English Letters in Persian: A to Z Chart, Letter Names and Real Examples

Most English letters have a direct Persian match: b is ب, d is د, f is ف, k is ک and m is م. A few need a choice: c becomes ک or س, q becomes ک, x becomes کس, w becomes و, and th is usually ت. Vowels are the tricky part, because Persian writes long vowels with ا، و، ی and usually leaves short ones out.

Below you will find a full A to Z chart, the rules for vowels and tricky letter pairs, how Iranians say the English letter names when they spell something aloud, and dozens of real names and brands exactly as they are written in Iran. If you just want your own name, the Persian name converter does it for you; this page explains the why, so you can check the result and write any English word yourself.

English letters in Persian: the A to Z chart

The chart goes by sound, not just spelling. English spelling is irregular, while Persian spelling is close to how a word sounds, so the first question is always “what sound do I hear?” and only then “which Persian letter writes it?”

Two things the chart cannot show on its own: Persian is written right to left with joined letters, and the short vowels a, e and o are normally not written in the middle of a word. That is why Jack is just جک (j + k) and Kevin is کوین (k + v + i + n). If the Persian alphabet itself is new to you, start with our Persian alphabet guide with all 32 letters.

Consonants that match one to one

About half of the English consonants have a single, obvious Persian partner, and you can use them without thinking:

Note that Persian has more than one letter for the s, z, t and h sounds (for example س, ص and ث all sound like s). For English words you always use the plain everyday one: س for s, ز for z, ت for t and ه for h. The others mostly appear in words that came from Arabic, which we come back to below.

Double letters are written once. Harry is هری, not two r letters, and Emma is اما. Silent letters disappear too: Kate is کیت (no final e), Knight would be نایت (nâyt), and Thomas is توماس because the h in “Th” is silent.

Letters that need a choice

These are the letters that make people search “how do you write c in Persian?” The answer depends on the sound in that particular word.

C: ک or س

A hard c (as in “cat”, “Coca-Cola”, “Canada”) is ک. A soft c, usually before e, i or y (as in “cinema”, “city”, “Cindy”), is س. So Coca-Cola is کوکاکولا Listen and cinema is سینما (sinamâ) Listen.

G: گ or ج

A hard g (Google, golf) is گ. A soft g that sounds like j (George, Georgia) is ج: Google is گوگل (gugel) Listen and George is جورج (jorj).

CH: usually چ

The “ch” in Charles or chips is چ, a letter Persian has and Arabic does not: Charles is چارلز (chârlz). Two exceptions follow the real sound: in words from French where ch sounds like sh, Persian uses ش (Chicago شیکاگو, Michelle میشل), and in words from Greek where ch sounds like k, it uses ک (Christopher کریستوفر, Christmas کریسمس).

Q: ک

In English words, q (always followed by u, giving a “kw” sound) is written کو: Queen, the band, is کوئین. Persian does have a letter ق, but it is used for Persian and Arabic words, not for the English q sound.

X: کس, گز or ز

Inside a word x is two sounds, k + s, so it becomes کس: taxi is تاکسی (tâksi) Listen, Alex is الکس and fax is فکس. When the English x sounds like “gz”, Persian follows the sound: Texas is تگزاس (tegzâs). At the start of a word x usually sounds like z, and that is how Persian writes it: the brand Xerox is زیراکس (zirâks), which Iranians also use as the everyday word for a photocopy.

W and V: both و

Standard Persian has no separate w sound, so both w and v are written with و and usually pronounced as v. William is ویلیام (viliyâm), Washington is واشنگتن (vâshangton) Listen and WhatsApp is واتس‌اپ (vâtsâp). The same letter و also writes the vowels o and u, so you will see it doing three jobs.

TH: usually ت

Persian has no “th” sound, and English th is normally written ت: Smith is اسمیت (esmit) Listen and Elizabeth is الیزابت (elizâbet). The voiced th of “this” or “mother” is often heard as d, and some names are spelled that way, such as the physicist Rutherford, رادرفورد. You will occasionally see ث in older spellings, but ت is the safe everyday choice.

NG, PH, CK and other pairs

“ng” keeps both sounds and is written نگ, with the g pronounced: Samsung is سامسونگ (sâmsung). “ph” is ف (Sophia سوفیا), “ck” is a single ک (Jack جک), and the French-style j or “zh” sound is ژ, as in Jacques ژاک (zhâk).

How to write English vowels in Persian

Vowels decide whether a spelling looks natural to an Iranian. Persian has six vowels: three long ones that are written (ا â, ی i, و u) and three short ones (a, e, o) that are usually left out in the middle of a word. Our lesson on Farsi vowels covers them in detail. Here is how English vowel sounds map onto them:

Words that start with a vowel

A Persian word cannot begin with a bare vowel sign, so a vowel at the start always sits on ا (alef). Use آ for a long “ah” sound, plain ا for a short a or e, ای for “ee”, and او for “oo” or “oh”:

• Anna → آنا (ânâ), Amazon → آمازون (âmâzon)
• Alex → الکس, Emma → اما, Elizabeth → الیزابت
• Instagram → اینستاگرام (instâgrâm) Listen, internet → اینترنت
• Uber → اوبر (uber), Oxford → آکسفورد, because Iranians say the American “ah” sound here
• iPhone → آیفون (âyfon), with آی for the “eye” sound

Words that start with s + consonant

Persian words never start with two consonants, so Iranians add a short e before an initial “st”, “sp”, “sk” or “sm”. The spelling shows it with ا: Steve is استیو (estiv) Listen, Smith is اسمیت, Starbucks is استارباکس (estârbâks) and Scotland is اسکاتلند (eskâtland). Leaving out that ا is one of the most common mistakes learners make.

