The Farsi Alphabet
32 letters. Right to left. No capitals.
Farsi (Persian) uses a script borrowed from Arabic with four added letters (پ، چ، ژ، گ) for sounds Arabic doesn't have. The shapes change depending on where each letter appears in a word, but the underlying system is regular and learnable.
1
ا
alef
a / aa
2
ب
be
b
3
پ
pe
p
4
ت
te
t
5
ث
se
s
6
ج
jim
j
7
چ
che
ch
8
ح
he
h
9
خ
khe
kh
10
د
dal
d
11
ذ
zal
z
12
ر
re
r
13
ز
ze
z
14
ژ
zhe
zh
15
س
sin
s
16
ش
shin
sh
17
ص
sad
s
18
ض
zad
z
19
ط
ta
t
20
ظ
za
z
21
ع
eyn
' (glottal stop)
22
غ
gheyn
gh
23
ف
fe
f
24
ق
ghaf
gh / q
25
ک
kaf
k
26
گ
gaf
g
27
ل
lam
l
28
م
mim
m
29
ن
nun
n
30
و
vav
v / oo / o
31
ه
he
h / e
32
ی
ye
y / ee / i
How to Actually Learn It
1
Start with the easy seven
ا د ذ ر ز ژ و never connect to the next letter. Learn these first, they appear everywhere and are simpler.
2
Group by dot pattern
ب پ ت ث all share the same base shape and only differ in dots. Same for ج چ ح خ. Master one group at a time.
3
Read out loud daily
Even nonsense syllables. Five minutes a day reading street signs or random words builds recognition faster than studying tables.
4
Don't worry about short vowels
Persian writing omits short vowels (a, e, o) most of the time. You guess them from context. Sounds harder than it is.