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JOKESTAN PERSIAN JOKES - Jokestan Homepage Members
| A PHONETIC ALPHABET FOR FARSI ON-LINE |
Since plugins or separate programs are not popular yet to read Persian language on the net, we will use
the phonetic alphabet. The following phonetic alphabet is suggested here to be used for writing Farsi on the Internet. It is hoped that this will help those who are interested in communicating
on-line in Farsi using a Latin alphabet base.This is a slightly modified version of the phonetic alphabet proposed by A.
Kasravi.
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| proposed alphabet | sounds like | in the word | in Farsi |
| A - a | a | and | asb (horse) |
| A' - a' | o | odd | a'b (water) |
| B - b | b | bed | ba'd (wind) |
| C - c | ch | cheese | moc (wrist) |
| D - d | d | door | dard (pain) |
| E - e | e | end | mes (copper) |
| F - f | f | far | fa'l (fortune) |
| G - g | g | go | gerd (round) |
| H - h | h | head | ra'h (road) |
| I - i | ee | see | sim (wire) |
| J - j | j | jar | ja'm (cup) |
| K - k | k | kind | ka'm (wish) |
| L - l | l | lip | fil (elephant) |
| M - m | m | man | carm (leather) |
| N - n | n | name | tan (body) |
| O - o | o | cord | gom (lost) |
| P - p | p | pie | pa'k (clean) |
| Q - q | r in French | riche | qam (sorrow) |
| R - r | r in Spanish | rosa | rag (vein) |
| S - s | s | sit | bist (twenty) |
| T - t | t | tea | ta'r (string) |
| U - u | oo | root | sud (profit) |
| V - v | v | very | div (demon) |
| W - w | sh | shoe | wa'd (happy) |
| X - x | ch in German | Bach | xar (donkey) |
| Y - y | y | yellow | yek (one) |
| Z - z | z | zebra | zir (under) |
| Z' - z' | s | measure | z'erf (deep) |
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A brief explanation on the above letters and their use in Farsi follows:
Letter A (vowel) is written in two different ways in Farsi:
- with an alef and a sign called zebar above it:
abr (cloud), ast (is), arj (importance)
- with the sign zebar over other letters:
sard (cold), wab (night), zan (woman)
Letter A' (vowel) typed with a + apostrophe, is written in three different ways in Farsi:
- with an Alef (the first letter of the alphabet) and a sign called madda over it:
a'n (that), a'b (water), a'z (greed)
- with an alef as in words: wa'd (happy), ma'r (snake), ka'r (work)
- With Ye (the 32nd letter of the Farsi alphabet): Musa' (Moses)
A' and a' could be replaced with the ASCII characters Á and á.
Letter E (vowel) is also written in two different ways:
- with an alef and a sign called zir under it:
esm (name), ejba'r (coercion), exra'j (expulsion), ela' (until)
- with the sign zir under other letters:
pedar (father), cera'q (lamp), meda'd (pencil)
Letter Va'v (the 30th letter of the Farsi alphabet) represents four different sounds of o, u,
ou, and v, which are explained below:
Letter O (vowel) is written in four different ways in Farsi:
- with Va'v:
xora'k (food), xod (self), do (two), to (you)
- with Alef and a Va'v:
opera' (opera)
- with an Alef and a sign called peesh over it:
osta'd (professor), ordak (duck), opera' (opera)
- with the sign peesh over other letters:
bot (idol), pol (bridge), gola'b (rose water)
Letter U (vowel) is written in three different ways in Farsi:
- with Va'v: cub (wood), jura'b (sock), dust (friend)
- with Alef and Va'v: u (he, she), Ut (August),
- with the sign peesh over other letters: Da'vud (David), Ka'vus (a name)
In these two words the sign peesh could be replaced with a Va'v.
Diphthong OU (sounds as ow in bowl) is written in two different ways in Farsi:
- with Va'v: goud (deep), mouz (banana), dour (cycle), dou (jogging)
- with Alef and Va'v: ourang (throne), oula'd (children)
Letter V represents the consonant Va'v:
- da'var (referee), tava'n (ability), a'vardan (to bring)
As for the silent Va'v, there is no point in writing it, as can be seen from these examples:
- xa'st (desire), xiw (self), xa'har (sister)
Tashdeed is shown by rewriting the letter with tashdeed twice:
- amma' (but), sadd (dam), dovvom (second), samm (poison), tamanna' (request)
Letter Ye (last letter of the Farsi alphabet), aside from representing a' at the end of some
words, would be written with letters I (vowel) and Y (half vowel).
Letter I will be used to write Ye where it sounds like ee as in see. This letter represents
two ways of writing in Farsi.
