The Persian alphabet has 32 letters: the 28 letters of Arabic plus پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh) and گ (g). These 25 questions check letter sounds, the four letter forms, the seven letters that never join the next one, letters that share a sound, the alef and short vowels, and reading short words.
Persian is written right to left, and most letters change shape depending on whether they stand alone or come at the start, middle or end of a word: ب, for example, is بـ at the start, ـبـ in the middle and ـب at the end. Seven letters (ا د ذ ر ز ژ و) never join the letter after them, so a word like ورزش (varzesh, sport) is written as four separate pieces. You can review every shape on the Persian alphabet page.
Several sounds have more than one letter because Persian kept the spelling of Arabic loanwords: س ص ث all sound s, ز ذ ض ظ all sound z, ت and ط sound t, ه and ح sound h, and غ and ق are both gh in standard Tehran speech. The short vowels a, e and o are usually not written, so کتاب is read ketâb. The Persian alphabet guide explains each group.
Say each sound out loud before you submit. Linking the shape to the sound is what makes a letter stick.
Letter names and sounds
1. Which letter makes the sound “sh”?
2. Which letter makes the sound “ch”, as at the start of چای (châi, tea)?
3. Which letter makes the sound “zh”, like the s in “measure”?
4. Which of these letters is called “jim”?
5. How many letters does the Persian alphabet have?
Letter forms and joining
6. How many basic positional forms can a joining letter such as ب have?
7. Which of these letters never joins the letter that comes after it?
8. Odd one out: which of these letters CAN join the letter after it?
9. Which word is written with no letters joined at all?
10. At the start or in the middle of a word, ی is written یـ. How many dots does this form have, and where?
Letters that share a sound, and Persian’s own letters
11. Which of these letters does NOT make the sound “s”?
12. How many Persian letters are pronounced “z”?
13. Which is the correct spelling of salâm (hello)?
14. Which letter has the same sound as ه, as in هفت (haft, seven)?
15. In standard Tehran Persian, which letter sounds the same as غ, as in غذا (ghazâ, food)?
16. Which group lists exactly the four letters that Persian added to the Arabic alphabet?
17. Which of these words contains a letter that the Arabic alphabet does not have?
Short vowels and alef
18. The small diagonal mark above a letter, ـَ (zebar), stands for which vowel?
19. Which letter writes the long vowel â at the very start of a word, as in the word for water?
20. In اسم (esm, name), what does the first letter ا stand for?
21. In خانه (khâne, house), how is the final ه pronounced?
22. In خواب (khâb, sleep), how is the letter و pronounced?
Reading short words
23. How do you read آب?
24. Which word spells bâbâ (dad)?
25. How do you read کتاب?
Answer key with explanations
- D. ش: ش (shin) sounds like sh in “shoe”, as in شب (shab, night). It has the same shape as س (sin, s) with three dots added; ژ is zh.
- A. چ: چ (che) is ch as in “church”. It looks like ج (jim, j) but has three dots below instead of one; خ (khe) is the throaty kh.
- C. ژ: ژ (zhe) is zh, as in ژاکت (zhâket, jacket). It is ز (ze, z) with three dots instead of one, and ر (re) with no dots is r.
- A. ج: ج (jim) sounds j, as in جوان (javân, young). The four letters share one shape and differ only in dots: ج one dot below, چ three dots below, ح no dots, خ one dot above.
- C. 32: Persian has 32 letters: the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet plus four of its own: پ (pe), چ (che), ژ (zhe) and گ (gâf). Twenty-eight is the Arabic count.
- D. 4: A joining letter has four forms: isolated ب, initial بـ, medial ـبـ and final ـب. Letters that never join the next letter use only two: isolated and final.
- A. د: د (dâl) is one of the seven non-joining letters: ا د ذ ر ز ژ و. It can join the letter before it but always leaves a gap after it, as in دست (dast, hand), where the د stands apart. ب (be), ن (nun) and ل (lâm) join on both sides.
- B. م: م (mim) joins on both sides, as in همه (hame, everyone). ر (re), و (vâv) and ز (ze) are all non-joining letters, so a gap always follows them.
