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 | |
| che | 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: Perso-Arabic Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the word letters:
“The entire merit of a man can never be made known; nor the sum of his demerits, if he have them. We are only known by our names; as letters sealed up, we but read each other’s superscriptions.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Bolkenstein, a Minister, was speaking on the Dutch programme from London, and he said that they ought to make a collection of diaries and letters after the war. Of course, they all made a rush at my diary immediately. Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a romance of the “Secret Annexe.” The title alone would be enough to make people think it was a detective story.”
—Anne Frank (1929–1945)
“The post-office had a great charm at one period of our lives. When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)