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Persian alphabet

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These are the rules concerning transliteration inPersian entries.

Three transliteration schemes are used in Persian entries (See below). Among them, the Tajik transliteration should only appear in a pronunciation template. Within entries otherwise, only the Classical and Iranian Transliterations should be used. While editors discussed and supported the idea of streamlining transliterations by inputting classical transliteration in all templates and automatically generating the Iranian transliteration (thus displayingboth with one input), this has not been implemented yet; Due to the fact that the necessary modules to support generating two transliterations are still works-in-progress. Until said modules are available to streamline Persian transliteration, the transliterations used are as so:

In pronunciation templates: Pronunciation templates must always use the classical transliteration exclusively. As it is not possible to generate Classical, Dari and Tajik romanizations from the Iranian romanization. If the term is exclusive to Iranian Persian,still input the classical romanization, the pronunciation modulefa-IPA can generate all romanizations from the classical romanization. Simply set the module to generate an Iranian transliteration.

In link and headerword templates: after streamlining, link & headword templates will also be able to generate both the Iranian and Classical romanization as fa-IPA does. In the mean time, there is no consensus regarding what transliteration to use. The most common practice is to use amodified Iranian transliteration,with q and ġ distinguished.

Within quotation and conjugation templates: all modern varieties spoken in Iranafter the 16th century should use the Iranian Transliteration. Otherwise all other varieties (including Medieval varieties spoken in Iran) should utilize the Classical transliteration.

After streamlining is complete, it will be possible to use the classical transliteration in all cases and have the Iranian transliteration automatically generated.

This transliteration should be used by any variety thatis not modern Iranian Persian (i.e. Classical, Dari, Hazaragi and Tajik) for termsin the Arabic script. For Tajik terms in Cyrillic see the Tajik transliteration.

This is the transliteration used in all pronunciation templates.

• Dental, labial and velar stops are always aspirated, with few exceptions.

• /t/ and/d/ are phonetically dental in nearly all varieties. Though they are also phonemically dental in Hazaragi and some other varieties of Dari.

• Alif is, with few exceptions, only a glottal stop in word initial positions

• Geminated consonants are shown with the consonant diacritictashdid (ـّ). Geminated consonants are transliterated with doubled letters, both in IPA and in transliterations.

• hē (ه) in word final positions may act as a placeholder for any short vowel instead of a consonant. Most commonly the short vowel/a/.

Some regional dialects in Afghanistan, such as Hazaragi, have the retroflex consonants/ʈ/ and/ɖ/ as distinct phonemes. However, Hazaragi is treated by its speakers as a spoken form of Dari so it does not have a standardized written form. As these phonemes are not present in standard Dari, their standardized forms are always written with tē (ت) and dāl (د) respectively.

Occasionally the nonstandard charactersٹ,ڈ orټ,ډ are used by Hazaragi speakers. But there is no consensus on how these forms should be treated.

The vocalization used by Classical Persian and Dari differs slightly from the vocalization used by Iranian Persian. The table below shows the vocalization used by Classical Persian and Dari.

• Word final short vowels are usually shown proceeding aه(hē)

• The diacritic zēr is often realized as[ɛ] in many nonstandard dialects outside of Kabul, such as the Herati dialect. However, it is/ɪ/ in standard pronunciation and in the Kabuli dialect.

• All diphthongs are interpreted as being a phonemic sequence of a vowel + semi-vowel. Subsequently, if there are two adjacent vowels, at least one should become a semi-vowel (such that there should never be two adjacent vowels.)

Vowel	Name	Transcription	IPA	Notes
	zabar	a	/a/,[ä],[æ]
	zēr	i	/i/	May also be called zēr-i ma'rūf
	zēr-i majhūl		[e̞]	Only appears before glottal consonants, technically an allophone.
	pēš	u	/u/	May also be called pēš-i ma'rūf
	pēš-i majhūl		[o̞]	Only appears before glottal consonants, technically an allophone.
	jazm	N/A	none	Vowel killer / zero-vowel diacritic.

