Ch. 2 - L5 The letter vâv

• This letter has multiple functions in Farsi writing.
• vâv can never be joined to the left.

5.1 Exercise
Write the sign for ‘vâv’ in the air with your index finger.

5.2 Exercise
Create new flashcards for this letter.









5.3 Exercise
In the Bible Teach Book, page 6 – Mark all و

5.4 Exercise
The Farsi word for ‘he’, ‘she’, 'it’, is ‘u’ (oo). How do you write this word?

5.5 Exercise
In chapter 1, paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Bible Teach Book , find all occurences of او
How many times can you find this word?

5.6 Exercise
Select the flashcards that begin with the long vowel ‘â’.

5.7 Exercise
Write down all the Farsi words that you can remember and compare them to your
flashcards. Check that you have the correct Farsi spelling.

Ch. 2 - L4 Alef, Introducing a Vowel

• Besides the three short vowels in the Farsi alphabet there are three long vowels.
• These long vowels are always included in the Farsi writing.
• If one of these three long vowels is used in the beginning of a word, Alef is used as a vowel attachment. This means that Alef is written in front of the letter to indicate that the following letter eg: و must be pronounced as a vowel.

4.1 Exercise
The Farsi word for ‘this’ (as in “the item is in this box”) sounds like ‘in’.
Please try writing this word in Farsi (using the letters we have learned so far) and compare it to the spelling in the dictionary.

4.2 Exercise
Try to find 2 occcurences of the Farsi word for 'this' in page 6 of the Bible Teach Book.

4.3 Exercise
Please find the flash card with the above word.

4.4 Exercise
Repeat the same exercises for the Farsi word for ‘ân’ (that) in page 6 of the Bible Teach Book.

Ch. 2 - L3 Vowels and Vowel Signs

• Farsi has 3 short vowels: a, e, o
• Vowel sounds are written with the following signs:

One exception of this rule is with the sound ‘o’ occasionally rendered with the letter vâv (و )
For Example, the Number 41 in Persian is written چهل و یک. This number is NOT read as chehel VA yek. It will be read as chehel-o-yek.

Further examples of vowels are:

You won’t find these symbols often as most Farsi speaking people already know how to say the words. Where you do find them is where a word is a foreign word, a name or a word that is being introduced to the reader. In these situations the vowel sounds are indicated to assist the readers to pronounce the word correctly. You may think it's impossible to learn to read without the symbols – take courage, it can be done.

3.1 Exercise
Try to read the following text:
تب بت
Can you see which vowel signs are missing? See if you can add the missing vowel signs.
Please lookup the above words in a dictionary or use http://translate.google.com to translate. For help on using Google Translate please click here.

3.2 Exercise
Write down both Farsi words on a flashcard with the English translation on the reverse side. Perhaps you can add the vowel signs in pencil.

3.3 Exercise
With a partner practice the above flashcards by looking at the English side and guessing the correct Farsi word.

3.4 Exercise
Practice all the words that you know with a Native Speaker.

3.5 Exercise
Without looking at your flash cards, mark all the words you can read in pages 3 to 7 of the Bible Teach Book in Persian.

3.6 Exercise
Write down all the words that you marked in the above exercise and compare them with your flash cards.

Try Supplementary exercise 3 - click here - to get more familiar with the vowel signs.

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.

Ch. 2 - L 1 Letters be, pe, te, se, nun, ye

• The Farsi alphabet has 32 letters,
• It is written from the right to the left,
• When a single letter is being referred to, the ‘own’ form is often written,
• There are no capital letters in the same way there is in English,
• Each letter has these four forms determined by its position within a word as follows:
• On its own (Own),
• The first letter in a word (First),
• In the middle of a word (Middle),
• The last letter in a word (Last)
• Take note of the groups of similar letters. While you need to know 32 characters, if you break it into groups, you really only need to know a few basic character ‘patterns’ and then learn to distinguish letters by their differences.

Sometimes you will see the middle form of ‘ye’ written using the ‘own’ form.There is no difference in meaning.

Examples
Following Persian words show letters be, pe, te, se, nun, ye in their different appearences as First, Middle or Last letters in different words.

English	Persian	Pronounciation
Jehovah
Jesus
Levite	لاوی
Deutronomy
Jonah		ََ
Hebrews
Lamentations		ََ
Inheritance	ارث
Seth
Job	ایوب
Obadiah
Timothy
Ruth	روت
Peter

1.1 Exercise
Letters in the middle of a word are not much different from each other
Learn to recognise the number of dots & where these dots are placed.
Write down the MIDDLE form of each letter (use a flashcard).

1.2 Exercise
In the ‘Bible Teach Book’ (‘آشنایی‌ با تعالیم کتاب مقدّس’) , in the pages and paragraphs provided,  mark each of the following letters & then pronounce them aloud:

To make sure that you have recognised all the letters, count each of the above letters and compare the number you found with your partner's number.

1.3 Exercise
With your partner use flashcards to practise the 6 letters above until you
can recognise each letter.

1.4 Exercise
Lay down your flashcards in a pattern. Eg: letters with dots under
ب = b
ي = i
پ = p
or - nun: ن / te: ت / se: ث

1.5 Exercise
Repeat writing each letter until you feel you have mastered writing it. Like this:

                                 Writing Directions