Letters
Below are the 32 letters of the modern Persian alphabet. Since the script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its position: isolated, beginning (joined on the left), middle (joined on both sides), and end (joined on the right) of a word.
The letter names are mostly identical to the ones used in Arabic, except for the Persian pronunciation of the consonants. The only ambiguous name is he used for both ﺡ and ه. For clarification, these are often called ḥe-ye jimi (literally "jim-like ḥe" after jim, the name for the letter ج that uses the same base form) and he-ye do-češm (literally "two-eyed he", after the contextual middle letterform ﻬ), respectively.
| Name | DIN 31635 | IPA | Contextual forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End | Middle | Beginning | Isolated | |||
| ʾalef | ā / ʾ | , | ـا | ـا * | آ / ا * | ﺍ |
| be | b | ـب | ـبـ | ﺑ | ب | |
| pe | p | ـپ | ـپـ | ﭘ | پ | |
| te | t | ـت | ـتـ | ﺗ | ﺕ | |
| s̱e | s̱ | ـث | ـثـ | ﺛ | ﺙ | |
| jim | j | ﺞ | ـجـ | ﺟ | ﺝ | |
| če | č | ﭻ | ـچـ | ﭼ | ﭺ | |
| ḥe(-ye jimi) | ḥ | ﺢ | ـحـ | ﺣ | ﺡ | |
| khe | x | ﺦ | ـخـ | ﺧ | ﺥ | |
| dāl | d | ـد | ـد* | ﺩ* | ﺩ | |
| ẕāl | ẕ | ـذ | ـذ* | ﺫ* | ﺫ | |
| re | r | ـر | ـر* | ﺭ* | ﺭ | |
| ze | z | ـز | ـز* | ﺯ* | ﺯ | |
| že | ž | ـژ | ـژ* | ژ* | ژ | |
| sin | s | ـس | ـسـ | ﺳ | ﺱ | |
| šin | š | ـش | ـشـ | ﺷ | ﺵ | |
| ṣād | ṣ | ـص | ـصـ | ﺻ | ﺹ | |
| z̤ād | z̤ | ـض | ـضـ | ﺿ | ﺽ | |
| ṭā | ṭ | ـط | ـطـ | ﻃ | ﻁ | |
| ẓā | ẓ | ـظ | ـظـ | ﻇ | ﻅ | |
| ʿeyn | ʿ | ـع | ـعـ | ﻋ | ﻉ | |
| ġeyn | ġ | / | ـغ | ـغـ | ﻏ | ﻍ |
| fe | f | ـف | ـفـ | ﻓ | ﻑ | |
| qāf | q | / / (in some dialects) | ـق | ـقـ | ﻗ | ﻕ |
| kāf | k | ـک | ـکـ | ﮐ | ک | |
| gāf | g | ـگ | ـگـ | ﮔ | گ | |
| lām | l | ـل | ـلـ | ﻟ | ﻝ | |
| mim | m | ـم | ـمـ | ﻣ | ﻡ | |
| nun | n | ـن | ـنـ | ﻧ | ﻥ | |
| vāv | v / ū / ow | / / / / (in Dari) | ـو | ـو* | و* | و |
| he(-ye do-češm) | h | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | ﻩ | |
| ye | y / ī / á | / / / (in Dari) | ﯽ | ـیـ | ﻳ | ﻯ |
Read more about this topic: Persian Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the word letters:
“If you are one of the hewers of wood and drawers of small weekly paychecks, your letters will have to contain some few items of news or they will be accounted dry stuff.... But if you happen to be of a literary turn of mind, or are, in any way, likely to become famous, you may settle down to an afternoon of letter-writing on nothing more sprightly in the way of news than the shifting of the wind from south to south-east.”
—Robert Benchley (18891945)
“There are other letters for the child to learn than those which Cadmus invented. The Spaniards have a good term to express this wild and dusky knolwedge, Grammatica parda, tawny grammar, a kind of mother-wit derived from that same leopard to which I have referred.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“... all my letters are read. I like that. I usually put something in there that I would like the staff to see. If some of the staff are lazy and choose not to read the mail, I usually write on the envelope Legal Mail. This way it will surely be read. Its important that we educate everybody as we go along.”
—Jean Gump, U.S. pacifist. As quoted in The Great Divide, book 2, section 10, by Studs Terkel (1988)