- Alef and Ye at the beginning of the word as in the single syllable words:
in (this), il (tribe), ist (stop)
- Ye at the middle and at the end of a word such as:
Cin (China), tim (team), sim (wire),
si (thirty), bi (without), ki (who)
More examples with the letter I:
- pa'rti (party), Ira'ni (Iranian), Fa'rsi (Farsi), A'mrika' (America), film (film),
ima'n (belief), rixt (form), riw (beard), sini (tray), ira'dgiri (fault finding)
Ye before or after a vowel forms diphthongs and their pronunciation is a combination of
both sounds. We categorize these diphthongs into two groups.
First group: Ye precedes the vowels a, a', e, i, o, u. We choose only Y to form
these diphthongs and use single syllable words to show their application:
| ya | as in | yax (ice) |
| ya' | as in | ya'd (memory) |
| ye | as in | yek (one) |
| yi | | will be discussed later |
| yo | as in | yod (iodine) |
| yu | as in | yuq (yoke) |
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Second group: The above vowels precede letter Ye. We will write this group of
diphthongs in two different ways, with Y and I as in the following examples:
| ay | or | ai | as in | sayya'r | or | saiya'r (mobile) |
| a'y | or | a'i | as in | la'y | or | la'i (silt) |
| ey | or | ei | as in | mey | or | mei (wine) |
| iy | | -- | | will be discussed later |
| oy | or | oi | as in | Royter | or | Roiter (Roiter news agency) |
| uy | or | ui | as in | juy | or | jui (stream) |
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For keeping conformity in writing the second group of diphthongs it would be best to use
ai, a'i, ei, oi, ui, at the beginning and in the middle of a word:
- eiva'n (porch), ta'ip (type), meida'n (arena), keifi (qualitative), seil (flood),
xeili (plenty), Ta'iva'n (Taiwan), keiha'n (cosmos)
And it would be best to use ay, a'y, ey, oy, uy, in the following ways:
- At the end of a word: ney (bamboo), fardgera'y (individualist)
- In the case of doubled Ye (Ye with tashdeed), to show the repetition of Y:
sayya'r (mobile), meyyet (dead), ayya'm (times)
- In the case of compound words, where an existing word is used as part of a
new word. It is better to keep the spelling of the parts unchanged even though the
ending diphthong of one word may happen to be in the middle of the new word:
| ney | in | neyza'r (bamboo field), neylabak (flute) |
| mey | in | meygosa'ri (wine drinking), meyxa'ne (tavern) |
- If a diphthong of the second group is followed by a vowel, since Y changes
syllables and forms the first group of diphthongs with the new vowel. In other
words, between two vowels we should write Y and not I. The shift of Y from
one syllable to the other is shown in bold letters.
pey and peya'mad (aftermath), peya'pey (continuous)
As you can see from the above examples, Y is used in the form of diphthongs and not by
itself. Y is used alone only at the end of some words in which it does not sound as
ee (see) or A', a good example is the word nafy (negation).
In Farsi, there is a Y sound between the letters of I and A, A', E, O, U. This Y forms
the ya, ya', ye, yo, yu diphthongs:
| between | I | and | A | as in | siyah (black) |
| between | I | and | A' | as in | miya'n (middle) |
| between | I | and | E | as in | Viyetna'm (Vietnam) |
| between | I | and | O | as in | televiziyon (television) |
| between | I | and | U | as in | ka'mpiyuter (computer) |
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Also notice that the addition of Y facilitates the pronunciation of two adjacent vowels.
As when a word ending in I is followed by a suffix starting with a vowel. For this
example we choose a'n the plural form suffix:
- bumi and bumiya'n (natives), Fara'nsavi and Fara'nsaviya'n (the French)
Or in the case of other vowels:
- molla' and molla'ya'n (mullahs), mahru and mahruya'n (the beautiful)
The diphthong YI is used to represent the suffix made of Alef and Ye with corresponding
pronunciation (not all Alef and Ye's written in Farsi are pronounced the same) as in:
- boxa'riyi ga'zi (a gas stove), xa'neyi ziba' (a beautiful house)
More examples of the Farsi letter Ye represented by the letters I and Y:
- Yahya' (a name), vidiyo (video), pey (foundation), key (when), youm (day),
ja'yez (permissible), rava'yat (narrative), wirini (sweets), peima'n (contract),
peida'yew (discovery), meigu (shrimp), siyomin (thirtieth), birun (outside),
weida' (lovesick), pa'ya'n (end), sudjuy (profiteer), ra'diyo (radio),
opozisiyon (opposition), ija'b (requirement), Sorayya' (the Pleiades),
tip (type), sinema' (cinema), iwa'n (they), bini (nose), riya'l (rial)
We can now proceed to write the Farsi alphabet based on the pronunciations of the letters
that we have introduced.
