Below are two tables. The first is a table of the Persian vowel sounds and the second is a table of all the letters in the Persian alphabet. Click on a row within one of the tables to visit a page with animations showing how to draw that letter in its varying forms.
Alphabet
| Vowel Sound | End of word | Middle of word | Start of word | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | Attached | Detached | Attached | ||
| Long ‘a’ like ‘arctic’ | هوا (havā - 'air') | ما (mā - 'us') | دَندان (dandān - 'tooth') | تاب (tāb - a 'swing') | آب (āb - 'water') |
| Short 'a' like 'apple' | نَه ( na - 'no' - the only final ‘a’ in modern Persian) | شَب (shab - 'night') | اَسب (asb - 'horse') | ||
| Long 'ee' like 'sheep' | بازی (bāzi - 'play') | شیرینی (shirini - 'pastry') | سیب (sib - 'apple') | ایران (irān - 'Iran') | |
| Short 'e' like 'egg' or 'bed' | خانِه (khāneh - 'house') | مِداد (medād - 'حثدزهم') | اِستخر (estakhr - 'swimming pool') | ||
| Long 'oo' like 'do' or 'moon' | دارو (dāru - 'medicine') | مو (mu - 'hair') | روز (ruz - 'day') | موش (mush - 'mouse') | او (u - 'he' or 'she') |
| Short 'o' like 'open' or 'photo' | دُو (do - 'two') | پالتوُ (pālto - 'overcoat') | گُل (gol - 'flower') | اُتاق (otāq - 'room') | |
| Sound in English | Name of letter | End of word or attached to previous letter | Middle, or inbetween two letters | Initial or followed by another letter | Unconnected, standing alone |
| 'ā' and initial vowels 'a', 'e' and 'o' | alef* | ــا | ــا | ا | آ or ا |
| b | be | ــب | ــبــ | بــ | ب |
| p | pe | ــپ | ــپــ | پــ | پ |
| t | te | ــت | ــتــ | تــ | ت |
| s | se | ــث | ــثــ | ثــ | ث |
| j | jim | ــج | ـجــ | جــ | ج |
| ch | che | ــچ | ــچــ | چــ | چ |
| h | he | ــح | ــحــ | حــ | ح |
| kh | khe | ــخ | ــخــ | خــ | خ |
| d | dāl* | ــد | ــد | د | د |
| z | zāl* | ــذ | ــذ | ذ | ذ |
| r | re* | ــر | ــر | ر | ر |
| z | ze* | ــز | ــز | ز | ز |
| zh | zhe* | ــژ | ــژ | ژ | ژ |
| s | sin | ــس | ــســ | ســ | س |
| sh | shin | ــش | ــشــ | شــ | ش |
| s | sād | ــص | ــصــ | صــ | ص |
| z | zād | ــض | ــضــ | ضــ | ض |
| t | tā | ــط | ــطــ | طــ | ط |
| z | zā | ــظ | ــظــ | ظــ | ظ |
| ‘ (a) | ‘ain | ــع | ــعــ | عــ | ع |
| gh | ghain | ــغ | ــغــ | غــ | غ |
| f | fe | ــف | ــفــ | فــ | ف |
| q | qāf | ــق | ــقــ | قــ | ق |
| k | kāf | ــک | ــکــ | کــ | ک |
| g | gāf | ــگ | ــگــ | گــ | گ |
| l | lām | ــل | ــلــ | لــ | ل |
| m | mim | ــم | ــمــ | مــ | م |
| n | nun | ــن | ــنــ | نــ | ن |
| v, w, u & o | vāv* | ــو | ــو | و | و |
| h | he | ــه | ــهــ | هــ | ه |
| y | ye | ــی | ــیــ | یــ | ی |