Persian Grammar For reference‘and revision it etal Maice bit SiSppras) 20 A 62395Persian Grammar This is a book for reference and revision, aimed at those in the carly stages of studying the Persian language. It uses the official reformed spelling, and covers handwriting, educated standard and educated colloquial pronuncia- tion, as well as the important polite forms. The grammar is explained with numerous examples that are given in both Persian script and Roman tran- scription. Grammatical themes are grouped logically, and there are cross-references, appendices and a subject index to facilitate the search for the right form. John Mace has worked in the Diplomatic Service, as a British Council lecturer in Iran, as a personnel officer in the Middle East and as a European Commission Delegate. He has written Persian, Arabic and German language manuals, and a verse translation of Russian poetry.PERSIAN GRAMMAR For reference and revision John Mace é RoutledgeCurzon Taylor & Francis GroupFirst published 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35" Street, New York, NY 10001 RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2003 John Mace Prepared and typeset by John Mace Printed and bound in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical. or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-700-71694-7 (hbk) ISBN 0 700 71695 5 (pbk)Contents Introduction 1 Writing 1 2-24 25 26 27 28 General Alphabet and non-alphabetical signs Gebazaai nasta’lig script Standard handwritten forms AzeuKt Sekaste handwriting Persian transcription 2 Pronunciation 1 aaron 7 Transcription Long and short vowels; diphthongs Consonants Doubled letters Stress Colloquial pronunciation Arabic forms 3 Nouns and adjectives 1 ~iuananke on © 10 11 12 13 Nouns - general Definite and indefinite nouns Definite direct-object suffix | ra Plural of nouns asLol ezdfe with nouns Adjectives - general Adjective used as complement Attributive adjectives Comparative adjectives Superlative adjectives Possessive adjectives Demonstrative adjectives Interrogative adjectives v page 1 19 21 24 26 27 27 27 27 31 36 37 37 37 39 40 47 48 48 50 53 54 58 5914 Contents Distributive adjectives 4 Pronouns 1 wo arINane on 10 General Subject pronouns Direct-object pronouns Prepositions with pronouns Possessive pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns 39> xod Reciprocal pronouns Distributive pronouns 5 Verbs 1 CNanrwon 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 General Infinitive Position of the verb Agreement Simple and compound verbs Government: subject, complement and object Tenses Forming the past tense Using the past tense Forming the present tense Forming the present tense: ‘to be’ Using the present tense Forming the imperfect tense Using the imperfect tense Colloquial continuous tenses Forming the present subjunctive tense Using the present subjunctive tense Imperative Auxiliary verbs vi BRBAR 68 69 69 70 71 72 72 7 7 78 78 79 80 SRVRRS 100 101 102 103 106 107 10920 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Contents Participles Forming the perfect tense Using the perfect tense Forming the perfect subjunctive tense Using the perfect subjunctive tense Forming the pluperfect tense Using the pluperfect tense Forming the future tense Using the future tense Compound verbs Passive voice 6 Prepositions ar one 6 General Basic prepositions Prepositions with ailwal ezafe Prepositions and conjunctions Prepositions governing other expressions Omission of 4, be 7 Adverbs 1 aaron General Forming adverbs Comparative and superlative of adverbs Interrogative adverbs Order of adverbs Adverbial participles 8 Syntax aaron General Questions Indirect speech Clauses - general Noun clauses Relative clauses vii 115 117 118 119 121 121 122 123 124 128 133 133 133 134 135 136 137 139 139 139 143 143 144 144 145 145 145 147 149 150 15210 11 12 13 14 15 16 Contents Clauses of purpose Clauses of result Clauses of time Clauses of reason Conditional clauses Clauses of concession Clauses of manner Topic and comment Quasi-impersonal structures Wishes and exclamations 9 Numbers eoNanr ON A 9 10 11 12 Numerals Cardinal numbers Ordinal numbers Other numerical expressions Fractions and percentage Other adjectival forms, and adverbial forms woul abjad Measurement Calculation Clock Calendar Age 10 Arabic forms 1 aur wn General Participles Verbal nouns Word-ending 3... -a/-ar h qabele and p geire Definite article 11 Wordbuilding 1 General viii 156 156 157 159 160 163 165 165 166 167 169 169 169 172 173 174 174 175 175 176 176 178 180 181 181 181 183 186 187 187 189 189Contents 2 Derived and compound nouns 3 Derived and compound adjectives 4 Derived verbs 12 Polite forms 1 General 2 Pronouns 3 Plural for singular 4 Verbs 5 Prepositions 6 Requesting and thanking Appendix I Irregular present stems of verbs Appendix II adLal ezafe 1 General 2 Writing and pronunciation 3 Use Appendix III Suffix (6... -i 1 General 2 Group 1 3 Indefinite ¢... -i 4° Relative (6... -i 5 Group 2 6 Noung... 7 Adjective ¢g...