Contents

Sound-letter mapping

The table below shows the letters with some examples and their corresponding phonetic value with regard to the International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA:

Vowels

The short vowels are: a, e and o. The long vowels are: â, i and u. The most important diphthong is ow.

Diphthong ow

If the sounds of “av” are in one syllable, then “av” gets converted to “ow”:

na-ra-vid

don’t go

na-row

don’t go

pey-ra-vi

follow

pey-row

follower

If w occurs syllable-initially in the course of derivation, usually either “ow” is reconverted to “av” (present stem), or “ow” is converted to “ov” (otherwise):

pey-row

follower

pey-ra-vi

follow

now

new

novin

modern

Mul (‘)

Mul (derived from the Old Persian mulidan) means “pause” and corresponds to the letter Eyn or Hamze in the Persian-Arabic script. It is a weak and unstable glottal stop and is shown with an apostrophe. Mul occurs especially in Arabic leanwords:

mo’allem	teacher	ba’d	then	ŝam’	candle	sari’	quickly
e’temâd	confidence	mi’âd	promise	mas’ul	responsible	fa’’âl	active

Mediator consonants

Sounds are sometimes modified (omitted, moved, inserted) in Persian. This is often motivated by a tendency of facilitating pronunciation. One of the most common modifications is the insertion of a consonant between two vowels:

xâne ye man	my house	amme vo amu	aunt and uncle	sedâ yi	a voice
zendegi	life	jâduyi	magical	dâneŝjuyân	students
Xodâyâ	oh god	dovvom	second	sedâ yam	my voice
Xodâ yemân	our God	miguyam	I say	nayâmad	she didn’t come

The following tables summarize some important cases of sound modifications:

Word ends with

Enclitics / suffixes

a

â

e

i

o

u

Conjunction e

y

y

y

-

y

y

Conjunction o

v

v

v

-

v

v

Postposition i

-

y

-

-

y

y

Suffix -i (nominalization)

-

y

g

-

y

y

Suffix-i (adjectival)

-

y

-

g*

-

y

y

Suffix -ân (plural)

-

y

g

-

v

y

uov**

Suffix -om (ordinal)

-

-

vv

-

vv

-

Short form ast of to be

-

a

-

a

-

ea a

-

a

-

a

-

a

Other short forms of to be

-

y

-

-

-

y

Singular pronouns am/at/aŝ

-

y

-

-

-

y

Plural pronouns mân/tân/ŝân

-

ye

-

-

-

ye

Inflection of the present tense

-

y

-

-

-

y

 

	Word begins with
Preverbs	a	â	e	i	o	u	y
be-	ei	ei	-	-	ei	-	ei
ma-/na-	y	y	-	-	y	-	-
mi-/nemi-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

 

Key
Strikeout	The sound is removed.
Underline	Replaces the removed sound (sound shift)
Divided cells	Two cases are possible
-	No modification / not applicable
*	Only in a few words, e.g. haftegi and xânegi
**	Only in a few words, e.g. bânovân and abrovân

Gemination (taŝdid)

Gemination occurring normally in Arabic loanwords, is represented by doubling a consonant. Usually, the first one ends a syllable whereas the second one begins the following syllable.

mo’allem

teacher

taŝakkor

thanks

mokarrar

repeated

tasavvor

imagination

A gemination is indicated, whenever it is pronounced:

xat(t)

script

dastxat

handwriting

xattât

calligrapher

xatt e fârsi

Persian script

Stress

If a word has more than one syllable, then one of the syllables (usually the last one) is stressed more than the others. Stress pattern is regular in Persian.

Personal endings of verbs are usually unstressed. The stress falls on the last syllable of the stem:

âmadand

they came

neveŝtam

I wrote

An exception is the future form, in which the personal ending of the modal verb is stressed:

xâham âmad

I will come

xâhad neveŝt

she will write

If a verb takes one or more preverbs, then the first or only preverb is stressed:

minevisam

I write

neminevisam

I don’t write

In compound verbs, the non-verbal part is stressed in the positive tense, while the negation preverb is stressed in the negative tense:

yâd migiram

I learn

yâd nemigiram

I don’t learn

Interjections, conjunctions and vocative nouns are stressed on the first syllable:

vali

but

agar

if

Navid, kojâ yi?

