African StudiesUniversity of Oxford (http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/nme/persian_info.shtml)University of Manchester (http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/search/atoz/course/index.htm?code=00344)

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University of Cambridge (http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/oriental/)St. Petersburg State University (http://www.spbu.ru/e/Education/Faculties/Oriental/departments.html)

East Asia

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (http://www.hufs.ac.kr/eng/colleges/col0103.jsp)Peking University School of Foreign Languages (http://sfl.pku.edu.cn/)北京大學外國語學院東方語言文化係 (inChinese)Shanghai Foreign Languages Univeristy (http://www.shisu.edu.cn/dep/dongfang/05.htm)上海外國語大學 東方語學院 (in Chinese)

Middle East

America

Language Exchange

mylanguageexchange.com (http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Persian.asp) Find a Persian-speakinglanguage exchange partner

Foundations and Trusts

Iranian Heritage Foundation (http://www.iranheritage.org/) U.K.British Institute of Persian Studies (http://www.bips.ac.uk/) U.K.Persian Cultural Foundation (http://www.persiancultural.org/) U.S.American Institue of Iranian Studies (http://www.simorgh-aiis.org/) U.K.Institut für Iranistik (http://www.oeaw.ac.at/iran/) Institute for Iranian Studies, Austria

Appendix Four: Further ReadingFurther Reading

Textbooks

Abrahams, Simin. Modern Persian: A Course-Book, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005. ISBN 0700713271Amuzegar, Hooshang. 'How to Speak Read and Write Persian, Ibex Publishers, 2nd edition, 2003. ISBN0936347058Farzad, Narguess.Teach Yourself Modern Persian, McGraw-Hill, 2004. ISBN 007141908XThackston, W.M. An Introduction to Persian, Ibex Publishers, 3rd revised sub-edition, 2003. ISBN 0936347295

Grammars

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

Dictionaries

Aryanpur-Kashani, Abbas. The Combined New Persian-English & English-Persian Dictionary, Mazda Publishers,1986. ISBN 0939214288Dehghani, Yavar. Persian-English English-Persian Learner's Dictionary, Ibex Publishers, 2006. ISBN1588140342

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