-i Appendix IV Definite direct-object suffix |) ra 1 General 2. Writing and pronunciation 3 Use Index 189 197 200 203 203 203 204 204 206 206 209 213 213 213 214 215 215 215 215 216 217 218 218 219 219 219 220 223Introduction This is a revision and reference grammar book whose purpose is to act as support for any course of Persian, and especially to help students in their early and intermediate stages It is not a course book. Each paragraph makes as few assumptions as possible about previous knowledge of the theme being studied. The book does not claim to examine every point in the language, merely to cover the most practical ones. Maximum advantage has been taken of the fact that Persian has an Indo-European grammatical structure, familiar to most Europeans. Although the book follows modern spelling, it indicates also those older forms of spelling still found today. The transcription accompanying the Persian script is an accurate reflection of the pronunciation. Educated colloquial variants of the standard pronunciation are shown and explained; this colloquial pronunciation is socially completely ‘correct’, and you are recommended to use it whenever you are not reading aloud or quoting from a written text. Standard pronunciation is always acceptable; but without a knowledge of colloquial pronunciation you will miss much of what is said to you; and your own spoken Persian will never ‘take off’ without at least some use of it Colloquial forms are shown in angular quotation marks « > in the transcription. Grammar books sometimes separate much information into morphology (word structure) and syntax (sentence structure). Many students find this distinction unnecessary. In this book, points of syntax are, as far as possible, studied together with the appropriate parts of speech. The syntax chapter examines only those points which cannot be so studied. Reference numbers in the text relate to chapter number/ 1Introduction paragraph number. Roman numbers refer to the appendices. The index supplements the references quoted in the chapters and appendices, and should, like them, be fully used in the search for the right structure. I take this opportunity to express my thanks to Goly Foroughi, Sharare Atabaki Nosratifard and Mahmoud Khanchezzar for their help in checking the examples, to Jeannine and Paul Tys for permission to include their photographs, and to Marilyn Moore for her help in proof-reading. Any remaining shortcomings are my responsibility.1. Writing 1. General In other chapters of this book each paragraph is discrete; in other words, as far as possible it does not assume that the student has studied any other paragraphs. This chapter, on the other hand, is of necessity continuous; that is, each paragraph assumes knowledge of all previous paragraphs in the chapter. Paragraphs 1/3 to 25 below give the printed forms of the alphabetical letters and other signs. Many forms look different when handwritten; 1/26 and 27 below show handwritten forms. The writing of the numerals is examined in 9/1. Chapter 2 shows the pronunciation of the letters and their transcription used in this book. 2. Alphabet and spelling Persian is written with a modified Arabic alphabet. The general principles of this alphabet are: © The writing runs from right to left — . © There are no capital letters. * Short vowels (there are three, which we transcribe as a, 0, ¢) are mostly not written, but inferred from the outline and context. There is a means of marking these vowels but it is hardly ever seen outside school textbooks. * Most letters are joined to the letter following them in the same word, i.e. to the left. These are joined letters. Almost all of these have a short form when joined to the following letter, and a full form when not so joined. ¢ A few letters, called disjoined letters, are never joined to the following letter. They have only one form. This book uses the modern reformed spelling. Some older spellings 31- Writing are, however, still encountered, and these are also shown where appropriate. The first and commonest letter of the alphabet is called alef. It is a disjoined letter, never joined to the letter following it. It is pronounced as follows: * at the beginning of a word, it shows the presence of one of the short vowels a, 0, e (which are not themselves written) © in the middle or at the end of a word, it represents the long vowel a. This variant of | alef is written at the beginning of a word to represent the long vowel d. Se These four letters called be, pe, te and se all look alike except for the dot(s) above or below them. They are of course written leftwards < . They are pronounced respectively b, p, tand s. They are all joined letters, ie. joined to the next letter in the word. Each one has a short form used at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and a full form used at the end of a word or when standing alone.1 - Writing Combined with | alef or | alef madde (1/3 and 4 above) they appear as follows: wl ab water — (alef and alef madde are not joined to the next letter, in this case ~ be) & ba with (the letters of the & pa foot be group are joined G ta until to the alef following them) wl, bab chapter (of a book) * & se occurs only in a very few words, of