The Persian language has between six and eight vowel phonemes and twenty-three consonant phonemes. It features contrastive stress and syllable-final consonant clusters.
Vowels[]
| Phoneme (in IPA) | Letter | Romanization | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| /æ/ | ـَ ,ـَه; | a | /næ/ نه "no" |
| /ɒː/ | ـا, آ ,ىٰ; | ā | /tɒː/ تا "until" |
| /e̞/ | ـِ ,ـِه; | e | /ke/ که "that" |
| /ɛ/ | ـِ ,ـِه; | ɛ | /kɛ/ که "that" |
| /iː/ | ـیـ ,ـی; | ī | /ʃiːr/ شیر "milk" |
| /o/ | ـُ ,ـُو; | o | /to/ تو "you" (singular) |
| /ɔ/ | ـُ ,ـُو; | ɔ | /tɔ/ تو "you" (singular) |
| /uː/ | ـو; | ū | /zuːd/ زود "quick" |
| Phoneme (in IPA) | Letter | Romanization | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| /ej/ | ـِیْ; | ey | /kej/ کی "when?" |
| /ow/ | ـُوْ; | ow | /now/ نو "new" |
The variety of Afghanistan has also preserved these two Classic Persian vowels:
| Phoneme (in IPA) | Letter | Romanization | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| /eː/ | ـی; | ē | /ʃeːr/ شیر "lion" |
| /ɛː/ | ـی; | ɛ | /ʃɛːr/ شیر "lion" |
| /oː/ | ـو; | ō | /zoːr/ زور "strong" |
| /ɔː/ | ـو; | ɔ | /zɔːr/ زور "strong" |
Consonants[]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ɴ | ||
| Stop/ Affricate |
p b | t d | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | c ɟ | k ɡ | q ɢ | ʔ |
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ç ʝ | x~χ ɣ~ʁ | h | |
| Vibrant | ʙ | r~ɾ | |||||
| Approximant | ʋ | ɹ | j | ɰ | |||
| Lateral | l | ʎ | ʟ | ʟ̠ | |||