| 1. Alef | 2. Be | 3. Pe | 4. Te | 5. Se | 6. Jim | 7. Ce | 8. He |
| 9. Xe | 10. Da'l | 11. Za'l | 12. Re | 13. Ze | 14. Z'e | 15. Sin | 16. Win |
| 17. Sa'd | 18. Za'd | 19. Ta' | 20. Za' | 21. Ein | 22. Qein | 23. Fe | 24. Qa'f |
| 25. Ka'f | 26. Ga'f | 27. La'm | 28. Mim | 29. Nun | 30. Va'v | 31. Ha' | 32. Ye |
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All Farsi letters with similar sounds will be represented with one single letter.
Phonetically speaking, it is redundant to have multiple representations of a single sound.
Letter H will represent:
| He (#8) | as in | ha'la' (now), ehtera'm (respect) |
| Ha' (#31) | as in | heda'yat (guidance), Tehra'n (Tehran) |
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Since there are no letters in the Farsi alphabet for a (zebar) and e (zir), Ha' (#31)
is used to represent them in words that end in these two sounds. This Ha' is silent
with no pronunciation. Therefore, there is no need to write it as the examples
show: na (no), be (to), ca'le (pit), rafte (gone), xa'ne (house), xa'neha' (houses)
Please note: Not all ending Ha's are silent and have to be written where they are
pronounced: tah (bottom), beh (quince), deh (village), dehha' (villages)
Letter N will represent:
| Nun (#29) | as in | nama'yew (show) |
| Tanvin | as in | ka'melan (perfectly), a'nan (instantly) |
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Letter Q will represent:
| Qein (#22) | as in | qa'yeb (absent), qodde (tumor) |
| Qa'f (#24) | as in | oqya'nus (ocean) |
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Letter S will represent:
| Se (#5) | as in | servat (wealth), mosallas (triangle) |
| Sin (#15) | as in | ka'se (bowl) |
| Sa'd (#17) | as in | housele (patience), asha'b (possessors) |
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Letter T will represent the following including Ha' (#31) with two dots over it:
| Te (#4) | as in | ta'r (string) |
| Ta' (#19) | as in | xayya't (tailor), tavile (stable) |
| Ha' (#31) | as in | zaka't (alms) |
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Letter Z will represent:
| Za'l (#11) | as in | bazr (seed) |
| Ze (#13) | as in | ziya'd (plenty) |
| Za'd (#18) | as in | zedd (against), houz (pool) |
| Za' (#20) | as in | ezha'r (expression), vaza'yef (duties) |
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Letter Z' will be typed with z + apostrophe:
- z'ende (shabby), z'a'le (dew), hidroz'en (hydrogen)
Letter Ein (#21) has no pronunciation in Farsi. It can only cause a short pause or silence
(glottal stop) in certain places. At the beginning of a word Ein is represented by the
vowel or the diphthong that follows it such as:
- a'li (excellent), Ali (a name), elm (science), aya'l (espouse), Isa' (Jesus), ud (lute),
einak (glasses), ayya'wi (debauchery), oud (return), amdan (deliberately),
aya'n (visible), Arabi (Arabic), a'tefe (affection)
In the middle of a word, after a consonant, Ein causes a glottal stop. Between some
vowels it does not have a function, but for ease of writing, and to avoid forming
diphthongs that do not belong in the word, glottal stop will be represented with the caret
sign ^ (above #6 on the keyboard) in all situations in the middle of a word, such as:
- sa'^at (clock), sa'me^e (hearing), tabi^atan (naturally), mou^ud (promised),
ja'me^e (society), mas^ud (prosperous), mo^ayyan (specified), so^ud (rise),
fa^^a'l (active), mi^a'd (rendezvous), ta^addi (trespass), mal^un (cursed),
Ein at the end of a word is not pronounced either, and the word can be written without
the sign ^ such as:
- tama (greed), ejtema' (society)
However, some words have to be written with the sign ^ to avoid confusion, such as:
- tab^ (temper), man^ (prohibition), nou^ (variety),...
