Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "بستن" in Farsi?

Say bas-TAN, with a short a like 'cup' in both syllables and stress on the second.

بستن /bæsˈtæn/

bastan

As an infinitive, bastan stresses its final syllable -tan; its imperative bebandid stresses the be- prefix instead.

Listen: بستن

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Sound it out

ب b, exactly like English 'b'.

س s, exactly like English 's' in 'see'.

تن 'tan', stressed, crisp unaspirated t plus short a.

Hear it in a sentence

لطفاً در را ببندید.

Lotfan dar rā bebandid.

Please close the door.

Listen: لطفاً در را ببندید.

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'لطفاً در را ببندید' (lotfan dar rā bebandid, 'Please close the door') shows the imperative bebandid (be- + band + id), stressed BE-bandid. Unlike the light-verb bāz kardan above, bastan is a simple verb, so its imperative regularly does take the be- prefix — the opposite pattern from #86.

Where English speakers slip

در here means 'door', not the preposition 'in/at' — same spelling and sound, distinguished only by context. Learners may also drop the be- prefix by wrongly generalizing from the light-verb imperative pattern in bāz kardan, saying just 'bandid' instead of the correct 'bebandid'.