Arabic origin. The commonest letter for s is shown in 1/12 below. The letters of the w be group are called ‘toothed’ letters; their short form without its dot(s) is 4, called a ‘tooth’. There are other toothed letters, studied below. The letter nun represents the sound n. This is a joined letter, and has two forms: a short form used at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and a full form used at the end of a word or when standing alone. The short form is a tooth (see 1/5 above); the long form is deeper. ol an that Ob nan bread The letter ye is a joined letter, with a toothed short form used as are those of the w be group (1/5 above). The long form, used at the end of a word or when the letter stands alone, has no dots. It swoops below the line of print. ye has the following pronunciation: * at the beginning of a word: the consonant y * in the middle of a word: the consonant y, or the long vowel i, or (less often) the vowel-combination ei 51 - Writing © at the end of a word: + after a consonant, the long vowel i, or (less often) the vowel-combination ei; also, at the end of a very few words taken from Arabic, @ (an example of which is given in 1/21 below) - after a vowel, the syllable -ye; very rarely, i. lL ya or cst bi without tn bein between OkL payan end Olle bidban desert qu nayeb deputy The combination di is written ¢gl...\..-u| word), the first of the two letters ye being silent: oul pain low, down aly bidi you may come ul ain custom beginning a See also 1/8, 21 and 24 below. In a few words this combination is written with one ye: see 1/13. It is a rule that no vowel other than long d can begin a word in writing. Where a vowel other than d is the first sound, it must be introduced. The commonest letter for introducing a vowel is | alef’: cl in this The letter vav is a disjoined letter with only one form, extending below the line of print. vav is pronounced: * at the beginning of a word: v ¢ in the middle or at the end of a word: v, or the long vowel u, or (less often) the vowel-combination ou. At the end of a very few words (all of which are important) it represents the short vowel 0 * ina few important words it is silent; see 1/13 below. va,o* and Oly! eivan porch1 - Writing ye tup ball GH tuye in gl nay warship an bu smell yp nou new to you The combination -ui is written ,13...\..23..., the first of the two letters ye being silent: ci bui asmell See also 1/7, 21 and 24. The rule given in 1/7 above concerning initial vowels applies here also: gl whe, she The word » pronounced o ‘and’, marked * above, is an exception to this rule. The letter mim is a joined letter. It represents m. Its short and full forms are used in the manner described in 1/5 above. The full form has a tail reaching straight down below the line of print. oe man | 5lo_go mi manim we stay pb nam name pro nim halt An initial ‘tooth’ (see 1/5 above) preceding mim is often inverted and raised. Initial mim is often also raised when followed by another mim: pe tamam complete rhe mi namayam | show | (4 nemi dim we donot come 45f mamnun grateful r= 4 10. The disjoined letters called dd/ and :4/ have only one form each, identical but for the dot. These letters rest on the line of print.1 - Writing They are sounded respectively d and z. 3 is not the commonest letter for the sound z; that is shown in the next paragraph. calls dandi wisdom ls dandén tooth +99 davidan to run dg i.ge mi namaid you show Alsi mi danad he/she knows tel dmad he/she came Wayé namudand they showed al «mi dyad he/she comes i. 9 Te 3 ze 5 te The disjoined letters re (sounded r), ze (sounded =) and *e (sounded 2, see 2/3), are identical but for their dots. They each have one form only, which curves down slightly below the line of print. At first sight this group may seem to be similar to the > dd/ group. There is in fact no confusion; re and ze are joined to the previous letter at the head, and they strike immediately downwards, while dal and 2zd/ are joined to the previous letter at the angle, and the whole letter remains on the line of writing. 5 ze is the commonest letter (out of three possible) used for the sound z. The letter 5 Ze and its sound # are very rare. aylo darad he/she has 9 dar in, door 359 dozd thief Le mara me 2) zire beneath \y5 ziba beautiful 395) Ul abazur lampshade a Ue aw sin 5 x ew Sin The letters sin and Sin ate joined letters. They represent respectively the sounds s and § (see 2/3). The short and full forms 81 - Writing are used in the same way as those of the be group (1/5 above). The short form rests on the line of print, while the flourish of the full form swoops below. .w sin is by far the commonest letter (out of three possible) for writing the sound s. Cul ast he/she is u pas then om si thirty phe 3am dinner uty post back Cuud Sostan to wash 13. This group of four joined letters is jim (sounded j), ce or cim (sounded c), he (sounded h) and xe (sounded x). See 2/3 for the sounds c and x. Short and full forms are used as are those of the be group, 1/5 above. che is the less common of two ways of writing the sound A. It is found in words of Arabic origin, and is sometimes called he