Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "چهار" in Farsi?

Say "chah-HAR": 'ch' as in 'chair', then a real breathy 'h', then a long 'ā' like the 'a' in 'father', ending in a lightly tapped 'r'.

چهار /tʃaˈhɒːr/

chahār

Two syllables, with stress on the final syllable "hār" — the normal Persian pattern of stressing the last syllable of a word.

Listen: چهار

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Sound it out

چ The consonant 'ch', exactly like the 'ch' in English 'chair'.

ه Here, mid-word, ه is a full, audible consonant 'h', like the 'h' in 'hat' — not silent.

ار ا gives the long vowel 'ā' (as in 'father'), and ر is a light, tapped 'r', similar to Spanish or Italian single 'r'.

Hear it in a sentence

ساعت چهار است.

Sā'at chahār ast.

It's four o'clock.

Listen: ساعت چهار است.

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"Sā'at chahār ast" (It's four o'clock) shows ع represented in romanization as an apostrophe in sā'at — that catch in the throat is a real consonant (a glottal stop), not decorative punctuation.

Where English speakers slip

The mid-word ه is a real, pronounced 'h' — learners often drop it and say something closer to "chaar." Also keep the ا a genuinely long 'ā' (father vowel), not a short English 'a' as in 'cat'.