گ — gaf
«gaf» is a consonant of the Persian script, read as “g”. A plain g as in "go" — the sound the older alphabet never had, and this language runs on it. For example, in the word “گل” — flower. The Persian alphabet has 32 letters in total. The ک skeleton with two strokes on top: k turned g. It appears, for example, in the word “انگلیسی حرف میزنید؟” — do you speak English?
In short
| Character | گ |
| Name | gaf |
| Sound | g |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 8th of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ژ and ب, appears in 417 words of this site.
How to type گ
- 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+06AF 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 06AF.
- Unicode code point: U+06AF. With it, the character can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A plain g as in "go" — the sound the older alphabet never had, and this language runs on it
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 | گـ | — |
| medial | ـگـ | — |
| final | ـگ | — |
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.
- گلgâlflower
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
- انگلیسی حرف میزنید؟anglesi harf mi-zânid؟do you speak English?
- گوشتgushtmeat
- گوجهفرنگیgâdzhe-fârângitomato
- فروشگاهfârushgâhshop
- ایستگاهiystgâstation
- گم شدهامgâm shâdeamI am lost
- زندگی کردنzendegi kânto live
- یاد گرفتنyâd gereftanto learn
- گرانgârânexpensive
- این گران استin gârân astthis is expensive
- میگیرمmi-giramI will take it
- یکی دیگرyeki digaranother one
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 «gaf» it is “g”, as in the word “گل”), 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 گ read?
As “g” — it is a consonant of the Persian script. A plain g as in "go" — the sound the older alphabet never had, and this language runs on it. For example, in the word “گل” — flower.
What is the letter گ called?
Gaf. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Persian script: it is called “gaf” and reads as “g”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.