Hamze will be dealt with just like Ein as the following examples show:
- mas^ul (responsible), so^a'l (question), mas^ale (problem), emla' (dictation),
mo^addab (polite), mala (assembly), ro^us (heads), aba' (refusal)
Glottal stop, before a consonant changes its preceding vowels a, e, o into diphthongs
aa, ee, and, ou respectively. These diphthongs replace the vowel and the glottal stop:
| aa | as in: | ma^dan to maadan (mine), ma^va' to maava' (shelter) |
| ee | as in: | me^de to meede (stomach), e^tela'f to eetela'f (coalition) |
| ou | as in: | mo^jeze to moujeze (miracle), ro^ya' to rouya' (dream) |
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In many places Ein + Ye in the middle and at the end of a word, particularly after a
vowel, are pronounced as YI, so writing this diphthong instead of ^I can also be OK:
- sayid (prosperous), masa'yi (efforts), moyin (assistant), rabiyi (vernal)
Two Ye's or a Hamze + Ye will also be written as YI:
- guyi (as if), a'yine (mirror), fardgera'yi (individualism), ruyin tan (invulnerable),
pa'yin (down), Baha'yi (Bahai), Ha'va'yi (Hawaii), ca'yi (tea), maryi (visible),
jozyi (minor), leba'sha'yi qawang (some pretty clothes)
Hamze before E could also be written as Y in most cases:
- mala'yek (angels), ha'yel (obstruction), fa'yede (benefit)
Finally, any glottal stop within the pronunciation of a word will be represented by ^ ,
whether a Hamze or Ein is in the Farsi spelling of the word or not:
- bel^axare (finally), Qor^a'n (Koran - the holy book of Islam)
Here is a review of the diphthongs used in Farsi as explained above:
| aa | as in: | aada'd (numbers), taayid (confirmation), yaas (despair) |
| ee | as in: | feel (verb), meema'ri (architecture), yeela'q (summer resort) |
| ai or ay | as in: | maini (meaning), sayya'd (hunter)
The two words, maini (meaning) and mainavi (spiritual)
are Farsi words written in Arabic as ma^ni and ma^navi. |
| a'i or a'y | as in: | Ta'iland (Thailand), sara'y (house) |
| ei or ey | as in: | bei^a'ne (down payment), dar pey (following) |
| iy | | This diphthong which combines the two sounds of I and Y is written with one Ye in Farsi such as: niyyat (intention), keifiyyat (quality), ra^iyyat (farmer) |
| oi or oy | as in: | Rolzrois (a name), ka'boy (cowboy) |
| ui or uy | as in: | muirag (capillary), guy (sphere) |
| ou | as in: | woura' (council), tour (manner), youyou (yoyo) |
| ya | as in: | yadaki (extra), yaxca'l (refrigerator) |
| ya' | as in: | ya'ri (assistance), muriya'ne (termite) |
| ye | as in: | sa'ye (shadow), yega'ne (sole) |
| yi | as in: | hava'yi (aerial), za'yidan (to give birth) |
| yo | as in: | Niyoyork (New York), yortme (trot) |
| yu | as in: | qoyud (bonds), yuz (greyhound) |
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Diphthongs ia, ia', ie, io, iu, have the same pronunciation as the first group of diphthongs
formed with Y and the other vowels. For avoiding repetition and simplifying the writing,
I did not introduce them in this paper.
If for the purposes of pronunciation, the need for distinguishing syllables or diphthongs
from vowels within a word arises, we can employ a hyphen ( - ). For example, if the
name Ma'ya'yiya'n proves difficult to read, we can write it as Ma'-ya'-yi-ya'n. In this
manner, one would know which vowels form diphthongs, where the syllables start and
end, and which vowels stand alone.
Attaching words together must be avoided as much as possible:
- be u instead of beu (to him/ her), in ast instead of inast (this is)
There are two exceptions:
- If the two words construct a new word such as: bisim (wireless telegraph)
- If there is not a choice or it is more desirable, in which case a hyphen must be
used for distinguishing the boundaries of each word:
- inha'-st (these are), a'nja'-st (it is there), be-man (to me),
man-am (I am), u-st (s/he is), az-u (from him/ her), be-u (to her/ him)
Genitive case in Farsi is represented by the particle E. In Farsi writing, this is shown by a
zir under the last letter of the first word in the genitive construction. This particle is not
part of any word, and therefore must be written separately:
- deraxt e sabz (green tree), saay e bihude(futile effort), Xa'nom e Samiyi (Mrs. ...),
keta'b e Hamid (Hamid's book), Mahmud e Qaznavi (a name)
If the first word ends in a, a', e, i, o, u, one Y will be added to e such as:
- na ye mohkam (strong no), ta'kha' ye mou (grapevines),
nuwa'be ye sard (cold drink) quri ye cini (china teapot),
polou ye napoxte (undone rice), mu ye siya'h (black hair),
tasfiye ye naft (refining oil), masa'yi ye fara'va'n (great efforts)
The genitive particle is pronounced as e after a word ending in Ein or Hamze whether
we show these letters or not:
- tab^ e xow (talented nature), tama e xa'm (futile greed), mala e a'm (public view)
In this group, if a word ends in a' the genitive particle is usually pronounced as ye:
- emla' ye xa'na' (legible writing), wo^a' ye da'yere (radius of the circle),
aaza' ye badan (organs of the body)
In the following examples, notice the use of the letter e in relation to another word. As is
seen, it can give different meanings and pronunciations to a word. Accented syllables are
shown in bold letters.
