Persian (Fārsī /فارسی)

Persian is a member of the Western Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by about 130 million people, mainly in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and also in Uzbekistan, Iraq, Russia and Azerbaijan. There about 72 million native speakers of Persian, and another 38 million second language speakers.

Persian at a glance

Native name:فارسی (Fārsī) [fɒːɾˈsiː]
Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western Iranian, Southwestern Iranian
Number of speakers: c. 130 million
Spoken in:Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Russian and Azerbaijan
First written: 600 BC
Writing systems:Old Persian Cuneiform,Pahlavi,Manichaean,Avestan,Persian,Cyrillic andLatin scripts
Status: official language in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan

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Name of the language

In Afghanistan Persian is known asDari (درى) or Dari-Persian, while in Tajikistan it's known asTajiki (Тоҷики /تاجيكى).

Under Mongolian and Turkish rulers, Persian was adopted as the language of government in Turkey, central Asia and India, where it was used for centuries, and until after 1900 in Kashmir.

Persian, Farsi or Parsi?

The official language of Iran is sometimes called Farsi in English and other languages. This is a correct transliteration of the native name of the language, however many, including theISO and theAcademy of Persian Language and Literature, prefer the name Persian for the language. Some speakers use the older local name: Parsi (پارسی). There is some discussion about this topic at:www.iranian.com andwikipedia.

Iran or Persia?

Until 1935, Iran was known as Persia in English. However, the Persian people have called their country Iran since the Sassanid period (226-651 AD). There's further discussion about this athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_naming_dispute

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Written Persian

Old Persian was first written in about 600 BC in theOld Persian Cuneiform. The language had evolved into what we known as Middle Persian by about 300 BC, and was written with thePahlavi,Manichaean andAvestan alphabets. From 800 AD the language is known as Modern Persian, and was written with the Persian of Perso-Arabic alphabet. There are also ways of writing Persian with the Latin alphabet.

In TajikistanTajik has been written with a version of Cyrillic alphabet since 1940. Between 1928 and 1940 it was written with a version of the Latin alphabet, and before then with the Perso-Arabic alphabet.

Persian alphabet

After the Islamic conquest of the Persian Sassanian Empire in the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Arabic alphabet was adapted to write the Persian language. This is now known as the Persian or Perso-Arabic alphabet (الفبای فارسی / alefbā-ye fârsi).

Notable features

Type of writing system:abjad / consonant alphabet - includes letters only for consonants. Vowels, when indicated, are written with diacritics and/or combinations of consonant letters
Writing direction: right to left in horizontal lines; numerals written from left to right.
Used to write: Persian (فارسی)

Persian alphabet and pronunciation

A recording of the Persian alphabet by Bahaareh Asghari (بهاره اصغرى)

Notes

Persian has six vowel sounds and two diphthongs: â (/ɒː/), a (/æ/), e (/e/), I (/iː/), o (/o/), u (/uː/), ey (/ej/) and ow (/ow/).
Alef has no particular sound. At the beginning of words by means of diacritics it can denote "â" (آ), "a" (اَ), "e" (اِ), "o" (اُ) but elsewhere, it always denotes "â". However, only the diacritic of "â" (آ) is commonly written and you just have to memorize the pronunciation. For example: آب (âb) – water, اسب (asb) – horse, امید (omid) – hope, امشب (emšab) - tonight.
ح (he) is also known as ی جیمی (ye-jimi), and ﻩ (he) is also known as ی دوچش (ye-docešma)
The romanization system used here is the 2012 version of the Iranian national system. Other romanization systems are available. More details:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Persian

Notes and corrections by Ali Jahanshiri

Numerals

Persian numerals

A recording of these numbers by Bahaareh Asghari (بهاره اصغرى)

Download alphabet charts for Persian (Excel)

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Sample text

تمام افراد بشر آزاد به دنیا می آیند و از لحاظ حیثیت و حقوق با هم برابرند, همه دارای عقل و وجدان می باشند و باید نسبت به یک دیگر با روح برادری رفتار کنند.

A calligraphic version of this text

A calligraphic version of the sample text in Persian

Provided by Travis Castle

Transliteration (by Ali Jahânshiri)

Tamâm-e afrâd-e bašar âzâd be donyâ miâyand va az lehâz-e heysiyat-o hoquq bâ ham arâbar-and. Hame dârâ-ye aql-o vejdân mibâšand va bâyad nesbat be yekdigar bâ ruh-e barâdari raftâr konand.

A recording of this text by Bahaareh Asghari (بهاره اصغرى)

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos in Persian

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Links

Information about the Persian language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language
http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/
http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/articles/persian_language.php

Learn Persian (Farsi) online with PersianPod101
Learn Persian (Farsi) with Glossika
Learn Persian with Ling

More Persian links

Iranian languages

Avestan,Bactrian Baluchi,Bartangi,Dari,Gilaki,Hazaragi,Ishkashimi,Judeo-Persian,Juhuri,Khufi,Kumzari,Kurdish,Luri,Mazandarani,Munji,Ossetian,Ormuri,Oroshor,Persian,Parthian,Pashto,Rushani,Sanglechi,Sarikoli,Shabaki,Shughni,Tajik,Talysh,Tat,Wakhi,Wanetsi,Yaghnobi,Yazghulami,Yidgha,Zazaki

Languages written with the Arabic script

Adamaua Fulfulde,Aer,Afrikaans,Arabic (Algerian),Arabic (Bedawi),Arabic (Chadian),Arabic (Egyptian),Arabic (Gulf),Arabic (Hassaniya),Arabic (Hejazi),Arabic (Lebanese),Arabic (Libyan),Arabic (Modern Standard),Arabic (Moroccan),Arabic (Najdi),Arabic (Sudanese),Arabic (Syrian),Arabic (Tunisian),Arwi,Äynu,Azeri,Balanta-Ganja,Balti,Baluchi,Beja,Belarusian,Bosnian,Brahui,Chagatai,Chechen,Chittagonian,Comorian,Crimean Tatar,Dameli,Dargwa,Dari,Dhatki,Dogri,Domari,Gawar Bati,Gawri,Gilaki,Hausa,Hazaragi,Hindko,Humburi Senni,Indus Kohistani,Kabyle,Kalkoti,Karachay-Balkar,Karakalpak,Kashmiri,Kazakh,Khowar,Khorasani Turkic,Khwarezmian,Konkani,Kumzari,Kurdish,Kyrgyz,Lezgi,Lop,Luri,Maasina Fulfulde,Maba,Maguindanao,Malay,Malay (Terengganu),Mandinka,Marwari,Mazandarani,Mogholi,Morisco,Mozarabic,Munji,Noakhailla,Nubi,Ormuri,Palula,Parkari Koli,Pashto,Persian/Farsi,Punjabi,Qashqai,Rajasthani,Rohingya,Salar,Saraiki,Sawi,Serer,Shabaki,Shina,Shughni,Sindhi,Somali,Soninke,Tatar,Tausūg,Tawallammat Tamajaq,Tayart Tamajeq,Ternate,Torwali,Turkish,Urdu,Ushoji,Uyghur,Uzbek,Wakhi,Wanetsi,Wolof,Xiao'erjing,Yidgha

Page last modified: 04.03.24

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