Persian/Lesson 4

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Lessons: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • Contents • Introduction • Alphabet • Glossary • Handwriting •

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ا · ب · پ · ت · ث · ج · چ · ح · خ · د · ذ · ر · ز · ژ · س · ش

ص · ض · ط · ظ · ع · غ · ف · ق · ک · گ · ل · م · ن · و · ه · ی

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Contents 1 In This Lesson 2 Mim 3 Nun 4 Vâv 5 He 6 Ye 7 Grammar Point 7.1 Long Vowels at the beginning of a word 8 Culture Point: هفت سین 9 Exercises 10 Vocabulary 11 Phrases

[edit] In This Lesson

• Letters: Min, Nun, Vâv, He and Ye.

• Grammar: long vowels at the beginning of a word.

• Culture: haft sin.

• Exercises: word breakdown and letter recognition.

[edit] Mim

م

listen (help·info)

م (Mim) sounds like "m" in English.

[edit] Nun

ن

listen (help·info)

The name of this letter "nun" is pronounced rhyming with "noon" and not "nun". Note the difference between ن nun and ﺏ be, in be the dot is below the curve and in nun it is above. The shape of nun is also narrower than the "be, pe, se, te" group of letters.

[edit] Vâv

ﻭ

listen (help·info)

[edit] He

ﻩ

listen (help·info)

[edit] Ye

ى

listen (help·info)

The initial form of this letter varies a lot from its stand-alone form.

یک

یک	=	ک	+	ی
yek	=	k	+	y

In this word, the letter Ye is preceded by an alef.

ايران	=	ک	+	ی
yek	=	k	+	y

[edit] Grammar Point

[edit] Long Vowels at the beginning of a word

The only long vowel which can begin a word is â. This means that in words such as ايران (Irân) and اين (in), alef ا is placed before the initial long "eee" sound.

[edit] Culture Point: هفت سین

Do you remember the letter "sin" from leson 3? Combined with "haft" from this lesson makes an important Iranian New Year tradition of "Haft Sin", or the "Seven Ss". During the Persian New Year (Nowruz), the haft sin table is arranged with seven items beginning with the letter "s". That might include: 1. Sabzeh 2. Sib 3. Sir 4. Samanu 5. Senjed 6. Serkeh 7. Somâk Originally called هفت چین,

	Which of the following items would go on your traditional هفت سین table? (Clue: Sabzeh, Sib, Sir, Samanu, Senjed, Serke and Somâq).
سیب زمینی → sib zamini (potato)- no
سیب → sib (apple)- yes
سگ → sag (dog)- no
ستاره → setareh (star)- no
سير → sir (garlic)- yes
سركه → serke (vinegar)- yes
سوسک‌ → (beetle)- no
سبزه → sabzeh (wheat, barley or lentil sprouts)- yes
سیگار → sigar (cigar)- no
سنگ → sang (stone)- no
سماق → somâq (sumac berries)- yes
سنجد → senjed (senjed, the dried fruit of the oleaster tree )- yes
سمنو → samanu (wheat pudding)- yes

[edit] Exercises

Try to memorize the letters of the alphabet studied in this lesson.

ﻭ

→

vâv

ى

→

ye

ن

→

nun

ﻩ

→

he

م

→

mim

Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts:

ما

ماه

نه

هفت

Example: ما

ما	=	ا	+	م
mâ	=	â	+	m

Answers {{{1}}}

ماه	=	ه	+	ا	+	م
mâh	=	h	=	â	+	m

نه	=	ه	+	ن
nah or noh	=	h	+	n

هفت	=	ت	+	ف	+	ه
haft	=	t	+	f	+	h

Sort these words into groups of words with no unwritten vowels and words with unwritten vowels (vowels not included in the spelling of the word):

ما

ماه

نه

چرا

هفت

آب

بابا

اسم

چرا

اثاث

توت

Answers Words with unwritten vowels include:چرا, هفت, نه

ُSee if you can recognize these familiar words:

شاه

→

shâh

افغانستان

→

Afqânistân

زعفران

→

zaferân

پايجامه

→

payzhâma

[edit] Vocabulary

Persian	Pronunciation	English
سیب	sib	apple
سي	sir	garlic
سنجد	senjed	senjed, the dried fruit of the oleaster tree
سمنو	samanu	samanu, a kind of wheat pudding
ما	mâ	we, us
ماه	mâh	moon, month
مرد	mard	man
نه	nah	no
نه	noh	new
و	va	and
ولی	vali	but
هفت	haft	seven

[edit] Phrases

Persian	English
Salâm	Hello
Shomâ chetorin	How are you?
Man khub hastam	I'm fine
Khodâ hâfez	Goodbye

Lessons: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • Contents • Introduction • Alphabet • Glossary • Handwriting •