| Na'der e Afwa'r (full name of a man) | genitive particle |
| Na'dere (a woman's name) | Arabic suffix of feminine gender |
| Na'der-e (he's Nader) or na'der-e (it's rare) | abbreviated verb |
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In Farsi, no word starts with two consonants. Therefore attention must be paid to the
spelling of the words or names of foreign origin with this kind of spelling:
- boronz (bronze), kela'rinet (clarinet), gera'fit (graphite), kolub (club),
Estera'vinski (Stravinsky), esta'diyom (stadium)
By transliterating three pieces of poetry we start to write with this alphabet. Please read
across the page as in Farsi poetry.
Mansur Abolqa'sem e Ferdousi
| be na'm e Xoda'vand e ja'n o xerad | k-az-in bartar andiwe barnagzarad |
| Xoda'vand e na'm o Xoda'vand e ja'y | Xoda'vand e ruzi deh e rahnama'y |
| Xoda'vand e keiha'n o gardun sepehr | foruzande ye ma'h o na'hid o mehr |
| ze na'm o newa'n o goma'n bartar ast | nega'rande ye barwode gohar ast |
| be binandega'n a'farinande ra' | nabini maranja'n do binande ra' |
| naya'bad bed-u niz andiwe ra'h | ke u bartar az na'm o az ja'yga'h |
| soxon har ce z-in gohara'n bogzarad | naya'bad bed-u ra'h ja'n o xerad |
| xerad ra' vo ja'n ra' hami sanjad u | dar andiwe ye saxtegi gonjad u |
| sotudan nada'nad kas u ra' co hast | miya'n bandegi ra' beba'yad-t bast |
| xeradgar soxon bargozinad hami | hama'n beh gozinad ke binad hami |
| bed-in a'lat o ra'y o ja'n o rava'n | sotud a'farinande ra' key tava'n |
| be hastiw ba'yad ke xastu wavi | ze gofta'r e bika'r yeksu wavi |
| parastande ba'wi o juyande ra'h | be farma'nha' z'arf kardan nega'h |
| tava'na' bovad har ke da'na' bovad | ze da'new del e pir borna' bovad |
| az-in parde bartar soxon ga'h nist | be hastiw andiwe ra' ra'h nist |
| konun ey xeradmand e arj o xerad | bed-in ja'ygah goftan andar xorad |
| begu to ce da'ri biya'r az xerad | ke guw e nayuwande z-u barxorad |
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Hakim Abolfath Omarebn e Ebra'him - Xayya'm
| a'nha' ke mohit e fazl o a'da'b wodand | dar jam^ e kama'l wam^ e azha'b wodand |
| rah z-in wab e ta'rik nabordand borun | goftand fasa'neyi yo dar xa'b wodand |
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Xa'je Wamseddin Mohammad Ha'fez e Wira'zi
| duw ba' man goft penha'n ka'r da'ri tizhuw |
v-az woma' penha'n nawa'yad kard serr e mey foruw |
| goft a'sa'n gir bar xod ka'rha' |
k-az ru ye tab^ saxt migardad jaha'n bar mardom e saxt
kuw |
| v-a'n-gaham dar da'd ja'mi k-az foruqaw bar falak |
zomre dar raqs a'mad o barbat zana'n migoft nuw |
| ba' del e xunin lab e xanda'n biya'var hamco ja'm |
ney garat zaxmi resad a'yi co cang andar xoruw |
| ta' nagardi a'wna' z-in parde ramzi nawnavi |
guw e na'mahram naba'wad ja' ye peiqa'm e soruw |
| guw kon pand ey pesar az bahr e donya qam maxor |
goftamat con dor hadisi gar tava'ni da'wt guw |
| dar harim e ewq natva'n zad dam az goft o wenid |
z-a'n ke a'nja' jomle aaza' cewm ba'yad bud o guw |
| bar basa't e nokteda'na'n xodforuwi wart nist |
ya' soxan da'neste guy ey mard e a'qel ya' xamuw |
| sa'qiya' mey deh ke rendiha' ye Ha'fez fahm kard |
a'sef e sa'hebqera'n e jormbaxw e eibpuw |
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