The Persian Alphabet
32 letters, written right to left, no capital forms.
Persian uses a modified Arabic script with four extra letters (پ، چ، ژ، گ) for sounds Arabic doesn't have. They're marked with a gold border in the grid below.
Symbols & Marks
Beyond the 32 letters, Persian uses these marks and special characters. They shape how words are written, read, and pronounced.
Zebar (fathe)
زبر / فتحه
Short vowel “a”, written above a letter.
دَر dar — door
Usually left out in everyday writing, you learn it from context.
Zir (kasre)
زیر / کسره
Short vowel “e”, written below a letter.
کِتاب ketâb — book
Also normally omitted, so readers supply the vowel themselves.
Pish (zamme)
پیش / ضمه
Short vowel “o”, a small loop above a letter.
گُل gol — flower
The three short vowels (a, e, o) are the ones left unwritten.
Sukun
سکون
Marks a letter with no vowel after it.
مِهْر mehr — affection
Signals the consonant is “bare”, mostly seen in careful texts.
Tashdid
تشدید
Doubles a letter, hold the sound a bit longer.
بچّه bachche — child
Written once with the mark instead of writing the letter twice.
Tanvin
تنوین
Adds an “-an” ending, mostly on adverbs from Arabic.
لطفاً lotfan — please
You’ll meet it most in words like واقعاً (really) and حتماً (definitely).
Hamze
همزه
A glottal “catch”; sits alone or on a carrier (أ ؤ ئـ).
سؤال so’âl — question
Think of the tiny pause in the middle of “uh-oh”.
Alef madde
آ / الف مدّه
Long “â” at the start of a word, alef with a hat.
آب âb — water
Whenever a word starts with a long â sound, it’s written آ.
Half-space (ZWNJ)
نیمفاصله
An invisible break that keeps letters unjoined without a real space.
میروم miravam — I go
Used in prefixes (می) and plurals (کتابها). Type it with Shift + Space.
Ezafe
کسرهٔ اضافه
A linking “-e” that ties two words together.
کتابِ من ketâb-e man — my book
Almost always spoken but not written, you add the “-e” by ear.
Persian vs Arabic letters
ک و ی فارسی
Persian uses ک and ی (no dots below); Arabic uses ك and ي.
یک yek — one
Copying Arabic text can slip in ك / ي, always use the Persian forms.
Quick Facts About the Script
Read right to left
Persian books open from what English speakers think of as the back. Numbers go left to right inside Persian text.
No capital letters
There's no equivalent to uppercase or lowercase letters. Letters change shape based on their position in the word instead.
Four positions per letter
Most letters have an initial, medial, final, and isolated form. Seven letters never connect to the left (ا د ذ ر ز ژ و).
Short vowels are often invisible
Persian usually omits short vowels (a, e, o) in writing. You learn pronunciation through exposure, not letters.
Four extra letters
Persian added پ (p), چ (ch), ژ (zh), and گ (g) to the Arabic alphabet for Persian sounds Arabic doesn't have.
Numbers are different
Persian numerals (۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹) look different from Arabic numerals. Many Persians use both interchangeably.
Marks and the half-space
Beyond the letters, Persian uses small marks, tashdid to double a letter and hamze for a glottal catch, plus an invisible half-space (نیمفاصله) inside words like میروم.
How Long Does It Take?
Most learners can recognise all 32 letters within a week of daily practice. Reading short words confidently takes 2 to 4 weeks. Reading full sentences smoothly takes 2 to 3 months.
The script feels intimidating at first because the shapes are unfamiliar. Once you spend a few hours with them, the system clicks. The hardest letters are the ones that look similar but differ in dots, like ب پ ت ث.