Finglish: How Iranians Write Persian in English Letters (and How to Read It)

Finglish (also called Pinglish or Fingilish) is Persian written with English letters instead of the Persian alphabet. A text like “salam, chetori?” is Finglish for سلام، چطوری؟ (salâm, chetori?), “Hi, how are you?” Iranians use it in texts, chats and usernames when a Persian keyboard is not handy. There is no fixed spelling, so the same word can appear in several forms.

This guide shows how Finglish works letter by letter, the spellings you will see most often, how to read the messages Iranian friends send you, and why it is still worth learning the real script. You can practice converting Finglish to Persian at the end.

What Finglish means (and what it does not)

The name is a blend of Farsi and English. You will also see Pinglish (Persian and English), Fingilish, Pingilish and Penglish. They all mean the same thing: Persian words, Persian grammar, Latin letters. Finglish is not a mix of Persian and English vocabulary. “Mersi, khubam” is Persian; only the alphabet is borrowed.

One note before you search: “Finglish” is also the name for the English-influenced Finnish spoken by Finnish immigrants in North America, so search results can be confusing. On this site, Finglish always means Persian in Latin letters.

Iranians themselves call it فینگلیش (fingilish) in conversation. A more formal Persian term is لاتین‌نویسی فارسی (lâtin-nevisi-ye fârsi), “writing Persian in Latin letters.”

Why Iranians write in Finglish

Finglish grew in the years when many phones and computers could not display or type the Persian alphabet. People still wanted to text and chat in their own language, so they spelled Persian sounds with the letters on the keyboard in front of them. Today every smartphone has a Persian keyboard, so most Iranians inside Iran text in Persian script. Finglish has not disappeared, though. You will still see it:

• in messages from Iranians abroad who mostly type in English and do not want to switch keyboards,
• from second-generation Iranians who speak Persian at home but never learned to read it,
• in usernames, email addresses, hashtags, shop names and song titles,
• on devices or websites that do not support Persian well,
• in quick, casual messages between friends.

Finglish is almost always informal. It usually follows spoken Persian, not the written standard, so you will see mikham (spoken “I want”) much more often than mikhaham (formal می‌خواهم). If spoken forms are new to you, our guide to spoken vs written Persian explains the most common changes.

How Finglish spelling works

Finglish writes words the way they sound, using English spelling habits. Because Persian has a few sounds English does not, writers improvise. The table shows the usual choices. The last column is the system we use in lessons on this site, which is consistent and marks long â.

Three habits explain most Finglish spellings:

• Long â and short a look the same. Most people write both as “a”. So “bar” can be بار (bâr, “load, time”) or بر (bar, “on”).
• The “oo” sound is spelled the English way. خوب (khub, “good”) is often “khoob”, and ممنون (mamnun, “thanks”) is often “mamnoon”.
• Several Persian letters collapse into one Latin letter. Persian has three letters for “s” (س ص ث) and four for “z” (ز ذ ض ظ). Finglish writes them all as s and z, so the spelling information is lost.

If you know Arabic chat writing, you may expect numbers such as 3 or 7 to stand for letters. Persian Finglish relies on them much less, because Persian speakers pronounce ع and ح without the deep Arabic sounds those numbers represent. Most writers simply leave ع out or use an apostrophe.

One word, many spellings

Since nobody sets the rules, the same word appears in different forms. These are all real ways people write a handful of very common words:

Notice the chopped forms like “mrc” for mersi. Fast texters drop vowels the same way English speakers write “thx”.

Common Finglish messages and what they mean

These are phrases you are likely to get in a text from an Iranian friend. Most are spoken (colloquial) Persian, which is exactly what Finglish tends to use.

Hear a few of them:
سلام، چطوری؟ Listen
خوبم، مرسی Listen
چه خبر؟ Listen
باشه Listen
نمی‌دونم Listen
خداحافظ Listen

How to read a Finglish message

Reading Finglish is mostly about sounding it out. A few tips make it much easier:

1. Read it aloud. Finglish is closer to speech than to writing. Saying “nemidoonam” out loud makes it obvious that it is nemidunam, “I don’t know.”
2. Expect spoken endings. A final -e often replaces the written -ad ending (mire for miravad, “he goes”), and “oon” often replaces written “ân” (khoone for khâne, “house”).
3. Try both a and â. If a word with “a” does not make sense, try the long â.
4. Look for attached endings. Possessive and object endings stick to the word: mibinamet is mi-bin-am-et, “I see you.”
5. Use context. Because the spelling is loose, the rest of the sentence often tells you which word is meant.