hoti to distinguish it from the commoner letter for given in 1/15 below. > ja place we xarej outside Cele hdjat need Gx pic screw * gle cai tea *CSaz,b paitaxt capital city * Gi written, exceptionally, with one ye; see 1/7 above. An initial ‘tooth’ (see 1/5 above) preceding one of these letters is often inverted and raised: Syles\ OIF tejarar trade In the syllables | > xd, 99> x0d, > xor, ati g> xo5 and 49> xi, the letter vav is silent: Ghaily xdstan to want ying «995 xod, xi8 oneself 0923> xordan to eat > x08 well1 - Writing 14. Jam is a joined letter, with no dots. It is pronounced /. Its full and short forms are used as are those of the be group, 1/5 above This letter is distinct from | alef,, since alef is disjoined and lam is joined. Usld lebas suit (of clothes) gle jelou ahead JLs xia! imagination OU! alman Germany The combination /ém + alef has special forms, one used when it is joined to the previous letter, and another when it is not. The form [U)] is never used: pel esiam Islam pa¥ lazem necessary * f+] | The joined letter called he is the commoner of the two letters used for the sound A. It is often called he havvaz to distinguish it from the less common letter ic given in 1/13 above. 6 and its variants all rest on the line, apart from the lower part of the forms ~-and 4. This letter has four forms: * one used at the beginning of a word or after a disjoined letter: * two alternative forms used when the letter is joined on both sides: 4-4. * one used at the end of a word or when the letter stands alone: 0. » har every Lk pana feet Olape\glage mehman guest 43 noh nine ol) rah road *degiS_ tambih punishment * the combinations /nb] is pronounced mb. Silent final ». After the unwritten vowel ¢, the letter 9 at the end 101- Writing of a word is silent: o J Gyande future oko dide seen 456 xdne house dcems baste closed Silent final 0 is also, exceptionally, found after the short unwritten vowel a in the expressions 43 na no 4... 43 na...na neither ... nor When a word ending with silent 0 is extended with a suffix, the next letter starts afresh; or, with a few suffixes, the » is dropped: ail> xane house lease xdneha houses acl name letter eae namehd letters Pyne mive fruit — Ciba a guo\ le guo\ Loo nue mivehdlmivejat fruits After this silent final », any added syllable beginning -i is written with its own introductory alef: alee jomle sentence glales jomilei a sentence dy, rie root glace, riSei rootlike Details are given in the discussion of each suffix or other ending as it occurs. In words such as those shown above the final » is a graphic device ora grammatical ending, In words with final » after e where the » is not an ending but part of the root of the word, the ois sounded A. Such words are not numerous: ody bedeh give 4> 954 motavajjeh attentive 16. ISS ww SS ce These are the joined letters J kaf (pronounced &) and S gaf (pronounced g; see also 2/3 for both sounds). They stand on the line of writing; their short and full forms are used in the same way as those of the be group (1/5 above). kaf has two possible 11 - Writing full forms, Sand J. 4S ke that, when AS (ge mi konad he/she does Satz \clt 5, pezesk doctor S| yuu mesvak toothbrush olf kar work ls kalam cabbage WIS kelds (school) class JS kal stag garm warm BY v5, mi guyad he/she says & jy Trang colour os gorg wolf ot gahi sometimes J gol flower ae golabi pear J LS gomrok customs 17. The letters sdd and zdd are joined letters. Their short and full forms are used as are those of the be group (1/5 above). The loop rests on the line of print, and the ‘flourish’ of the full form curves below. These letters represent respectively the sounds s and z; ye is less common than yw sin for s (1/12 above) and ¥2 is less common than 5 zdl for z (1/11 above). ye and . mostly occur in words taken from Arabic. ype surat list hel asi origin sees Saxs person Ue pare maxsus special pole hdzer present, ready Las! emzd signature 18. b a b 24 Although the letters taand 4 2a are joined letters, they have only one form each, which stands on the line of print. They represent respectively the sounds t and z; b is less common than te for t (1/5 above) and is less common than 3 zal for z (1/11 above). 4 and 4 mostly occur in words taken from Arabic. 121 - Writing ash tour manner, way Want Seitan devil > zohr midday ls nezami military CHE te ELE ee sein The letters called ein and gein are joined letters. Each has four forms: and are written at the beginning of a word or after a disjoined letter. sand tare written when the letter is joined on both sides. gand gare written at the end of a word after a disjoined letter; or when the letter stands alone. qand é are written at the end of a word after a joined letter. You will see that the closed forms are written after a joined letter in the same word, and the open forms when no joined letter precedes in the same word. At the beginning of a word cis silent. The formal sound of gin the middle or at the end of a word is ’ (the ‘glottal stop’), but it is sometimes dropped; see 2/3. The sound of f is q, for which see 2/3. tree mouzu’ subject 20. E as asr late aftemoon ta’til holiday man’ prevention taqyir change mablaq amount o qué gayeb absent ns G29 dorug lie (untruth) the 131 - Writing The two joined letters 4 fe (sounded f) and 3 gaf (sounded q, see 2/3) form a group. Their short and full forms are used as are those of the be group (1/5 above). All forms lie on the line of print except full-form 3 which swoops below. JS fekr thought, idea ptie: bifahm stupid Gy barf snow ASS kasif dirty 6] aga gentleman, Mr LAE! engelab revolution Gx» barq lightning, electricity . 