خ + ا + ن + ه
خانه
Alphabets
The Persian alphabet الفبا
Meet every letter of Persian, hear how it sounds, and learn how letters join to make words.
About Persian
Persian is written in the Perso-Arabic script from right to left. It uses the Arabic letters plus پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh) and گ (g). Several Arabic letters are said the same way in Persian – ث س ص are all "s", and ذ ز ض ظ are all "z". Short vowels are usually not written. Persian uses the half-space (zero-width non-joiner) to keep word parts apart without a full space.
- 32
- letters حروف
- 4
- letters of its own
- 6
- vowel sounds
- R → L
- writing direction
Vowels مصوتها
Short vowels are small marks on a letter – shown here on ب – and are usually left out. Long vowels are written with ا و ی. Tap a letter to hear it.
Letters حروف
Letters that share a basic shape are grouped together – dots above or below tell them apart. Tap a letter to hear it.
Alef ا آ
the first letter – long ā, or a vowel at the start of a word
The be family ب پ ت ث
one boat shape – dots tell them apart
The jim family ج چ ح خ
a hook shape
Dāl, re and ze د ذ ر ز ژ
never join the next letter
Sin to zā س ش ص ض ط ظ
teeth and loop shapes
Eyn to qāf ع غ ف ق
open curves and small loops
Kāf to ye ک گ ل م ن و ه ی
tall shapes and the last letters
Persian ی has no dots at the end of a word, unlike Arabic ي, and Persian ک differs from Arabic ك.
How letters join to make words
Persian is written from right to left and most letters join the next one. Three simple rules cover almost everything.
-
1
Letters join the next one
Inside a word most letters link to the next, so their shape changes.
ک +ت +ا +ب =کتاب -
2
Some letters never join on the left
After ا د ذ ر ز ژ و the next letter starts fresh.
ر +و +ز =روز -
3
The half-space keeps parts apart
A zero-width non-joiner separates letters without a space.
می + +روم =میروم
Four shapes of a letter
Alone
ب
On its own.
Start
بـ
At the beginning of a word.
Middle
ـبـ
Joined on both sides.
End
ـب
At the end of a word.
Build real words
آ + ب
آب
ک + ت + ا + ب
کتاب
گ + ل
گل
د + و + س + ت
دوست
ا + ی + ر + ا + ن
ایران
Good to know
Right to left – except numbers
Words run from right to left, but numbers keep their left-to-right order.
Same sound, different letters
ث س ص are all "s" and ذ ز ض ظ are all "z" in Persian.
The half-space
Use Shift+b between parts of a word: کتابها (ketāb-hā, books).
Ready to type in Persian?
Use the on-screen keyboard to write these letters, or translate your first sentence.