چ — che
«che» is a consonant of the Persian script, read as “ch”. The ch of "chair". For example, in the word “چای” — tea. The Persian alphabet has 32 letters in total. The ج skeleton with three dots underneath: where that letter sounds "j", this one sounds "ch". You drink it every morning: چای. It appears, for example, in the word “حالت چطوره؟” — how are you?
In short
| Character | چ |
| Name | che |
| Sound | ch |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 6th of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are پ and ژ, appears in 202 words of this site.
How to type چ
- On a phone: add the Persian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0686 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0686.
- Unicode code point: U+0686. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
The ch of "chair"
Other written forms
The same character is written differently on a shop sign and in a book. Here are all the forms you may meet.
| Form | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| initial | چـ | — |
| medial | ـچـ | — |
| final | ـچ | — |
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- چایchaytea
The character in the “پ چ ژ گ — four letters the script invented for itself” group
The script this writing descends from had no "p", "ch", "zh" or "g" — so the language added dots to ready-made skeletons. This is the first thing that gives a text away on sight. It is also the easiest four of the alphabet: each letter sounds exactly as labelled.
Words with this character
- حالت چطوره؟hâlet châtâre؟how are you?
- اسمت چیه؟esmet chie؟what is your name?
- چایchaytea
- چهارchâhârfour
- چندchandhow many?
- چپchapleft (direction)
- بچهbâchechild
- برچسب قیمتbârchebe giyâmatprice tag
- حساب چنده؟hesâb chande؟how much is it?
- چکه میکندchekke mi-kânadit drips
- همهچیز مرتب استhamechiz mârteb asteverything is in order
- هیچجاhichdzhânowhere
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «che» it is “ch”, as in the word “چای”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 32 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Persian character چ read?
As “ch” — it is a consonant of the Persian script. The ch of "chair". For example, in the word “چای” — tea.
What is the letter چ called?
Che. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Persian script: it is called “che” and reads as “ch”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.