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

Systems for Romanizing Persian

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	' ∅ (word initial)	ʔ, ː	ʻ, ʿ
غ	ġ	ɣ, ɢ	q, gh, g͟h, ğ
ف	f	f
ق	ġ	ɣ, ɢ	q, gh, g͟h, ğ, 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	uː, oː	ô, ū, ō
و (diphthong)	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	iː, eː	ê, ī, ē
ی (diphthong)	ey	ej	ai, ay
یٰ (always word-final)	â	ɒː	ā, á

Diphthongs

Romanization	IPA	Final	Medial	Initial	Regular?
ey	/ej/	ـِىْ	ـِیْـ	اِیْـ	Yes
ay	/æj/	ـَىْ	ـَیْـ	اَیْـ	Only borrowings
oy	/oːj/	ـُىْ	ـُیْـ	اُیْـ	Only borrowings
ây	/ɒːj/	ـاىْ	ـایْـ	آیْـ	Yes
aw	/æw/	ـَوْ		اَوْ	No
âw	/ɒːw/	ـاوْ		آوْ	Only borrowings
uy	/uːj/	ـوىْ	ـویْـ	اویْـ	Yes

• In most cases, Classical Persian ay and aw have turned into Iranian Persian ey and ow respectively.

Other symbols or combinations

1. ـاً (-an) (always word-final) – an (The position of [fathatan] is after the alef, not before, as is the current practice with Arabic)
2. When a word ending with آ (â), ـا (â), ء (') or other variations gets the tanvin, it is written as either ءً ('an) or ـئاً (-'an) and is transliterated as – 'an in both cases.

   اِبْتِداءً ― ebtedâ'an ― in the beginning

   اِبْتِدائاً ― ebtedâ'an ― in the beginning

3. ـٌ (-on) (always word-final, only in compound terms related to grammar and math, usually not written) – on

   مُضافٌ‌اِلَیْه ― mozâfon-elayh ― genitive noun

4. ـٍ (-en) (always word-final, only in unadapted borrowings, rare) – en

   بِعِبارَةٍ‌اُخْریٰ ― be'ebâraten-oxrâ ― in other words

5. All forms of hamze, including ء, ؤ, ئ, and أ are transliterated as ' (dispreferred: ʻ, ʿ) – unless the hamze is a substitute for a native glottal stop, where it is transliterated as a hyphen. (see below)
6. The (ezâfe) vowel is transcribed differently depending on context:
   • ـِ (-e) (ezâfe) (always word-final, after a consonant, mostly unmarked in regular writing) – -e
   • ـیِ (--ye) (ezâfe) (after long vowels ا (â) or و (u), sometimes marked in regular writing) – -ye

     آفْریقایِ جُنوبی ― âfriġâ-ye jonubi ― South Africa

   • ـیِّ (i-ye) (ezâfe) (always word-final with ی (i), mostly 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 display using |head=. Templates link to words without the hamze.)

     خانِهٔ بُزُرْگ (spelled with a hamze diacritic) ― xâne-ye bozorg ― a big house

     خانِه‌ی بُزُرْگ (spelled with a a non-connecting ye) ― xâne-ye bozorg ― a big house

7. indefinite article ـی (-i):
   • After a consonant: -i
   • After ـه (-e):

     ـه‌ای (-e-i): e-i

     ـه‌ئی (-e-i) (irregular): e-i

     ـه‌یی (-e-yi) (irregular): e-yi

   • After long vowel آ (â):

     ـایی (-â-yi): â-yi

     ـائی (-â-i): â-i

   • After long vowel ی (i):

     ـی‌ای (-i-i): i-i

     ـی‌ئی (-i-i) (irregular): i-i

     ـی‌یی (-i-yi) (irregular): i-yi

   • After vowel و (u, o):

     ـویی (-u-yi, -o-yi): u-yi, o-yi

     ـوئی (-u-i, -o-i): u-i, o-i

   Note that hamze being a hyphen does not effect words that have a hamza or Eyn at the end. (unless they are unhamzated to which they follow the above rules)

   اِنْشائی (enšâ'-i) (hamzated, انشاء)

   لؤلؤی (lo'lo'-i)

   مجتمعی (mojtama'-i)

8. The adjectival and abstract noun version of ـی (-i) follow the above rules without the hyphen, unless there is no consonants to which a hyphen is placed between the two vowels. – Note that if ـی (-i) is used to form an abstract noun, it gets converted to ـِگی (-egi) if the word ends with an ـه (-e)
9. نه (“no, not”) – na (an exception)
10. ـّ (tashdid) – geminate consonant (Arabic shadda)
11. ـَ (-a) (fathe/zor) – a (Arabic fatha)
12. ـِ (-e) (kasre/zir) – e (in modern Iranian, to check cases where it's "i") (Arabic kasra)
13. 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)

14. 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.
15. 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

16. 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.

17. ZWNJ – - (hyphen)
18. 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))

19. ـیـ (-y-): (V)y(V) (for Arabic borrowings, see below)

    آسایِش ― âsâyeš ― comfort

    رایگان ― râygân, râyegân ― free

    • if preceded by a consonant and followed by a vowel, it will depends case by case whether it is a iy(V), y(V) or i(V)

      آسیّا ― âsiyâ ― Asia

      بیّو ― biyo ― bio

      بَخْتیاری ― baxtiyâri, baxtiâri ― Bakhtiari

      سِرْیال ― seryâl ― series

      پِرْیود ― peryod ― period

Arabic loanwords

1. ـة (-h) (always word-final) – at (rare, only in unadapted borrowings from Arabic, normally adapted into Persian as ـت (at) or ـه (e))
2. الـ (note the hyphen after "l" or the first of the assimilated letter is for etymological reasons):

   al- (normally):

   اَلْیُوم (rare) ― al-yowm ― today

   "l" can change to the following consonant if it's a "sun letter", and "a" can change to "o" (Arabic "u") in ezâfe, e.g.

   With ZWNJ: -(C)-(C)

   فارِغ‌ُالتَّحْصیل (fâreġo-t-tahsil)

   With space: (C)-(C)

   فارِغٌ التَّحْصیل (fâreġo t-tahsil)

   moon letters (Note that the alef remains silent (اَلِفِ وَصْل (alef-e vasl))):

   With ZWNJ: -l-

   بِیْنُ‌الْمِلَلی (beyno-l-melali)

   With space: l-

   بِیْنُ الْمِلَلی (beyno l-melali)

   Most of the time the vowel of the last first word is "o" following Arabic grammar rules, but variations do exists:

   Suffixes: – e

   بِالْکُلّ (be-l-koll)

   sometimes: – a

   بِیْنَ‌الْمِلَلی (beyna-l-melali)

   بِیْنَ الْمِلَلی (beyna l-melali)

3. ـیّت, ـیّات, and ـیّه: iyat, iyât, and iye (for native ـیـ (-y-), see above)

   اَهَمّیَّت (ahammiyat)

   تَقْویَّت (taġviyat)

   خُصوصیّات (xosusiyât)

   نَشْریّه (našriye)