Persian letters you will rarely need for English words

Persian has 32 letters, but when you write English names and words you mostly use about 20 of them. These letters are kept for words that came from Arabic, and Iranians do not use them for English sounds:

Writing an English name with ص instead of س will not stop people reading it, but it looks odd, a bit like spelling “Sam” with a “c”. If you are curious why Persian has these extra letters, see Farsi vs Arabic: how the two languages differ.

English letter names in Persian: spelling out loud

When Iranians spell an email address, a license plate or an acronym, they use the English letter names, said with a Persian accent. Because Persian has no w sound, Y is “vây” and W is “dabliu”, and Z is usually “zed” (the British name), though “zi” is also heard. In Persian script the names look like this:

Some names look the same in Persian script and are told apart only by pronunciation: A (ey) and E (i) are both ای, and G (ji) and J (jey) are both جی. In speech they sound different, so this only matters in writing; when spelling something on the phone, just say each letter clearly or add an example word, the same way English speakers say “B as in boy”.

Acronyms in Persian

Acronyms are written as the letter names joined with a zero-width non-joiner, so each name keeps its own shape: BBC is بی‌بی‌سی Listen, CNN is سی‌ان‌ان, SMS is اس‌ام‌اس (es-em-es) Listen, PDF is پی‌دی‌اف and DVD is دی‌وی‌دی. Acronyms that are read as a word are written as a word: FIFA is فیفا.

Two useful phrases: “English letters” is حروف انگلیسی (horuf-e engilisi) Listen and “the English alphabet” is الفبای انگلیسی (alefbâ-ye engilisi). On forms in Iran you will often see حروف لاتین (horuf-e lâtin), “Latin letters”, as in “write your name in Latin letters”.

How to write English names and brands in Persian

Here is the method Iranians follow without thinking about it. Use it for any name, product or place:

1. Say the word out loud. Write what you hear, not what you see. Thomas starts with a t sound, so it starts with ت.
2. Write every consonant using the chart above, dropping silent and double letters.
3. Write the long vowels (“ah”, “ee”, “oo”, “oh”) with ا, ی or و; skip short a and e in the middle.
4. Fix the start of the word: add ا or آ before a vowel, and ا before s + consonant.
5. Check the end: a final “ah” gets ا, a final short e gets ه.
6. Look it up. Famous names and brands already have an accepted spelling, so search for it or check the Persian dictionary before you invent your own.

Common English first names

Want your own name? Our step-by-step guide to writing your name in Persian covers tricky cases like double names and surnames.

Brands, apps and places

Notice the half-space in فیس‌بوک and واتس‌اپ. Compound names keep their parts visibly separate with a zero-width non-joiner, the same character Persian uses in می‌خواهم. On a phone or computer you can type it with the online Persian keyboard.

Many everyday Persian words are English (or French) loanwords written exactly this way: اینترنت (internet), کامپیوتر (kâmpiuter), پیتزا (pitzâ), ساندویچ (sândevich), فوتبال (futbâl) Listen, هتل (hotel) and ایمیل (imeyl). Reading them is great practice, because you already know what they mean.

Going the other way: Persian written in English letters

If you searched “English letters in Persian” because you want to type Persian with an English keyboard, that is called Finglish (فینگلیش, fingilish): Persian words written in Latin letters, like “salam, chetori?” for سلام، چطوری؟. It is how many Iranians text when no Persian keyboard is available. Our post on Finglish and how Iranians write Persian in English letters explains the habits, and the Finglish to Persian converter turns Latin-letter text into Persian script.

The quickest way to get comfortable with all of this is to learn the 32 Persian letters properly, then test yourself with the Persian alphabet quiz. If you prefer a structured workbook with tracing and reading practice, Read and Write Persian Language in 7 Days takes you through the script step by step.

Common questions

How do you write English letters in Persian?

Match each English sound to a Persian letter: b ب, d د, k ک, s س, t ت and so on. Write long vowels with ا، و، ی and leave most short vowels out. Persian is written right to left, so the first sound of the English word goes on the right.

Does Persian have the letters C, Q, W and X?

Not as separate letters. C is written ک or س depending on the sound, q is ک, w is و, and x is کس. Persian does have ق, but it is not used for the English q.

How do you say “English letters” in Persian?

حروف انگلیسی (horuf-e engilisi). The English alphabet is الفبای انگلیسی (alefbâ-ye engilisi), and on official forms you will often read حروف لاتین (horuf-e lâtin), “Latin letters”.

How many letters does the Persian alphabet have compared to English?

Persian has 32 letters and English has 26. Persian has extra letters for sounds like kh, gh and zh, plus several letters that share one sound, but it has no separate letters for w, th or short vowels.

How do Iranians pronounce the English alphabet?

Close to English, with a few Persian habits: Y is “vây”, W is “dabliu”, H is “ech”, Z is usually “zed”, and R is “âr”. The full list with Persian spelling is in the letter-name table above.

Can I type English letters on a Persian keyboard?

Yes. Persian keyboards switch between Persian and Latin layouts, and English brand names are often left in Latin letters in tech writing. For typing Persian script without a Persian keyboard, use the online Persian keyboard.

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