• before a word-finalه,ma'rūf andmajhūl diacritics are not clearly distinguished.

• Though short vowels also havema'rūf-majhūl variants,majhūl short vowels likely will not be included in romanizations. Unlike themajhūl long vowels, which can appear anywhere, themajhūl short vowels only appear before glottal consonants, and are technically allophones.

1. ـًا,ـاً,ءً (always word-final) – an

   For modern varietiesـاً is preferred. For classical Persian, bothـًا andـاً are acceptable.

2. All forms of hamza, includingء,ؤ andئ are transliterated as '
3. The (izāfa) vowel is transcribed differently depending on context:
   • ـِ (always word-final, after consonants) – -i
   • یِ (after the long vowelsا(ā) orو(ū, ō)) - -yi

     آفریقایِ جنوبی ―āfrīqā-yi janūbī ―South Africa

   • یِّ (always word-final afterی) - ī-yi

     جَمْهُوریِّ کورِیا ―jamhūrī-yi kōriyā ―Republic of Korea

   • ـهٔ, the formـه‌ی is treated as a variant – a-yi.

     خانهٔ کلان(spelled with a hamza diacritic) ―xāna-yi kalān ―a big house

     In spoken Dari هٔ may reduce to a short e (or i). Soخانهٔ کلان may be pronounced as xāne kalān. It is not known if this will be included since this is the only Izāfa vowel with which this occurs.

   • خانه‌ی کلان(spelled with a a non-connecting ye) ―xāna-yi kalān ―a big house
4. ـِیِّـ is transliterated asiyyi, the only exception being for Izāfa when it is transliterated asī-yi.
5. ـّ (tašdīd) – geminate consonant (Arabic shadda)
6. Al- assimilationالـ
   • Only occurs in loaned compound terms from Arabic, as the articleالـ is typically dropped from the lemma form of all Arabic loanwords.
   • ifالـ is followed by one of the 'sun letters' of Arabic, the lāmل will assimilate with the following letter.
   • ifالـ is part of a conjugation where the alif is silent, the alif is lam is transliterated as l- (or -l- if there is a ZWNJ)

     حَبْلُ المَتِین(hablu l-matīn)

     حَبْلُ‌المَتِین(hablu-l-matīn) (word with ZWNJ)

     فِالْحَال(fi-l-hāl) (example within a single word)

7. ـه - when used as a colloquial copula in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it is) - -a (with a hyphen)

   تَهْران پایتَخْتِ ایرانه.(colloquial) ―ta(h)rān pāytaxt-i ērān-a. ―Tehranis the capital of Iran.

8. ZWNJ – - (hyphen)
9. Various governments of Afghanistan have recommended that the suffixـگی have a space or ZWNJ when added to a word ending inـه. This suggestion is not always observed, even in academic settings and by media broadcasters in Afghanistan. These spellings may be included as alternative forms.

   زنده‌گی(recommended spelling) ―zinda-gī

   زندگی(common spelling) ―zindagī

This transliteration should be used formodern Iranian Persian, particularly varieties spoken in Iranafter the 16th centuries. Varieties of Iranian Persian spoken before the 16th century should, with some exceptions, be treated as classical Persian.

• Classical Persianaw and in most casesay have turned into Iranian Persianow andey respectively.

1. ـاً(-an) (always word-final) – an(The position of [fathatan] is after the alef, not before, as is the current practice with Arabic)
2. When a word ending withآ(â),ـا(â),ء(') or other variations gets thetanvin, it is written as eitherءً('an) orـئاً(-'an) and is transliterated as – 'anin both cases.

