Transliteration of Persian
A correspondence table between the Persian script and Latin letters: 32 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Persian character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا | alef | aa (long) | A long "aa", held about twice as long as the a of "father"; at the start of a word it is simply the seat any first vowel sits on. Short vowels are not drawn in writing at all |
| آ | alef-madda | aa (with madda) | Alef with the madda stroke on top: a long "aa" at the start of a word. A word never opens on a short "a" — only on a sign like this one |
| و | vav | v / uu | The v of "voice", lips to teeth without a touch; after a consonant the same letter serves as the long vowel "uu" — خوب reads khub |
| ی | ye | y / ee | The y of "yes"; after a consonant it serves as the long vowel "ee" — می reads mi. The dotless twin of this sign does not exist in this alphabet: every final long "aa" is written with alef |
| پ | pe | p | A plain p as in "stop" |
| چ | che | ch | The ch of "chair" |
| ژ | zhe | zh | The s of "measure" — the zh sound English spells a dozen ways and names never |
| گ | gaf | g | A plain g as in "go" — the sound the older alphabet never had, and this language runs on it |
| ب | be | b | A plain b as in "book" |
| ت | te | t | A plain t, dental: the tip of the tongue at the upper teeth |
| ث | se | s (as ث) | A plain s today: the interdental th of "think" this letter once carried has faded out of the spoken language, while the spelling stayed |
| ج | jim | j | The j of "jam" |
| ح | he (hooded) | h (breathy) | A breathy h, like the h of "hand" but made deeper, in the throat — as if fogging a pane of glass. The older throat sound it descends from softened into this plain breath |
| خ | khe | kh | The ch of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach", with a rough edge |
| د | dal | d | A plain dental d |
| ذ | zal | z (as ذ) | A plain z today: the voiced th of "this" it once carried survives only in the shape |
| ر | re | r | A quick single tap of the tongue — the tt of American "better", never the English r of "red"; it always stays crisp |
| ز | ze | z | A plain z as in "zoo" |
| س | sin | s | A plain s |
| ش | shin | sh | A plain sh as in "ship" |
| ص | sad | s (as ص) | Reads as a plain s: the heavy dark sound of the source alphabet faded out of the spoken language |
| ض | zad | z (as ض) | Reads as a plain z |
| ط | ta | t (as ط) | Reads as a plain t |
| ظ | za | z (as ظ) | Reads as a plain z — the third sign on that sound, after ذ and ض; the ear cannot tell them apart, only the eye can |
| ع | ayn | ʿ (barely a sound) | Almost silent here: at the start of a word a broken-off vowel (عصر reads asr), in the middle often nothing at all. The squeezed throat of the source has gone quiet |
| غ | ghayn | gh (deep) | A deep gargled g, made with the back of the tongue — close to the French r of "Paris". The mute throat letter found its voice here |
| ف | fe | f | A plain f, the lower lip against the teeth |
| ق | qaf | q (deep g/k) | A deep sound made down in the throat, between "k" and "g": the throat works the way it does at the start of a startled "oak!". The transcription writes it as "g" |
| ک | kaf | k | An ordinary k as in "cat" — unlike the deep ق |
| ل | lam | l | A light l, closer to "l" in "leaf" than to the dark l of "full" — the tongue sits forward and the sound stays thin |
| م | mim | m | A plain m |
| ن | nun | n | A plain n |
| ه | he | h (light) | The lightest h — a plain breath of air like the h of "hand", fainter than خ and made in the mouth, not the throat; word-finally it is barely audible |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
ا آ و ی — the vowels and length. The script is an abjad: short vowels are not written in it at all. کتاب is "k-t-â-b", and it reads ketâb — the short e comes from memory. Only the long ones are written, with these signs, plus the seat a word starts on when it opens with any vowel. Vav and ye stay consonants ("v" and "y") whenever a vowel of their own stands next to them.
پ چ ژ گ — four letters the script invented for itself. 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.
ب ت ث — one skeleton, dots count to three. The most legible family: one skeleton, and the difference is the number of dots. One underneath, two on top, three on top. Learn it first — here you can see how the whole writing system works. The third letter lives only in bookish loanwords.
ج ح خ — j and two h sounds. One skeleton, three letters, told apart by a dot. The dot inside makes "j"; no dot leaves a breathy h; a dot on top gives kh, deeper and rougher. The two h sounds must not be confused: حالا is "now", and خالا is already not a word but a typo.
د ذ ر ز — tails with no beginning. Letters that join only from the right and so never change shape inside a word. Each pair shares one skeleton: an angle, and a stick with a tail. The second letter of the pair carries the dot (or three). The same trick as the family above — one skeleton, the dot decides.
س ش — the three teeth. The most conspicuous letter of the script: three teeth in a row. Dotless it is "s", with three dots on top "sh". A pair on one skeleton, like the angles above.
ص ض ط ظ — old spellings on living words. Four "heavy" consonants of the older alphabet. Their special pronunciation faded centuries ago. Today ص reads as plain s, ض as z, ط as t, ظ as z — three signs share the one z sound. They live in bookish loanwords, but there is no skipping them: صبح "morning" opens every day.
ع غ ق — the throat and the depth. Ayn here has almost gone mute: it reads as a broken-off vowel or not at all. Ghayn went the other way and found a voice — a deep gargled g. And ق is a sound made down in the throat, between "k" and "g"; the transcription writes it as "g".
ف ک گ ل م ن ه — the light consonants. Consonants with skeletons of their own that nothing can be confused with. ک and گ differ from ق in depth: ک is an ordinary k, ق sounds from the throat. And the third h of the script: ه is a plain breath of air, the quietest one.
Frequently asked
How to write Persian text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.