Farsi-jān › Persian alphabet

The Persian (Farsi) alphabet

Reading Persian looks intimidating, but it's mostly about decoding shapes onto sounds you may already know. Here's the quick orientation — then learn it for free, at your own pace, inside Farsi-jān.

Start the reading path — free →

The basics in 30 seconds

• The Persian alphabet has 32 letters (the Arabic script plus four letters Persian added: پ, چ, ژ, گ).
• It's written and read right to left.
• Letters connect to each other, and most change shape depending on whether they're at the start, middle, or end of a word — this is the part that takes practice.
• Short vowels are usually not written; long vowels (ā, i, u) are. That's why reading leans on knowing the word, which heritage speakers already do.

A few letters to make it real

Letter	Sound	Like in
ب	b	bābā (dad)
پ	p	pedar (father)
م	m	māmān (mom)
ن	n	nān (bread)
خ	kh (throaty)	khāne (home)

Put a few together and you can already read بابا (bābā) and مامان (māmān). That "I can read a word!" moment is exactly where Farsi-jān's reading path starts.

How Farsi-jān teaches reading

The reading path is optional and never blocks you — you can speak first and read later. It builds up by visual letter families, then real words you already say, then short signs, menus, and texts. You assemble spellings yourself (real practice, not just flashcards), and it shows the colloquial spellings you'll actually see in messages.

Learn to read Persian — free →