麻豆社

What's the Persian alphabet like?

Have a go at spelling out your name and perhaps your address in Persian. Here's the alphabet and how to pronounce it.

- right click and choose 'save target as'

What's significant about the Persian alphabet?

• There are 32 letters in the alphabet and script, written from right to left. Most letters must be connected one to another.
  Calligraphy is a much appreciated art and there are 20 different types of lettering for the alphabet

  听

• Vowels

  In the Persian script, vowels that are referred to as 鈥榮hort vowels鈥� (a, e, o) aren鈥檛 written.
  For example, bad in English has three letters but only two in Persian: 听亘丿 [bad] and man is 听賲賳 [man] (2 letters)
  
  Only the long vowels (i, u, a) are written, for example, bar in English has three letters, as has its Persian translation:
  听亘丕乇 摆产芒谤闭 and 听丿蹖丿 [did]

  听

• Pronunciation

  Words in English are generally used separately, whereas words in Persian are very often connected to one and other. For example, man is 听賲乇丿 [mard], good is 听禺賵亘 [khob], but a good man is 听賲乇丿賽 禺賵亘 [mard e khob]

  听

• What a difference a dot makes

  Complexities mainly lie in the placement of dots in the alphabet, for example, they can be above, below or inside the letter:
  听爻 is pronounced [se], but with the dots, 听卮 is pronounced [sh]
  听 亘 is pronounced [be], but with the dots, 听倬 is pronounced [pe]
  听丨 is pronounced [he], but with the dots, 听趩 is pronounced [ch]
  听胤 is pronounced [te], but with a dot, 听馗 is pronounced [ze]
  
  Here are some examples of words which have 1, 2 or 3 dots, including the different sounds and meanings:
  听賳賵乇 [nour], light but with dots: 听鬲賵乇 [tour], net
  听亘賵乇 [bour], blond but with dots: 听卮賵乇 [shoor], salty

  听

• Email and website conventions

  When giving an email or website address, the conventions are:
  @ 听@ [at], at
  . 听賳賯胤赖 [noghteh], dot
  / 听賲賲蹖夭 [momayez], forward slash
  - 听禺胤 賮丕氐賱賴 [khateh f芒seleh], dash
  

  听