- B. ورزش: ورزش (varzesh, sport) is made of و (vâv), ر (re) and ز (ze), which never join the next letter, followed by ش (shin), so every letter stands apart. In کتاب (ketâb, book), ک and ت are joined to the letter after them.
- B. Two dots below: Initial and medial ی has two dots below, as in یک (yek, one). Do not confuse it with بـ (one dot below), تـ (two dots above) or نـ (one dot above). At the end of a word, Persian ی has no dots, as in ماهی (mâhi, fish).
- C. ش: س (sin), ص (sâd) and ث (se) all sound s in Persian, as in سیب (sib, apple), صبح (sobh, morning) and ثانیه (sâniye, second). ش (shin) is sh.
- D. 4: Four letters sound z: ز (ze), ذ (zâl), ض (zâd) and ظ (zâ). ز is the everyday one, as in زن (zan, woman); the other three appear mostly in Arabic loanwords such as ظهر (zohr, noon).
- D. سلام: سلام (salâm) is always spelled with س (sin). Because ص (sâd) and ث (se) also sound s, the only way to know which one a word uses is to learn its spelling; شلام would be read shalâm.
- B. ح: ح (he) and ه (he) both sound h, as in حال (hâl, state, mood). خ looks like ح with a dot but sounds kh, and ع (eyn) is a glottal stop or silent.
- B. ق: غ (gheyn) and ق (ghâf) are both pronounced gh in standard Persian, as in قند (ghand, sugar cube). ک is k, گ is g and خ is kh.
- C. پ چ ژ گ: Persian added پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh) and گ (g) for sounds Arabic lacks, as in پدر (pedar, father) and گربه (gorbe, cat). ک and خ already exist in Arabic, and ث ح ص ط are Arabic letters used mostly in loanwords.
- C. چای: چای (châi, tea) begins with چ, one of the four Persian additions. کتاب (ketâb, book), سلام (salâm, hello) and دوست (dust, friend) use only letters that Arabic also has.
- B. a: Zebar (ـَ) is short a; zir (ـِ), written below the letter, is e; and pish (ـُ) is o. Long â is written with the letter ا. These marks are usually left out in everyday writing.
- B. آ: At the start of a word, â is written آ (alef madde), as in آب (âb, water) and آسمان (âsemân, sky). A plain ا at the start carries a short vowel, and inside a word plain ا is â, as in بابا (bâbâ, dad).
- B. The short vowel e: A plain ا at the start of a word carries a short vowel: e in اسم (esm, name), a in اسب (asb, horse), o in اردک (ordak, duck). For long â at the start you need آ.
- B. As the vowel e: A final ه after a consonant often just marks the vowel e, as in خانه (khâne, house) and نامه (nâme, letter). It is a real h in words like ماه (mâh, moon, month).
- C. It is silent: In the combination خوا, the و is not pronounced, so خواب is khâb and خواهر (khâhar, sister) is khâhar. Elsewhere و can be v, u or o, as in ورزش (varzesh), دوست (dust) and تو (to, you).
- C. âb (water): آب is âb, water: آ gives the long â and ب is b. With a final ی it becomes آبی (âbi, blue); با (bâ, with) puts the b first, and آش (âsh) ends in ش.
- C. بابا: بابا is ب + ا + ب + ا: bâbâ. بالا (bâlâ, up) has ل in the middle, تابه (tâbe, frying pan) starts with ت, and بانو (bânu, lady) has ن and و.
- C. ketâb (book): کتاب is ک + ت + ا + ب, read ketâb, with the short e after ک left unwritten. کباب (kabâb) has ب where کتاب has ت: one dot below instead of two above.
How to learn the Persian letters faster
Learn the letters in shape families rather than in alphabetical order: ب پ ت ث share one body and differ only in dots, as do ج چ ح خ; د ذ; ر ز ژ; س ش; ص ض; ط ظ; and ع غ. Once you know the body, each new letter is just a dot pattern.
Then read real words every day. Short, common words such as آب (âb, water), نان (nân, bread) and دوست (dust, friend) teach the joining rules faster than drills, because the gaps after ا د ذ ر ز ژ و become familiar.