Finglish vs proper transliteration

Learners sometimes ask whether the transliteration in textbooks is “just Finglish”. It is related, but there are real differences:

Transliteration is a bridge for the first weeks of study. Finglish is something you will meet in real life. Neither replaces the Persian script.

Why you should still learn the Persian alphabet

It is tempting to learn Persian entirely through Finglish, especially if your goal is speaking. Some heritage speakers do this for years. But there are good reasons not to stop there:

• Everything in Iran is in Persian script. Street signs, menus, bus stops, product labels, subtitles, books and nearly every website. Finglish will not help you read any of them.
• Finglish loses information. “khar” can be خر (khar, “donkey”) or خار (khâr, “thorn”). The script tells you which.
• Spelling helps you remember words. Once you know that صد (sad, “hundred”) is spelled with ص, the word sticks better than “sad” in Latin letters, which also looks like an English word.
• The alphabet is smaller than it looks. Persian has 32 letters, and many share the same basic shape with dots added. Most learners can read slowly within a couple of weeks.

A good path is to use transliteration while you learn the letters, then switch to the script as soon as you can sound out words. Start with our Persian alphabet guide with all 32 letters or the step-by-step Farsi alphabet lessons, then test yourself with the Persian alphabet quiz. If you are still deciding, read whether you can learn Farsi without the alphabet.

Turning Finglish into Persian script

If you receive Finglish and want to see it in Persian letters, or you want to answer in proper Persian without a Persian keyboard, two free tools help:

• The Finglish to Persian converter turns Latin-letter Persian into Persian script. Always check the result, because one Finglish spelling can match more than one Persian word.
• The online Persian keyboard lets you type directly in Persian letters on any computer.

Doing the conversion yourself is excellent alphabet practice. The usual steps are: sound out the word, decide which vowels are long (these get a letter) and which are short (these usually do not), then pick the right letter for each consonant. For example, “khoobam” is kh + u + b + a + m. Long u is written with و, short a is not written, so you get خوبم.

Should you text Iranians in Finglish?

It depends on who you are writing to. With Iranian friends abroad who write to you in Finglish, answering the same way is perfectly natural. With someone in Iran, Persian script is now the normal choice, and making the effort will be appreciated. For anything formal, such as emails to a university, a business or an official, always use Persian script and standard written Persian.

Whatever you choose, write the way people speak only in casual messages. Phrases like mikham and nemidoonam are friendly and natural in a chat, but they would look out of place in a formal letter.

Common questions

What is Finglish in Persian?

Finglish is Persian written in Latin letters, for example “merci, khoobam” for مرسی، خوبم. Iranians call it fingilish (فینگلیش). It is used in informal messages, usernames and anywhere a Persian keyboard is not available.

Is Finglish the same as Pinglish?

Yes. Finglish, Pinglish, Fingilish, Pingilish and Penglish are all names for writing Persian with English letters. The difference is only whether the speaker starts from “Farsi” or “Persian”.

How do you write Persian in English letters?

Spell each sound with the closest English letters: kh for خ, gh for غ and ق, sh for ش, ch for چ, oo or u for the long u sound. For learning, use a consistent system that marks long â, like the one in our lessons.

Can I learn Persian with Finglish only?

You can learn to speak a fair amount that way, but you will not be able to read signs, menus, books or most websites. Finglish also hides spelling and vowel length. Learning the 32-letter alphabet takes a few weeks and pays off quickly.

How do I convert Finglish to Persian script?

Use a Finglish to Persian converter and check the result, or convert by hand: sound out the word, write the long vowels (ا و ی), leave out most short vowels, and choose the right consonant letters.

Is it rude to text an Iranian in Finglish?

No. It is common among friends, especially outside Iran. In formal writing, though, Finglish looks careless, so use Persian script there.

Related guides: English letters in Persian

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