Wiktionary:Persian transliteration/Iranian
This page focuses on Iranian Persian, for transliteration rules concerning Classical Persian or Dari Persian see Persian transliteration/Classical. For transliteration rules concerning Tajik, see Wiktionary:Tajik transliteration.
Persian transliteration
[edit]| Persian | Wiktionary | IPA | Others (dispreferred) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ا (word-initial) | a, o, e | (ʔ)æ, (ʔ)o, (ʔ)e | |
| ا (other positions) | â | ɒː | ā |
| آ | â (word-initial) 'â (other positions) |
(ʔ)ɒː (word-initial) ʔɒː (other positions) |
ʼā |
| ب | b | b | |
| پ | p | p | |
| ت | t | t | |
| ث | s | s | th, s̱, ṯ, s̄ |
| ج | j | dʒ | ǧ |
| چ | č | tʃ | ch, c |
| ح | h | h | ḥ, ḩ |
| خ | x | x | kh, k͟h, ḫ, ḵ |
| د | d | d | |
| ذ | z | z | dh, d͟h, ẕ, ḏ |
| ر | r | r | |
| ز | z | z | |
| ژ | ž | ʒ | zh, z͟h |
| س | s | s | |
| ش | š | ʃ | sh, s͟h |
| ص | s | s | ṣ |
| ض | z | z | ḍ, ż, ẕ |
| ط | t | t | ṭ, ţ |
| ظ | z | z | ẓ, z̧ |
| ع | ' | ʔ, ː | ʻ |
| غ | ğ | ɣ, ɢ | q, gh, g͟h, ġ |
| ف | f | f | |
| ق | ğ | ɣ, ɢ | q, gh, g͟h, ḳ |
| ک | k | k | |
| گ | g | g | |
| ل | l | l | |
| م | m | m | |
| ن | n | n | |
| و (consonant) | v | v | w |
| و (long vowel) | u, ô | uː, oː | ū, ō |
| و (diphthong[1]) | ow | ow | au, aw |
| خوا (e.g. خواندن etc.) | xâ | xɒː | xwā-, khwā- |
| خوی (e.g. خوید etc.) | xi | xiː | |
| ه (consonant) | h (may appear in final position after a vowel, e.g. ده (dah)) | h | |
| ـه (word-final vowel) | e | e, æ | eh, a, ah |
| ی (consonant) | y | j | j |
| ی (long vowel) | i, ê | iː, eː | ī, ē |
| ی (diphthong[2]) | ey | ej | ai, ay |
| یٰ (always word-final) | â | ɒː | ā, á |
Other symbols or combinations
[edit]- ـاً (-an), ءً ('an) (always word-final) – an (The position of [fatHatan] is after the alef, not before, as is the current practice with Arabic)
- ء – ' (others: ʼ)
- ؤ – ' (others: ʼ)
- ئ – ' (others: ʼ)
- ـِ (-e) (ezâfe) (always word-final, unmarked in regular writing) – -e
- ـیِ (--ye) (ezâfe) (after long vowels ا (â) or و (u), unmarked in regular writing) - -ye
- آفْریقایِ جُنوبی ― âfriğâ-ye jonubi ― South Africa
- ـیِ (--ye) (ezâfe) (always word-final with ی (i), unmarked in regular writing) - i-ye
- جُمْهوریِ تاجیکِسْتان ― jomhuri-ye tâjikestân ― Republic of Tajikistan
- ـهٔ (-h-ye) (U+0647 U+0654), sometimes written as ـه‌ی (-h-i) (always word-final) – e-ye. (Articles don't contain the hamze above "he", it is considered a diacritic and only used in the dsplay using
|head=. Templates link to words without the hamze.) - ـه‌ای (-h-i) - e-yi
- نه (“no, not”) - na (an exception)
- ـّ (tashdid) – geminate consonant (Arabic shadda)
- ـَ (-a) (fathe/zor) – a (Arabic fatha)
- ـِ (-e) (kasre/zir) – e (in modern Iranian, to check cases where it's "i") (Arabic kasra)
- ـُ (-o) (zamme/pish) – o (in modern Iranian, to check cases where it's "u") (Arabic damma). Used after consonants to make a short "o" sound. If used before و (o) produces a diphthong "ow":
- نُوْروز (nowruz)
- ـّ (shadda) – geminate consonant
- ـ۟ (sukūn/sokun) - marks absence of a vowel. Rarely used in popular Persian vocalisations, especially on final consonants. It may be necessary to use consistently in strict vocalisations to avoid any misreadings, allow automation and signalling that a word IS vocalised.
- ـه (-h) (in the word-final position after consonants for a large number of words) - e (no hyphen) (note with ezâfe the preferred spelling is ـهٔ (-h-ye))
- هَفْتِه ― hafte ― week
- ـه (-h) - when used as a colloquial copula in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it is) - -e (with a hyphen)
- تِهْرون پایْتَخْتِ ایرونِه. (colloquial) ― tehrun pâytaxt-e irun-e. ― Tehran is the capital of Iran.
- ZWNJ – - (hyphen)
- The use of hyphens for etymological reasons - suffixes, compound words, etc. when no ZWNJ is used is to be discussed. E.g. currently plural form suffix ـها (-hâ) is transliterated as "-hâ" regardless if ZWNJ is present or not. (Apart from cases described above and ZWNJ, the use of hyphen is otherwise dispreferred. A space is transliterated as a space and the absence of space or ZWNJ is transliterated as nothing.)
- Below are transliteration examples to contrast the use of ZWNJ on connecting letters, space, nothing and non-connecting letters:
- ZWNJ on joining letters کتابها (ketâb-hâ) (plural of کتاب (ketâb))
- Space کتاب ها (ketâb hâ)
- Nothing (joining letters are connected) کتابها (ketâbhâ)
- Non-joining letters (no ZWNJ is used) اتوها (otuhâ) (plural of اتو (otu))
Arabic loanwords
[edit]- ـة (-h) (always word-final) – a(t) (rare, only in unadapted borrowings from Arabic, normally adapted into Persian as ـت (at) or ـه (e))
- الـ - al (normally), can be "al-" (with a hyphen), if identified as the Arabic definite article. "l" can change to the following consonant if it's a "sun letter","a" can change to "o" (Arabic "u") in ezâfe, e.g.
- فارِغ‌ُالتَّحْصیل (fâreğo-t-tahsil) - here "l" is assimilated to "t" and "a" is changed to "o" following Arabic grammar rules.
- الـ - l or the next consonant (assimilated for Arabic "sun letters"). The alef is silent.
- بِٱلْفِعْل (bel-fe'l) from Arabic بِٱلْفِعْلِ (bi-l-fiʕli) where the alif is silent (أَلِف الوَصْل (ʔalif al-waṣl))