Your Ultimate Persian Pronunciation Guide

The most important factor in Persian pronunciation is considered to be vowels. Since the Persian language is a syllabic language, the existence of words depends on syllables, and the existence of syllables depends on vowels. Each syllable has one vowel. Without any vowels, there wouldn’t be any syllables, and therefore any words, and we’d only have a series of letters.

As a quick reminder, the Persian language has 32 alphabet characters, including the four non-Arabic letters. Six of these are vowels, and there are 23 consonant sounds (due to some of them having the same sound).

1) Consonants

There are 23 consonant sounds in Persian. In fact, there are 29 consonants, some of which have the same or similar sounds because of their different shapes. The letters with the same sounds comprise six groups:

• غ ق (GH),
• ع ء (EA),
• ذ ز ض ظ  (Z),
• ح ه  (H),
• ث س ص  (S),
• ت ط (T)

Some of the sounds don’t have exact equivalents in English, and are:

• خ  (KH, like the “ch” in “loch”),
• ژ  (ZH, like the “s” in “measure”),
• غ ق (gh, like the French R)
• ب is called be and pronounced like the “b” in “ball”
• پ is called pe and pronounced like “p” in “pink”
• ت and ط are called ta and te and pronounced like [t] in “ten.”
• ث and س and ص are called “sad, sin and se” and pronounced like [s] in “simple”
• ج is called jim and pronounced like [j] in “jelly”
• چ is called che and pronounced like “ch” in “church”
• ح and ه are called he and he and pronounced like the “h” in “house”
• خ is called khe and pronounced like “ch” in “loch”
• د is called dal and pronounced like “d” in “doll”
• ذ and ز and ض and ظ are called za, zad, ze and zal and pronounced like “z” in “zebra”
• ر is called re and pronounced like “r” in “round”
• ژ is called zhe and pronounced like “s” in “measure”
• ش is called shin and pronounced like “sh” in “shell”
• ع and ء are called hamze and ein and pronounced like [u] in “umbrella”
• غ and ق are called ghaf and ghein and pronounced like [r] in the French language
• ف is called fe and pronounced like “f” in “family”
• ک is called kaf and pronounced like [k] in “kite”
• گ is called gaf and pronounced like [g] in “girl”
• ل is called lam and pronounced like [l] in “like”
• م is called mim and pronounced like [m] in “moon”
• ن is called noun and pronounced like [n] in “number”
• و is called vav and pronounced like [v] in “volcano”
• ی is called ye and pronounced like [y] in “yoyo”

2) Vowels

Persian has six vowels (three short vowels, and three long vowels) plus two diphthongs.

Short vowels:

•  َ  اَ  is called fathe/zebar and pronounced like [a] in “cat.”
• ِ  اِ  is called kasre/zir and pronounced like [e] in “bell.”
• ُ  اُ  is called zammeh/pish and pronounced like the [o] in “mode.”

Long vowels:

• آ is called alef and pronounced like [a] in “ball.”
• و is called vav and pronounced like [oo] in “moon.”
• ی is called Ye and pronounced like [ee] in “feel.”

Diphthongs:

• ای is called ey and pronounced like [ay] in “pay.”
• او is called ow and pronounced like [o] in “no.”

Note that vav and ye are considered vowels when they sound like [ee] and [oo] and consonants when they sound like [ye] and [v].

3) Tones and Stress

There aren’t so many different variants of tones in words and syllables in the Persian language, and mostly they are all pronounced the same way, except for the question words, which start at a lower level and gradually go up to a higher level.

The emphasis or stress (of sounds) is generally on the last syllable of a word.

For example:

• مادر (Madar = “mother”)  
• مار (Mar = “snake”)
• در یا (Darya = “sea”)

In verbs only, (except three-syllable past forms) the stress is on the first syllable of the word. In three-syllable past forms, the stress is on the middle syllable.

For example:

• نرفت (Naraft = “(he) didn’t go”)  
• ببینید (Bebinid = “look”)  
• می خورم  (Mikhoram = “(I) eat”)
• دویدم (Davidam = “(I) ran)”

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

PersianPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your Persian pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native Persian speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce Persian vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our PersianPod101 dictionary!

Use the Persian dictionary provided by PersianPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to often listen to Persian music and recorded books, and watch plenty of Persian movies and/or TV shows in Persian. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice…

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native Persian speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in Persian! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your Persian teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native Persian speakers, consider investing in PersianPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native Persian teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Send recordings of yourself speaking Persian and get feedback from your Persian teacher.