Dari has three short vowels, but the Persian alphabet has no special letters to represent short vowels. Words are written with only consonants and long vowels. It is as if the English word "treatment" were written as "treatmnt," with the long vowel written explicitly and the short vowel unwritten but understood.
Two letters, ا and ه , can represent short vowels, but the particular vowel that is there in the word may be understood only by referring a dictionary or listening to a native speaker.
|
Alone |
Final |
Medial |
Initial |
Transliteration |
Remarks |
|
ا ابر |
a, e, o |
Alef may be represented by the vowels e, a, or o at the beginning of a word: امروز = ا + ﻣ + ﺮ + و + ز "today" emrooz "horse" asb اسب = ا + ﺳ + ﺐ
افتاد = ا + ﻓ + ﺘ + ﺎ + د "he (she) fell" oftaad This letter is not joined to the letters following it but is joined to the preceding letters (if the preceding letter is not one of this kind): "horse" asb اسب = ا + ﺳ + ﺐ "clothes" jaama جامه = ﺟ + ﺎ + ﻣ + ﻪ In the following word the letters are not joined to each other because the first and the second ones are not joined to the following letter (as was mentioned above): "crow" zaagh زاغ = ز + ا + غ |
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|
ه مژه |
ﻪ تنه |
a, e |
Pronounced as vowel a at the end of Persian words and called the "silent" h. This is the case when it represents a verbal, adjectival, or nominal suffix: "said" gofta گفته = ﮔ + ﻔ + ﺘ + ﻪ "letter" naama نامه = ﻧ + ﺎ + ﻣ + ﻪ "clothes" jaama جامه = ﺟ + ﺎ + ﻣ + ﻪ It may also be pronounced as the vowel e: "who" ke که = ﻛ + ﻪ "what" che چه = ﭼ + ﻪ |
However, special orthographic signs are frequently used in language-learning materials to represent short vowels.
In the middle position the signs appear above the consonant preceding the short vowel. In the initial position, they always appear with ا alef as shown on the table below. Dari words always end in a consonant, a long vowel or a letter representing a short vowel, so a method to mark short vowels on final form letters at the end of a word is not necessary.
In the table below, the names of the signs are given both in Arabic (shown first) and in Dari (shown second). In language learning materials, the Arabic term is often used.
|
Name |
Sound |
Final |
Medial |
Initial |
|
|
Arabic |
Dari |
||||
|
fatha |
zabar |
a, as in "cat" |
no sign |
مَکتَب َ
|
اَ اَست |
|
kasra |
zair |
e, as in "bell" |
no sign |
قاتِل ِ |
اِ اِجرا |
|
zamma |
pish |
o, as in mode |
no sign |
دُختَر ُ |
اُ اُستاد |
Please notice that to make pronunciation easier in informal speech, short vowels are usually put between adjoining consonants:
"thought" fekr - feker فکر = ﻓ + ﻜ + ﺮ
"child" tefl - tefel طفل = ﻃ + ﻔ + ﻞ
"thankfulness" shokr - shokor شکر = ﺷ + ﻜ + ﺮ
This is true for all words in Dari, whether native or borrowed:
"sport" seport not sport سپورت = ﺳ + ﭙ + ﻮ + ر + ت
"tractor" taraaktoor not traaktoor تراکتور = ﺗ + ﺮ + ا + ﻛ + ﺘ + ﻮ + ر
"plan" pelaan not plaan پلان = ﭘ + ﻼ + ن
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