   اِبْتِداءً ―ebtedâ'an ―in the beginning

   اِبْتِدائاً ―ebtedâ'an ―in the beginning

3. ـٌ(-on) (always word-final, only in compound terms related to grammar and math, usually not written) – on

   مُضافٌ‌اِلَیْه ―mozâfon-elayh ―genitive noun

4. ـٍ(-en) (always word-final, only in unadapted borrowings, rare) – en

   بِعِبارَةٍ‌اُخْریٰ ―be'ebâraten-oxrâ ―in other words

5. All forms of hamze, includingء,ؤ,ئ, andأ are transliterated as ' (dispreferred: ʻ, ʿ)
6. The (ezâfe) vowel is transcribed differently depending on context:
   • ـِ(-e) (ezâfe) (always word-final, after a consonant, mostly unmarked in regular writing) – -e
   • ـیِ(--ye) (ezâfe) (after long vowelsا(â) orو(u), sometimes marked in regular writing) – -ye

     آفْریقایِ جُنوبی ―âfriġâ-ye jonubi ―South Africa

   • ـیِّ(i-ye) (ezâfe) (always word-final withی(i), mostly unmarked in regular writing) – i-ye

     جُمْهوریِ تاجیکِسْتان ―jomhuri-ye tâjikestân ―Republic of Tajikistan

   • ـهٔ(-h-ye) (U+0647 U+0654), sometimes written asـه‌ی(-h-i) (always word-final) – e-ye.(Articles don't contain the hamze above "he", it is considered a diacritic and only used in the display using|head=. Templates link to words without the hamze.)

     خانِهٔ بُزُرْگ(spelled with a hamze diacritic) ―xâne-ye bozorg ―a big house

     خانِه‌ی بُزُرْگ(spelled with a a non-connecting ye) ―xâne-ye bozorg ―a big house

7. indefinite articleـی(-i):
   • After a consonant: -i
   • Afterـه(-e):

     ـه‌ای(-e-i): e-i

     ـه‌ئی(-e-i)(nonstandard): e-'i

     ـه‌یی(-e-yi)(nonstandard): e-yi

   • After long vowelآ(â):

     ـایی(-â-yi): â-yi

     ـائی(-â-i): â-'i

   • After long vowelی(i):

     ـی‌ای(-i-i): i-i

     ـی‌ئی(-i-i)(nonstandard): i-'i

     ـی‌یی(-i-yi)(nonstandard): i-yi

   • After vowelو(u, o):

     ـویی(-u-yi, -o-yi): u-yi, o-yi

     ـوئی(-u-i, -o-i): u-'i, o-'i

   Examples:

   بازی‌ای ―bâzi-i ―a game

   گل‌هائی ―gol-hâ-'i ―some flowers

   بویی ―bu-yi ―a scent

   اِنْشائی ―enšâ'-i ―an essay(hamzatedانشاء)

   لؤلؤی ―lo'lo'-i ―a pearl

   مجتمعی ―mojtama'-i ―a building

8. The adjectival and abstract noun version ofـی(-i) follow the above rules without the hyphen –Note that ifـی(-i) is used to form an abstract noun, it gets converted toـِگی(-egi) if the word ends with anـه(-e)
9. نه(“no, not”) – na (an exception)
10. ـّ (tashdid) – geminate consonant (Arabic shadda)
11. ـَ(-a) (fathe/zor) – a (Arabic fatha)
12. ـِ(-e) (kasre/zir) – e (in modern Iranian,to check cases where it's "i") (Arabic kasra)
13. ـُ(-o) (zamme/pish) – o (in modern Iranian,to check cases where it's "u") (Arabic damma). Used after consonants to make a short "o" sound. If used beforeو(o) produces a diphthong "ow":

    نُوْروز(nowruz)

14. ـ۟ (sukūn/sokun) - marks absence of a vowel. Rarely used in popular Persian vocalisations, especially on final consonants. It may be necessary to use consistently in strict vocalisations to avoid any misreadings, allow automation and signalling that a word IS vocalised.
15. ـه(-h) (in the word-final position after consonants for a large number of words) - e (no hyphen) (note withezâfe the preferred spelling isـهٔ(-h-ye))

    هَفْتِه ―hafte ―week

16. ـه(-h) - when used as a colloquial copula in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it is) - -e (with a hyphen)

    تِهْرون پایْتَخْتِ ایرونِه.(colloquial) ―tehrun pâytaxt-e irun-e. ―Tehranis the capital of Iran.