5, barqi electric(al) 21. Doubled letters Two identical consonants with an intervening vowel are written separately: yf mamnun grateful (short unwritten a between the two letters fr m, long written 9 u between the two letters ¢ n). Two identical consonants with no intervening vowel are written as one consonant, but pronounced double when a vowel follows (see 2/4): 42u, bacce child yes najjar carpenter «se hattd even (see 1/7 above for final .¢ pronounced d) 1/23 below shows a means of indicating the doubled consonant. This general rule is broken when two identical consonants come together in the formation of a compound word; 11/2 and 3 explain. The sound i after I\I a or w is written with double ye: cst-+ \+s—td-+ In this combination the first ye is silent and merely functions as a link between the two long vowels: pol mi dim wecome sw 1S, ot mi guid you say See also 1/7 and 8 above, and 1/24 below. Ina few words the combination di is written with one ve: see 1/13. 141- Writing 22. Whole alphabet Here is the alphabet in its Persian order; see 2/3 for details of pronunciation. For the sounds ¢, s, h and z the alternative letters are graded in order of frequency. 1 indicates the most common; letters graded 2 to 4 are mostly found in words taken from Arabic. The two letters pronounced q are of roughly equal frequency; 3 is found mainly in words taken from Arabic. Letter Name (*] — alefmadde | alef wy be ype oe ose tc iim q«@ ct he (hoti) c > dal 3 zal a 1e 53 ze 5 fe uw sin uw Bin ue sad v2 2ad ba & a een t gein Sound: frequencyis.iuz.q Reference Initial: a) 1/4 Initial: shows a, 0, é or introduces u, i, ou, ei. Middle or final: a. 1/3 b 1/5 Pp ral $3 j 1/13 c h2 x d 1/10 z4 r 1/11 zl z sl 1/12 ¥ 52 1/17 z2 t2 1/18 23 Initial: silent. Middle or final: ” 1/19 q 151 - Writing 3 fe f 1 20 & a q J kaf k 1/16 S sa 8g J lam 1 1/14 ¢ mim m 1/9 o& nun n 1/6 3 va Initial: v. Middle or final: v, u, ou, (0) 1/8 After @ : often silent 1/13 ’ he (havvaz) h; but when final after e (a): silent 1/15 “oye Initial: y. Middle: y, i. ei. Final: i, ei. ye 1/7 co \watter 9\I: i (first ye silent) 1/7, 8 (Final in a few words from Arabic: @) 1/7 «J alef madde is only a variant of | alef which is the first letter. But in many dictionaries all words beginning | are listed before words beginning | . The word 93! ordu ‘camp’ helps to recall the four disjoined letters or families of letters. 23. Non-alphabetical signs Certain non-alphabetical signs, most of them rarely used, exist to fix the pronunciation of the word. The main ones are: vowels “. a (called fathe or zebar), “..0 (zamme or pi8),.. € (kasre or zir), after | at the beginning of a word, or after a consonant in any position: , & ae el gl Gn asbe bozorg that big horse vowel-combinations .. ou and g. ¢i, after | at the beginning of a word, or after a consonant in any position: 5 nou new olyl eivan porch two marks peculiar to consonants: - 1. called taSdid, written above a consonant to show that 161 - Writing it is pronounced double: Ay bacce child + 1. called sokun or jazm, written above a consonant to show that it has no vowel after it: qu asb horse The signs shown above are rarely encountered outside schoolbooks. One sign which, however, is almost always shown is the adverbial ending called tanvin and written I". pronounced -an (short a) after a consonant: & jy morattaban regulary GQ 2 i tagriban approximately {| ye0 ma’mulan usually Gis telefonan by telephone Ciigi> hagigat truth Gi hagigatan truly, in truth When this ending is added to a word taken from Arabic and ending ine + silent » (see 1/15 above), both these are dropped and replaced by &... -atan: otclS ga’ede rule Gaci q@’edatan as arule We also still encounter in some dictionaries and older texts the original Arabic spelling ¢.... The pronunciation is the same, -atan: (Sige) for Gigimhagiqatan ($4015) for Gaslé ga'edatan See 7/2 for more about the endings f... -an and G... -atan. 24. + , called hamze, is a letter not listed in the alphabet. It is never joined to anything. It never stands at the beginning of a word. Its basic form is as shown here, but it appears and sounds differently according to whether it is used in Persian words, or in words taken from Arabic. hamze in Persian words. In Persian words hamze may be written over silent final » (1/15 above), to represent ye (the ezdfe, see Appendix II):1 - Writing OLA! S16 xaneye isan his/her/their house 056 byc0 miveye tdze fresh frult The hamze representing ye (the ez@fe) is usually written only when extra clarity is wanted; otherwise it is often left unwritten: OL) le xaneye isan 03 ogue miveye taze We also encounter the form (¢ (now little