Alphabet
Below are two tables. The first is a table of the Persian vowel sounds and the second is a table of all the letters in the Persian alphabet. Click on a row within one of the tables to visit a page with animations showing how to draw that letter in its varying forms.
If you are totally unfamiliar with this script then you are encouraged to first click here and visit a lesson containing exercises familiarise you with the movements your hand will need to make in order to form the Persian letters.
| Vowel Sound | End of word | Middle of word | Start of word | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | Attached | Detached | Attached | ||
| Long ‘a’ like ‘arctic’ | هوا (havā – ‘air’) | ما (mā – ‘us’) | دَندان (dandān – ‘tooth’) | تاب (tāb – a ‘swing’) | آب (āb – ‘water’) |
| Short ‘a’ like ‘apple’ | نَه ( na – no – the only final ‘a’ in modern Persian) | شَب (shab – ‘night’) | اَسب (asb – ‘horse’) | ||
| Long ‘ee’ like ‘sheep’ | بازی (bāzi – ‘play’) | شیرینی (shirini – ‘pastry’) | سیب (sib – ‘apple’) | ایران (irān – ‘Iran’) | |
| Short ‘e’ like ‘egg’ or ‘bed’ | خانِه (khāneh – ‘house’) | مِداد (medād – ‘حثدزهم’) | اِستخر (estakhr – ‘swimming pool’) | ||
| Long ‘oo’ like ‘do’ or ‘moon’ | دارو (dāru – ‘medicine’) | مو (mu – ‘hair’) | روز (ruz – ‘day’) | موش (mush – ‘mouse’) | او (u – ‘he’ or ‘she’) |
| Short ‘o’ like ‘open’ or ‘photo’ | دُو (do – ‘two’) | پالتوُ (pālto – ‘overcoat’) | گُل (gol – ‘flower’) | اُتاق (otāq – ‘room’) | |
| Sound in English | Name of letter | End of word or attached to previous letter | Middle, or inbetween two letters | Initial or followed by another letter | Unconnected, standing alone |
| ‘ā’ and initial vowels ‘a’, ‘e’ and ‘o’ | alef* | ــا | ــا | ا | آ or ا |
| b | be | ــب | ــبــ | بــ | ب |
| p | pe | ــپ | ــپــ | پــ | پ |
| t | te | ــت | ــتــ | تــ | ت |
| s | se | ــث | ـثــ | ثــ | ث |
| j | jim | ــج | ـجــ | جــ | ج |
| ch | che | ــچ | ــچــ | چــ | چ |
| h | he | ــح | ــحــ | حــ | ح |
| kh | khe | ــخ | ــخــ | خــ | خ |
| d | dāl* | ــد | ــد | د | د |
| z | zāl* | ــذ | ــذ | ذ | ذ |
| r | re* | ــر | ــر | ر | ر |
| z | ze* | ــز | ــز | ز | ز |
| zh | zhe* | ــژ | ــژ | ژ | ژ |
| s | sin | ــس | ــســ | ســ | س |
| sh | shin | ــش | ــشــ | شــ | ش |
| s | sād | ــص | ــصــ | صــ | ص |
| z | zād | ــض | ــضــ | ضــ | ض |
| t | tā | ــط | ــطــ | طــ | ط |
| z | zā | ــظ | ــظــ | ظــ | ظ |
| ‘ (a) | ‘ain | ــع | ــعــ | عــ | ع |
| gh | ghain | ــغ | ــغــ | غــ | غ |
| f | fe | ــف | ــفــ | فــ | ف |
| q | qāf | ــق | ــقــ | قــ | ق |
| k | kāf | ــک | ــکــ | کــ | ک |
| g | gāf | ــگ | ــگــ | گــ | گ |
| l | lām | ــل | ــلــ | لــ | ل |
| m | mim | ــم | ــمــ | مــ | م |
| n | nun | ــن | ــنــ | نــ | ن |
| v, w, u & o | vāv* | ــو | ــو | و | و |
| h | he | ــه | ــهــ | هــ | ه |
| y | ye | ــی | ــیــ | یــ | ی |
