Read your first eight words

Put a few letters together to read words like water, bread and dog. The hints supply sounds you haven’t learnt yet; these words return in the stories.

≈ 5 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

The table below has the letter sounds you need for these eight words.
You can see the long vowels. You’ll usually have to fill in the short ones.
The hints give you the missing vowels. You’re not meant to guess a word you haven’t heard before.
Try each word, check it, and say it out loud. We’ll use these words again.
Some words have a gap in the middle. They’re still one word. We’ll look at why in the next chapter.

Letters for your first eight words

You don’t need the whole alphabet yet. Use this small set to work through the words below, and come back to it whenever you need a sound.

Letter	Sound to try
آ / اâ	the open vowel near father
بb	b
نn	n
سs	s
گg	g as in go
رr	a brief tapped r, not the usual English r
هh / final e	h, or e at the end of some words
خkh	the rasp in Scottish loch
دd	d
تt	t
پp	p
جj	j as in jam
لl	l

Read from right to left. Two of the eight words — درختderakht and پرندهparande — look like they have a space in them. Some letters don’t join to the next one. We’ll get to that in the next chapter. You’ll also need to fill in the missing a, e, or o sounds.

Put letters together to make a word

Joining changes how the letters look. Follow the separate letters into the joined word, so you can recognise the same pieces when you try reading it.

س + گ

سگsag“dog”

Start on the right: س is s and گ is g. They join as سگ. The short a is heard between them but is normally not written.

Find a letter after it joins

Compare the separate letters with the joined word.

Which part of سگ is the separate letter گ?
Read from right to left. It is the second letter.
Show answer +Hide answer −
The left-hand part, ـگ, is the joined form of گg.

Eight words for the first story

Use the table and the hint. Read from right to left, then check the answer and say the word.

آب
â + b
Show answer +Hide answer −
آبâb“water”
نان
n + â + n
Show answer +Hide answer −
نانnân“bread”
سگ
s + hidden a + g
Show answer +Hide answer −
سگsag“dog”
گربه
g + hidden o + r + b + final e
Show answer +Hide answer −
گربهgorbe“cat”
خانه
kh + â + n + final e
Show answer +Hide answer −
خانهkhâne“house”
درخت
d + hidden e + r + hidden a + kh + t
Show answer +Hide answer −
درختderakht“tree”
پرنده
p + hidden a + r + hidden a + n + d + final e
Show answer +Hide answer −
پرندهparande“bird”
جنگل
j + hidden a + n + g + hidden a + l
Show answer +Hide answer −
جنگلjangal“forest”

Four more letters to tell apart

A small change in the dots can turn one letter into another. Meet these four sounds first, then compare words that use them.

Letter	Sound and example
چch	ch as in chair: چوبchub“wood”
وv / u	v as in voice, or the vowel u: خوبkhub“good”
یy / i	y as in yes, or the vowel i: یادyâd“memory”
زz	z as in zoo: زردzard“yellow”

The dots belong to the letter. Moving or changing them can make a different letter and a different word.

Move a dot, change a letter

Look at the shared shape before you read the two words. The dots tell you which sound to use.

خوبkhub“good”

چوبchub“wood”

The first letter on the right changes from خkh with one dot above to چch with three dots below. The rest stays وبub.

Dots make the difference

بادbâd“wind”

یادyâd“memory”

زردzard“yellow”

دردdard“pain”

Check the changed letter

Look at the dots before opening the answer.

In بادbâd and یادyâd, which letter changed?
Show answer +Hide answer −
The first letter on the right: بb changed to یy.
In زردzard and دردdard, which letter changed?
Show answer +Hide answer −
The first letter on the right: زz changed to دd.

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Farsi chapters ↗