used) for -iye, showing the ezéfe after words ending in ¢¢ i: (Gael Udeve) for col) (Juve sandaliye rahati easy chair In older Persian, including some dictionaries, we find the combination (3\-j instead of .,1\w (1/7, 8, 21 above), for i after d or u: ctleant (earlier (sleet) Simidi chemical ey 2 9Su (earlier Jud. Su) beguid say and 4... instead of modem (lo... -ei/-e i at the end of a word (1/15 above): glalee (earlier Slax) jomlei a sentence Kay slop (cartier Si, 0445) gahvei rang brown (Gl aceud> (earlier Steud) xaste i you are tired Ina few words taken from other languages the form J is used to mark the transition from one vowel to another: 95 Zuan June (from French juin) SiS gazuil fuel ol, diesel Cuuy5 4) ity! ideolotist ideologist hamze in words taken from Arabic. In words taken from Arabic, hamze may occur before or after any letter in the middle or at the end of a word: . * inthe middle, |a'/'a, $0’, 5 'u, 3”: aules mota'assef sory anes ta'sis foundation (*}* mo'men believer ) gaa mas'ul responsible Abie \ Sone mas'ale/masale problem Middle | is often written | : 181 - Writing ule mora’assef, sSLune masale. * at the end, it is normally written by itself, and is usually silent in Persian: © > joz part Some words written with final |. -@ can still be found with their original Arabic spelling « |... . The pronunciation is the same, as the ¢ is silent: lax) ebreda beginning (formerly « Liz!) « hamze must not be confused with short-form « (1/19 above) which it visibly resembles. 25. Gubarud nasta’liq script The form of script shown in 1/3-24 above is called oe nasx. It is the script used in newspapers, notices and mass-circulated books. An older calligraphic script form, called Gans nasta'lig, is often used for fine printing, titles and posters. In nasx the line of print is more or less level, whereas in nasta'liq each group of letters tends to ‘cascade’ above its predecessor, so: » 7 _/. This and other important differences in style are summarised below: asx nasta'lig ‘Standard forms: ‘cascading’ ey farsi Persian ws Go Olena dustane man my trends of 99 t Cee Ses xejalar shame oy G foul pic screw & oo dhe SF kucek small aT & s gorg wolf S Of Cw SS kargar workman LK 191 - Writing Sy bongah institution of, JS Js AS kelid key ws Js gol flower J XY YQ bala above vt CQ ® WAS kelas class tooth or \.5\.5 oot Di without 3 NAS\S il kafi sufficient oe + final SF torki Turkish G «s+ melli national J . F : . Optional: = ww Chui neSastan to sit ¢ aa i a yu Sef six re initial b b > pas pesarhd SONS A initial.» > har every - phi S kutahtar shorter final joined 4 al, lule tube dex: bime insurance “a final .eafter any (i99 dusti friendship es joinedletter (il,£ erdqi Iragi 2iy Here, for comparison, is a poem by ple o£ omare xayyam Omar Khayyam, in nasx and in nasta’lig, with two translations, one close, and one free by Edward Fitzgerald: 201- Writing ol te ae val 5 I pls AY Be et oes So ATL cad giana lye IS Cale ye A te eat oe gteeed aS ISI ple ae SyIrousiee Sis, GrJUb HIG Wedbg Wi ie GEOG res xayydm, agar z bada* mast i, xo¥ bas: bd Idleroxi 0 mi neSasti, xok bak. cun Ggabate kare jahan nisti st, engar ke nisti; co hasti, xo¥ bas omare xayyam (* oak 52 bada = Ql,% jlaz sarab “trom wine’) Khayyam, if thou art drunk with wine, be glad! If seated next one with tulip cheeks, be glad! Since the world's work has no hereafter, think then Thou mightst not be - but since thou art, be glad! And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press, End in the Nothing all Things end in - yes, Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what Thou shalt be - Nothing - Thou shalt not be less. transl. Edward Fitzgerald 26. Standard handwritten forms ‘The most important features of standard handwriting are shown 211 - Writing below. Many of them reflect the jaLecud nasta’liq script shown in 1/25 above | alef. When not joined to a previous letter, | alef is written downwards. Following a joined letter, it is written upwards: oly’ alia! arzan cheap © & ba with See below for the writing of alef after J lam and after J kaf. Dots. Two dots are written like a hyphen - ; three dots form a rough ring written in either direction as convenient, @ or #) : y > Ss tup ball ik gle ceraq lamp Tete. Letters of the t jim group are often joined to the preceding letter at the upper right corner in print, but always at the upper left comer (ie. at the beginning of the outline) in handwriting. A preceding initial tooth is almost always inverted (see 1/13 above). Compare the forms: é e nax thread Ae CIs xejalat shame e mim. After a joined letter, t mim should be approached from the top, and the ‘bead’ written anticlockwise G. A preceding initial tooth is almost always inverted (see 1/9 above): fo rh delam my heart a)>¥ 32. »44 namudan to show This handwritten form effectively distinguishes middle joined «= mim from middle joined ein, which is always approached from below and written clockwise @ : aye 34,02 ma’ruf well known Middle tooth. See 1/5. A middle tooth, i.e. one joined on both sides, has a special raised handwritten form before » mim or w\y relze. Examine the forms: f° ) pedy rafiam | went