Vowels

The standard Persian of Iran has six vowel sounds: ⟨â, a, e, î, o, û⟩. Persian writing system is abjad (consonantal alphabet). Therefore, vowels do not normally appear in writing.

Vowel IPA English Example
â /ɒ:/ hot آب
âb
(water)
a /æ/ cat ابر
abr
(cloud)
e /e/ egg پدر
pedar
(father)
î /i:/ eagle فیل
fîl
(elephant)
o /o/ forty گل
gol
(flower)
û /u:/ rule روز
rûz
(day)

Regarding the long vowels ⟨î, û⟩, since their short variants do not exist in standard Persian of Iran, transcription schemes normally record them as ⟨i, u⟩. In the sections discussing Persian phonology and writing system, where precision is required, they will be written as ⟨î, û⟩. In the other sections, they will be written as is common in transcriptions.

Diphthongs

Persian diphthongs are produced by combining the vowels “î” and “û” with other vowels. Iranian Persian has five diphthongs: ⟨ây, ey, oy, ûy, ow⟩.

Combination Diphthong IPA English Example
â + î ây /ɒ:j/ ice چای
čây
(tea)
e + î ey /ej/ case سیل
seyl
(flood)
o + î oy /oj/ boy هوی
hoy
(an exclamation)
û + î ûy /u:j/ - روی
rûy
(zinc; face)
o + û ow /oʊ/ bone موز
mowz
(banana)

Consonants

There are 23 consonant sounds in Persian. The sounds /t, s, h, z, ʔ, ɣ/ are denoted with more than one letter.

Consonant Letter(s) IPA Sound Example
b ب b book برادر
barâdar
(brother)
č چ t͡ʃ chain چهل
čehel
(forty)
d د d door در
dar
(door)
f ف f fall فیل
fîl
(elephant)
g گ g game گل
gol
(flower)
ǧ غ
ق
ɣ French rire قورباغه
ǧûrbâǧe
(frog)
h ه
ح
h hat هفت
haft
(seven)
j ج d͡ʒ job جنس
jens
(type)
k ک k key کار
kâr
(work)
x خ x German Buch
Spanish ojo
خوب
xûb
(good)
l ل l leg لب
lab
(lip)
m م m meal مادر
mâdar
(mother)
n ن n no نان
nân
(bread)
p پ p pen پدر
pedar
(father)
r ر r rug (thrilled as in Italian) روز
rûz
(day)
s س
ث
ص
s sad سال
sâl
(year)
š ش ʃ shoe شب
šab
(night)
t ت
ط
t tea توپ
tûp
(ball)
v و v van ورزش
varzeš
(sport)
y ی j yes یک
yek
(one)
z ز
ذ
ض
ظ
z zoo زانو
zânû
(knee)
ž ژ ʒ s in measure
French je
ژله
žele
(jelly)
ø ع
ء
ʔ glottal stop معنی
maøni
(meaning)

Letter ø

A letter to denote glottal stop is the sole letter the author considers essential to be added to common transcription schemes. The reason is explained in the section about glottal stop. The letter “ø” is proposed and will be used here.

Monograph vs. Digraph

Ideally, each consonant should be denoted with a monograph (single letter) to avoid mispronunciation. For example, in the word “mazhab” (مذهب), the consonants ⟨z⟩ and ⟨h⟩ function individually and do not represent ⟨ژ⟩ sound. This word is pronounced “maz-hab” and not “ma-zhab” (مژب). The following monographs replace the common digraphs ⟨ch, gh, kh, sh, zh⟩.

Digraph Monograph
ch č
gh ğ
kh x
sh š
zh ž

Letter ğ

In academic books, غ is denoted with “ɣ” and sometimes with “q”. As for “ɣ”, it belongs to Greek alphabet and is not a letter of Latin. Regarding “q”, it denotes ق in dialects where both غ and ق exist, including Afghan and Tajik Persian. The author proposes the letter “ğ”. It is a Latin-based character and corresponds to the pattern of the other digraph-monograph pairs: ⟨ch - č⟩ ⟨sh - š⟩ ⟨zh - ž⟩ ⟨gh - ğ⟩.

Letter č

The letter “c” does not represent any sound per se in Persian transcription. Therefore, both “c” and “č” can be used in place of “ch”. In academic books, “č” is more prevalent.