Stanmore Farsi Class - ‫آموزش زبان فارسی در ستنمر‬

Lesson 1

1.1 The Farsi Alphabet - ‫الف با‬

‫ح‬ ‫چ‬ ‫ج‬ ‫ث‬ ‫ت‬ ‫پ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬

He Che Jīm Se Te Pe Be Alef

‫ش‬ ‫س‬ ‫ژ‬ ‫ز‬ ‫ر‬ ‫ذ‬ ‫د‬ ‫خ‬

Shīn Sīn Zhe Ze Re Zāl Dāl Khe

‫ق‬ ‫ف‬ ‫غ‬ ‫ع‬ ‫ظ‬ ‫ط‬ ‫ض‬ ‫ص‬

Ghāf Fe Ghain Ain Za Ta Zād Sād

‫ی‬ ‫ه‬ ‫و‬ ‫ن‬ ‫م‬ ‫ل‬ ‫گ‬ ‫ک‬

Ye He Vav Nūn Mīm Lām Gāf Kāf

Note:

 Compared to the familiar Arabic alphabet, there are four extra letters in Farsi - ‫ پ چ ژ‬and ‫گ‬
 The pronunciation of ‫ ت‬and ‫ ط‬- both have “t” sound, no makhraj needed or expected.
 The pronunciation of ‫ ث س‬and ‫ ص‬- all have “s” sound, no makhraj needed or expected.
 The pronunciation of ‫ ذ ز ض‬and ‫ ظ‬- all have the “z” sound, no makhraj needed or expected.
 The pronunciation of ‫ ق‬has a “gh” sound, not “q".

1.2 Pronunciation of Vowels - ‫تلفظ واکه ها‬

Short vowels are not pronounced as in Arabic:

The fatha is pronounced as in “fan”, and not as in “fun”. For example, man, not mun.
The kasra is pronounced as in “set”, and not as in “sit”. For example, ketāb, not kitāb.
The dhamma is pronounced as in “pot”, not as in “put”. For example, shomā, not shumā.

1.3 Personal Pronouns - ‫ضمیرهای شخصی‬

‫آنها‬/‫ایشان‬ ‫شما‬ ‫ما‬ ‫او‬ ‫تو‬ ‫من‬

They You We He/She You I

‫آنها‬ ‫آن‬
They It
:Note

 ‫ آن‬has two meanings, “it” and “that”. Its conjugation is exactly the same as ‫او‬
 ‫ شما‬is almost always used as a polite and formal form of address for second person singular. It
can be conjugated in either singular or plural form.
 ‫ ایشان‬is used as a polite and formal form for third person singular. It can be conjugated in either
singular or plural form.
1.4 The Infinitive - ‫مصدر‬

The infinitive is the form of a verb that gives no indication of time, or doer. The infinitive form of
all Farsi verbs ends in either ‫ تن‬or ‫دن‬. For example:

To go - ‫ رفتن‬, to see - ‫دیدن‬

1.5 The Simple Past Tense - (‫گذشته ساده( ماضی ساده‬

This is a tense that describes an action that occurred in the past, happened once, and was completed.
We will use the verb ‫ رفتن‬as an example. See Appendix 1.

1.6 Possessive Pronouns - ‫ضمیرهای ِملکی‬

Attached - ‫پیوسته‬
By adding one of the following six suffixes to a noun, we can indicate possession.

My (‫)م‬, Your (s)(‫)ت‬, His/Her(‫)ش‬, Our(‫)مان‬, Your (p) (‫)تان‬and Their (‫)شان‬
For example:

‫کتابشان‬ ‫کتابتان‬ ‫کتابمان‬ ‫کتابش‬ ‫کتابت‬ ‫کتابم‬

Their book Your book Our book His/her book Your book My book

Detached - ‫پیوسته غیر‬

By using another noun or personal pronoun after a noun, one can also indicate possession. This
form is used to emphasise the possession or define it.
For example:

‫دفتر حسن‬ ‫دفتر آنها‬ ‫دفتر شما‬ ‫دفتر ما‬ ‫دفتراو‬ ‫دفتر تو‬ ‫دفتر من‬
Hasan’s book Their book Your (p) book Our book His/her book Your book My book

1.7 Conversation - ‫گفتگو‬

Greetings - ‫احوال پرسی‬

‫سلم علیکم! حالتان چطور است؟‬

Salamun Alaykum! How are you? (lit. how is your health?)

‫ خوب است‬، ‫علیکم سلم‬.

Alaykum Salaam! It’s fine.

‫سلم! چطوری؟ خوبی؟‬

Hi! How are you? Are you well?

‫ شما؟‬،‫ خوبم‬،‫کرم‬
ّ ‫سلم! متش‬
Hi! Thanks, I’m fine, you?

‫خسته نباشید! حالت خوب است؟‬

Hello! (lit. don’t be fed up) - Are you well?

‫ بد نیست‬،‫سلمت باشید! خیل ممنون‬.

Hello! (lit. be safe), thanks very much - its not bad.
1.8 Vocabulary List - ‫فرهنگ‬

Verbs - ‫فعلها‬

To go - ‫رفتن‬
To see - ‫دیدن‬
To write - ‫نوشتن‬
To consume (eat/drink) - ‫خوردن‬
To read - ‫خواندن‬

Nouns - ‫اسمها‬

Book - ‫کتاب‬
Mosque - ‫مسجد‬
School - ‫مدرسه‬
Bird - ‫پرنده‬
Coffee - ‫قهوه‬
Teacher - ‫معّلم‬
Letter - ‫نامه‬
Dinner - ‫شام‬
Work - ‫کار‬
Friend - ‫دوست‬

Prepositions - ‫ربط حرفهای‬

To - ‫به‬
From - ‫از‬
And - ‫و‬
With - ‫با‬
So - ‫پس‬

Time - ‫زمان‬

Yesterday - ‫دیروز‬
Last year - ‫پارسال‬
Last night - ‫دیشب‬

Adverbs - ‫قیدها‬

Fast - ‫تند‬
Slow - ‫یواش‬

1.9 Homework - ‫تکلیف‬

1. Conjugate all the verbs in the vocabulary list in the simple past tense.
2. Attempt to translate the following five sentences into Farsi:

She read the book.

I saw a bird yesterday.
You wrote a letter to my friend.
He went to Haj last year
They quickly drank their coffee last night.
Stanmore Farsi Class: Appendix 1

Conjugation of Verbs - ‫صرف فعلها‬

Past Tenses - ‫ فعلهای ماضی‬:

1. Simple Past Tense - (‫گذشته ساده( ماضی ساده‬

Conjugation Formula:
Drop the ‫ ن‬from the infinitive to give the past stem, and add the personal pronoun suffix.

Therefore;
Simple Past Tense = Infinitive - ‫( ن‬Past Stem) + Pronoun Suffix
‫ شناسه صرفی‬+ (‫ ن )ستاگ گذشته‬- ‫ماضی ساده = مصدر‬

3rd P P 2nd P P 1st P P 3rd P S 2nd P S 1st P S Infinitive

‫آنها رفتند‬ ‫شما رفتید‬ ‫ما رقتیم‬ ‫او رقت‬ ‫تو رقتی‬ ‫من رقتم‬ ‫رفتن‬
‫دیدن‬
‫نوشتن‬
‫خوردن‬
‫خواندن‬