Se set iz table 221 - Writing FD sad itr litre Initial and middle «2 sdd and 2 zdd have a tooth after their loop; this tooth must not be omitted in handwriting. It behaves like a middle tooth before » mim or jNo relze: usweee samimi sincere p~@e 20 mesr Egypt b ta and b 2a. Unlike 2 sdd and 42 zad (see immediately above), bid and 524 have no tooth after the loop. The loop is written first, then the upright: Ps aghe cetour how eS Ue ali nezdmi military ue sin and (4 Sin. In all but the most careful handwriting, the indentations of these letters are flattened out into a smooth curve, thus: a (4 Cmagd dust friend o 5 Sab evening ot ving pis before = gi Ow jews bidtar more i =. MAY lam-alef. See 1/14 above. In writing this combination, detach the alef and write it downwards, either vertically towards the foot of the /dm or at an angle to its middle. Compare printed and handwritten forms: UM uke w YY YYyY a (re phe salam hello ¢, pp) p5¥ lazem necessary Ss kaf and & gaf. Examine the handwritten forms shown below. The downstroke is written vertically ¢ , the headstroke(s) ¥ last. In the forms with alef and/or lam, the circle is written anticlockwise 6 >, approaching from below if the combination is joined to the preceding letter , so: Q. IL ISG 6555 b¢ EV EVR CK tae 231 - Writing LL LS Kis u Lk BB JS J 88 oi K PIL BI I ISIC ta, gla “ cs kam litte & ns gom lost ns lS kar work oo Mew So\Ke bikari uneployment Pees gahi sometimes obs lalSea| istgah station, stop Oe JSS Sek! form oX WIS kelas class The form J is not used in handwriting. a he. The middle form .¢ is seldom used in handwriting; the simpler form +- is written instead. The final form joined to the preceding letter, printed 4, is very often simplified in handwriting toa: 7 obe\aue cahar four ‘ WS) 455) rafte gone a ds se three Final (gye. When final cg ye is preceded by a tooth, or by any of the letters 3\.3 felqaf, S\S kafigaf or J lam, the junction is handwritten as a sharp angle, and the ye loses its first curve: Gv ale jai aplace §— (F—%> .gimyd dusti friendship Fx Aa bargi etectictat x oS ki who he shai fasli seasonal But after other joined letters (including «2\o with its tooth, see above) the junction is rounded, and ye has both its curves: 7 ‘ Ct oS kami aittie — gXO\, gal, razi satisfied 27. acwuSuh Sekaste handwriting Many Iranians use so-called Sekaste or ‘broken’ handwriting, a form greatly simplified for the writer but often very difficult for the 241 - Writing inexperienced reader. Sekaste also draws some of its forms from nasta’ lig, shown in 1/25 above. The forms shown below are used in addition to the simplifications found in standard handwriting (1/26). Dots. In the ‘toughest’ Sekaste many dots may be left out altogether. Or they may stray away from the outline to which they belong; occasionally one and two dots on successive letters may be grouped as three (ie. ina ring): a ly “3 tanhd alone (Dis)joined letters. Often, the letters | 3 3 5 5 5 9, in principle not joined to the following letter, are nevertheless so joined in Sekaste. Common combinations: Nd sl AL ok bad wind KA Jl Sus JL xia! imagination 4 2 re? a pvt Sodam | became Ba» 74 339 dur far a> @Y > odys dide seen ob aly radio radio 43 plo ayls darad helshe/it has Wh aby 3g cid much % ly oh alye mavadd materials kr Q dy, bud he/she/it was hss Jw, Jn pul money » he. Two nasta’liq forms for this letter are used in Sekaste; the final form joined to a previous letter, and the detached syllable le ha: 251 - Writing \ 7S. Basu baccehd children 7 eS Modified final letters. Some letters, the most common being & and (g, have modified final forms in Sekaste: eo oe) cul aris oJ O5 tut mulberry C 3 ck O& nan bread : oe man | = SA shel arani s VL, Gly baraye for \ sly! irani iranian 28. Persian transcription The transcription of foreign words (mostly names) often reflects the fact that French was once the most widely taught European language in Iran. Whatever the source language, short and long vowels are often not distinguished. Examples: Xu yg yunesko UNESCO wel paris Paris GEisl5 vasengton Washington 4) landan London 3 Yenev Geneva Jy92 95 nyuyork New York SG faks fax cx!5 Zapon Japan aj5\Ke mekanize mechanised — fuiy3S gazuil gascil, diesel isi! otrif Austria WLI italya Italy JSUT atatork Atatirk ‘gSuue moskou Moscow Since no Persian word can begin with two consonants having no intervening, vowel, any such foreign word has to be adapted. Initial 5+ consonant becomes ...=wl es-; any other initial group acquires an intervening vowel: ALK! eskotland Scotland auld ferdnse France J) 995 nyuyork ‘New York is an exception to this rule, probably because its second letter 4 y is a semi-vowel. 262. Pronunciation 1. Transcription See 1/22-24 for the transcription used in this book for Persian writing. 