Ch. 2 - L 2 The letter Alef

• Alef is the first letter in the alphabet
• If it is in the beginning of a word it is pronounced as an ‘a’ ‘e’ or ‘o’
• If it in the middle of a word or the last letter in a word then it is always pronounced as a ‘long a’ like ‘a’ in ‘arm’. (â)
• Alef can not be connected in writing to the left

Written form

Keep in mind the correct pronunciation.

2.1 ExerciseWrite down the letter Alef in both forms: آ and ا on a flashcard.

2.2 Exercise
In page 6 of the Bible Teach Book, mark all letter combinations with the letters that you know so far, eg.

2.3 Exercise
Write down new combinations of the letters we have learned so far and read them out loud.

2.4 Exercise
How many of the following words did you come up with in the above exercise?
آب   آن   اين   نان
با   بابا   باب   يا   آيا
پا   پايان   آنان

2.5 Exercise
Look up the words above in a dictionary. If you dont have a Persian to English Dictionary simply go to http://translate.google.com , type in the Persian word and get the English Translation. The following screen shot shows how you can access the Persian keyboard in Google Translate.

For Example in order to find out the meaning of the word نان in English, you will have to click ن and then ا and then ن on the virtual keyboard. The relevant keys for نان have been highlighted with Yellow in the below screen shot. You can see from the following screen shot that the Persian word نان means Bread in English.

If you are having difficulty with the Persian keyboard, then simply copy/paste نان into Persian language area of Google Translate and observe the English translation. Repeat the above steps for all of the words provided in excercise 2.4. Then  write the Farsi words on one side of a flashcard and a picture or the English translation on the other side.

2.6 Exercise
Practice with the above flash cards.






By means of a ‘crazy story’ some are able to remember the alphabet. Try Supplementary Exercise 2 (click here) or make a ‘crazy story’ for yourself.

When you can recognise the Persian letters, you can ask Persian speakers to spell a word you are having difficulty with in Persian – making it easier to see how to pronounce new words.
You’ll also need to know the order of letters in the alphabet to be able to look up Persian words in a Persian-English dictionary.