Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "عصبی" in Farsi?

Say "a-sa-BEE" — three syllables, stress on the final 'bee'.

عصبی /æsæˈbi/

asabi

Stress falls on the last syllable, bi, typical for Persian adjectives ending in -i.

Listen: عصبی

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Sound it out

عص 'a-sa' — the ع is a soft glottal onset (barely audible), and ص is pronounced just like a plain English 's', despite looking different from the simpler س.

بی 'bi', the stressed final syllable, pronounced exactly like English 'bee'.

Hear it in a sentence

قبل از امتحان عصبی هستم.

Ghabl az emtehān asabi hastam.

I'm nervous before the exam.

Listen: قبل از امتحان عصبی هستم.

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'Ghabl az emtehān asabi hastam' means 'I'm nervous before the exam' — ghabl az (before) is a compound preposition, and hastam (I am) is again the standard copula for describing an emotional state.

Where English speakers slip

Because عصبی looks similar to عصبانی (angry), learners sometimes confuse the two — asabi is the milder 'nervous/edgy', while asabāni is the stronger 'angry'; mixing them up changes the sentence's meaning.