2. Long and short vowels; diphthongs (vowel-combinations) It is important to distinguish between the three short vowels and their long counterparts, and between these and the two vowel- combinations. Pronounce as follows: Short: a as a in Southern English ‘bat oe man | e between e and jin English ‘bet’ and ‘bit; Ja del heart ending a word: like French é in ‘café’ aw se three o between Q and yin English ‘pot’ and ‘put’ Wi tond fast Long: @ between the a's in English ‘dark’ and ‘talk; dis the deep sound which you produce | when the doctor tells you to say ‘a-a-ah’. yl dn that i as jin English ‘machine’ 3 nim half u_as Win English ‘tule’ or in German ‘Buch’ it tul length Combinations: ei as gi in English ‘weight’ hee meil inclination ou as Quin English ‘soul’ yp nou new 3. Consonants The consonants transcribed b, p, t, s, j, d, z, f, m, n, v are pronounced much as in English. The other consonants merit closer attention. Some easier ones first: ¢ as chin English rich’ fm) pic screw h as hin English ‘how’. It is pronounced Je hal conditon wherever transcribed h, even in the on pahn broad middle or at the end of the word. 02 dah ten X as ch in Scots ‘loch’, Welsh ‘bach’ or German ‘Buch’; or j in Spanish ‘bajo’ Og xun blood r rolled £ as in Italian or Spanish. It is jay ruz day 272- Pronunciation always pronounced wherever it occurs, 33> dur far never dropped as in some English 99 dars lesson speech. % as jin French ‘our, or $ in English ‘treasure’ 059 vize special 3. as sh in English ‘she’ pbs sam dinner 1 always ‘light’ as in English ‘leaf, never ‘dark’ as in English ‘wall JY tat dumb always a consonant, as y in English ‘year’, never with a vowel sound asin English‘my' ya or ~ ? se and {: The transcription ’ represents the ‘glottal stop’, ie. a catch in the breath. It is the sound heard in some speech of Southeastern England, or parts of Scotland: “wo’ a lo’ o’” for “what a lot of’. The stop is spelt sometimes with + (hamze), sometimes with g. In modern Persian it is pronounced only in the middle or at the end of words taken from Arabic, and not always then. It is a very weak sound, barely audible in the speech of most Iranians: * in the middle of a word, when spelt with ¢ the stop is usually pronounced: casks sd‘at hour, clock Asa jom’e Friday When spelt with « it is either pronounced weakly, or not at all. The Arabic spellings for hamze | , § and 5 are found, often with alternatives: inskee\ isle mota'assefimotaassef sorry Lne\ alle \abiwe mas’ale/masale problem J,cu\I gu s0’al/soal question Ce) gaa mas'uliyatimasuliyat responsibility © at the end of a word, « or after a consonant is usually silent, though some people pronounce the casa stop: * > joz part ww rob/rob’ quarter but when an ezdfe (Appendix Il) is added to such a word, the + or ceases to be final and is usually pronounced: ee cx! © 5 joz'e in mablaq part of this amount 282- Pronunciation vs Qy ‘ob’e garz a quarter of the loan Final « after a vowel is found mostly in older spellings, and is silent; final ¢ after a vowel is usually pronounced as a stop: (tzu! estesnd exception (formerly + itz!) we nou’ kind, sort No word begins with « hamze . at the beginning of a word is silent: pas ozv member wale ddat custom q. This sound is the ‘voiced’ or hard equivalent of x, shown above; its nearest European equivalent is French rin ‘Marie’ or German r in ‘fahren’. This sound is the everyday Pronunciation of both gandG & UI aga gentleman, Mr mablaq amount Some people retain for some words the original Arabic pronunciation of (3 which is that of k pronounced very deep in the throat. Since this happens in only a few words, and many Persians confuse the two sounds anyway in their attempt to differentiate, we will show the pronunciation g throughout, which is always correct for both letters. k. khas two sounds: * before d, 0, u, ou or a consonant it sounds like ¢ or k in English ‘cook’: lS kar work (7S ise mi konam | do PSS kucektar smaller © anywhere else, it sounds like k but is ‘palatalised’, i.e. there is a slight y-sound after it; we can imagine its being represented as ’: ns kam [Ram] alittle eh yek [yek’] one If you know Russian, imagine pronouncing a (hypothetical) soft ‘Kb’. This is similar to palatalised Persian k. 292- Pronunciation g. g has two sounds: *. before d, 0, u, ou or a consonant it sounds like hard g in English ‘good’: ° gom lost redex mi guyam | say a2 bozorgrar bigger * anywhere else, it sounds like g but is palatalised in the same way as is k: CSS goreft [g*ereft] hetook Ku sag sag’) dog F 45 bozorg [bozorg"] big If you know Russian, imagine pronouncing a soft TB’. At no time is g pronounced like soft g in English ‘gem’. Because palatalisation follows a simple rule with no exceptions, it will not be shown in the transcription. mb: «5. The combination = [nb] is pronounced mb: Ags Sambe Saturday 4. Doubled letters Doubled consonants (i. e. two identical consonants with no intervening vowel, see 1/21 and 23) are pronounced double, that is, held for longer than single consonants, when followed by a vowel in the same word or phrase: 42x, bacce child (pronounced as if transcribed bac-ce) We sound doubled consonants in this manner in a few English words, for example ‘midday’, pronounced as if spelt mid-day. A doubled consonant not followed by a vowel in the same word or phrase is pronounced single: cul re mohemm ast it is important but: ray mohemtar (for [mohemmtar']) more important (is haggan rightfully but: wkd Ge hag Sends (for [haqq Sends]) grateful 30