17. ZWNJ – - (hyphen)
18. The use of hyphens for etymological reasons - suffixes, compound words, etc. when no ZWNJ is used is to be discussed. E.g. currently plural form suffixـها(-hâ) is transliterated as "-hâ" regardless if ZWNJ is present or not.(Apart from cases described above and ZWNJ, the use of hyphen is otherwise dispreferred. A space is transliterated as a space and the absence of space or ZWNJ is transliterated as nothing.)

    Below are transliteration examples to contrast the use of ZWNJ on connecting letters, space, nothing and non-connecting letters:

ZWNJ

with ZWNJ	with space, no ZWNJ	no space, no ZWNJ	non-joining
کتاب‌ها	کتاب ها	کتابها	اتوها
ketâb-hâ	ketâb hâ	ketâbhâ	otu-hâ
plural ofکِتاب(ketâb)			plural ofاُتو(otu)

1. ـیـ(-y-): (V)y(V)(for Arabic borrowings, see below)

   آسایِش ―âsâyeš ―comfort

   رایگان ―râygân, râyegân ―free

   • if preceded by a consonant and followed by a vowel, it will depends case by case whether it is aiy(V) ory(V)

     آسیّا ―âsiyâ ―Asia

     بیّو ―biyo ―bio

     بَخْتیاری ―baxtiyâri ―Bakhtiari

     بِسیار ―besyâr, bessiyâr ―much

     سِرْیال ―seryâl ―series

     پِرْیود ―peryod ―period

1. ـة(-h) (always word-final) – at(rare, only in unadapted borrowings from Arabic, normally adapted into Persian asـت(at) orـه(e))
2. الـ (note the hyphen after "l" or the first of the assimilated letter is for etymological reasons):

   al- (normally):

   اَلْیُوم(rare) ―al-yowm ―today

   "l" can change to the following consonant if it's a "sun letter", and "a" can change to "o" (Arabic "u") inezâfe, e.g.

   With ZWNJ: -(C)-(C)

   فارِغ‌ُالتَّحْصیل(fâreġo-t-tahsil)

   With space: (C)-(C)

   فارِغٌ التَّحْصیل(fâreġo t-tahsil)

   moon letters (Note that the alef remains silent (اَلِفِ وَصْل(alef-e vasl))):

   With ZWNJ: -l-

   بِیْنُ‌الْمِلَلی(beyno-l-melali)

   With space: l-

   بِیْنُ الْمِلَلی(beyno l-melali)

   Most of the time the vowel of the last first word is "o" following Arabic grammar rules, but variations do exists:

   full-words: – e

   بِالْکُلّ(be-l-koll)

   sometimes: – a

   بِیْنَ‌الْمِلَلی(beyna-l-melali)

   بِیْنَ الْمِلَلی(beyna l-melali)

3. ـیّت,ـیّات, andـیّه: iyat, iyât, and iye(for nativeـیـ(-y-), see above)

   اَهَمّیَّت(ahammiyat)

   تَقْویَّت(taġviyat)

   Note that in Classical orthography,تَقْویَّت(taġviyat) would beتَقْوِیَت(taġveyat), so taqwiyat (in Classical romanization) following the arabicتَقْوِيَة(taqwiya). However, this distinction between this form and other with shadda (iyy- in Classical) was lost in modern dialects.

   خُصوصیّات(xosusiyât)

   نَشْریّه(našriye)

This transliteration should be used for Tajik terms attested in theCyrillic script and in the pronunciation section of Persian entries. Any Tajik terms attested in the Arabic script should be treated as Dari and use the PRS language code, which will generate the Classical Transliteration.

Table notes

1. Only iotated after vowels, when geminated (e.g.саид(sayid) vsсайид(sayyid)), or, in the case of <Е е>, also word initially.
2. Representsizofa at the end of a word
3. Not transliterated.

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