Navid, where are you?

If a word has one or more suffixes, then the last or only suffix is stressed:

ketâbhâ

books

bozorgtar

bigger

dâneŝ

science

dâneŝmand

scientist

The following enclitics are always unstressed:

Conjunction „e“	doxtar e zibâ	the beautiful girl
Conjunction „o“	pedar o pesar	father and son
Pronouns „am/at/aŝ/emân/etân/eŝân“	ketâb aŝ	his book
Short forms of to be	xoŝgel and	they are pretty
Postposition „i“	doxtar i	a girl

For all other types of words, the stress usually falls on the last syllable:

dastkeŝ	glove	toxmemorq	egg	bâham	together	yekdigar	each other
goftogu	dialogue	qulpeykar	huge	bistopanj	25	haftsad	700

Colloquial Persian

The colloquial language shows some differences in comparison with the literary language. It mainly occurs in informal bilateral communications (e-mail to friends etc.) and is possibly used in the retelling of authentic dialogues and stories in modern literature. The Tehranian dialect is the most widely used dialect and can be considered as a “standard”. In this dialect words are often abbreviated or “abraded“.

The main differences are typically:

Item	Literary	Colloquial	Example literary	Example colloquial	meaning
Syllable „ân“	ân	un	bârân	bârun	rain
Syllable „âm“	âm	um	bâdâm	bâdum	peanut
Râ after a vowel	râ	ro	to râ	to ro	you
Râ after a consonant	râ	‘o	man râ	man ‘o	me
Personal ending „-ad“	-ad	-e	migirad	migire	she gets
Personal ending „-id“	-id	-in	migirid	migirin	you get
Personal ending „-and“	-and	-an	migirand	migiran	they get
Short form „and“ of to be	and	an	xub and	xub an	they are well
Short form „id“ of to be	id	in	xub id	xub in	you are well
Short form „am“ of to be after „â“	yam	‘m	bâlâ yam	bâlâ ‘m	I’m up
Short form „and“ of to be after „â“	yand	‘n	bâlâ yand	bâlâ ‘n	They are up
Short form “ast“ of to be	ast	e	lâqar ast	lâqar e	he is thin
Mul	pronounced	omitted	mote’assefâne	moteassefâne	unfortunately
Suffix of definiteness after „e“	not applied	-he	baste	bastehe	the box
Suffix of definiteness otherwise	not applied	-e	doxtar	doxtare	the girl
Pronoun after preposition	not applied	applied	az man	az am	from me
Plural suffix „-hâ“ after a consonant	-hâ	-’â	ketâbhâ	ketâb’â	the books
Pronoun „-am“ after „â“	yam	‘m	pâ yam	pâ ‘m	my leg
Pronoun „at“	at	et	doxtar at	doxtar et	your daughter
Pronoun „aŝ“	aŝ	eŝ	doxtar aŝ	doxtar eŝ	his daughter
Pronoun „mân“ after „â“ and „u“	-yemân	-mun	Sedâ yemân	sedâ mun	our voice
Pronoun „tân“ after „â“ and „u“	-yetân	-tun	sedâ yetân	sedâ tun	your voice
Pronoun „ŝân“ after „â“ and „u“	-yeŝân	-ŝun	sedâ yeŝân	sedâ ŝun	their voice

In addition, the present tense forms of many verbs are abbreviated. For example, if the flexion of a present stem includes a “v” or “y” between two vowels, then “v” or “y” is omitted along with the left-vowel:

miravam

mir’am

I go

miguyam

mig’am

I say

Furthermore double consonants are often simplified, with the second consonant often being assimilated:

dast

das’

hand

ceŝm

ceŝ’

eye

Finally, some words have their own abbreviated or “abraded” form:

yek

ye’

one

digar

dige

yet; other