Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "بعضی" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce بعضی in Farsi?

بعضی is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /bæʔˈziː/. It means “some.” Say "bah," cut it off sharply with a tiny catch in your throat (like the pause in "uh-oh"), then finish with "-ZEE."

Say "bah," cut it off sharply with a tiny catch in your throat (like the pause in "uh-oh"), then finish with "-ZEE."

بعضی /bæʔˈziː/

ba'zi

Stress lands on the final syllable, -ضی ("-zi"), and the ع in the middle marks a genuine glottal stop — a short catch of breath — that should not be skipped or smoothed over.

Listen: بعضی

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Sound it out

بـ A simple "b" plus short "a," like the start of "bath."

ع A glottal stop — the little catch in your throat you make in the middle of "uh-oh" — this letter has no equivalent in English but must be pronounced as a brief pause/catch, not silently skipped.

ضی "Zi," a plain "z" as in "zoo" plus a long "ee," carrying the main stress. Note ض is pronounced identically to a regular ز in modern Persian, despite looking different (it's an Arabic-derived spelling).

Hear it in a sentence

بعضی از دانش‌آموزان دیر آمدند.

Ba'zi az dānesh-āmuzān dir āmadand.

Some of the students came late.

Listen: بعضی از دانش‌آموزان دیر آمدند.

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In بعضی از دانش‌آموزان دیر آمدند, بعضی pairs with از ("of/from") to mean "some of" — بعضی از + plural noun is the standard construction for "some of the [group]." دانش‌آموزان ("students") is itself a compound of دانش ("knowledge") and آموز ("learner") pluralized with -ان, and the whole subject takes the plural verb آمدند ("they came").

Where English speakers slip

The most common mistake is dropping the ع glottal stop entirely and just saying "bazi" — but بازی (with a long ā and no glottal stop) is actually a different word meaning "game/play," so skipping the catch can create real confusion. Keep that brief throat-catch between "ba" and "zi."