Alphabet
Good Handwriting in Persian—an Introduction
In this video, Keramat Fathinia, a practising Persian calligrapher, talks about some of the things to keep in mind when writing the Persian script by hand. This is part of a series of videos he has produced with Persian Language Online, introducing the idea of khat tahriri, (خط تحریری), a style of writing drawing on the principles of traditional Persian calligraphy, but using everyday materials, in this case, just a biro.
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.
If you are totally unfamiliar with this script then you are encouraged to first click here and visit a lesson containing exercises familiarise you with the movements your hand will need to make in order to form the Persian letters.
| 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 | ـثــ | 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 |
Drawing Persian Letters
Watch this little video before you start to learn the letters of the Persian alphabet. To write the Persian script your hand will have to get used to a new set of movements, which may not come naturally at first, but which you will find very simple after a little bit of practice.
You can print out this PDF worksheet and trace over the lines to practice the hand movements you will need to get used to for writing the Persian script.
