Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "چه کسی" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce چه کسی in Farsi?

چه کسی is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tʃe kæˈsiː/. It means “who.” Say "cheh ka-SEE": a quick, light "cheh," then "ka-SEE" with the stress landing on the final long "ee."

Say "cheh ka-SEE": a quick, light "cheh," then "ka-SEE" with the stress landing on the final long "ee."

چه کسی /tʃe kæˈsiː/

che kasi

The main stress of the whole phrase falls on the final syllable "SI" of kasi; che stays light and unstressed, functioning almost like an unstressed lead-in.

Listen: چه کسی

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Sound it out

چ Like English "ch" in "chair" — keep it distinct from ج ("j"), a separate sound in Persian.

ه A short "e" vowel here, like "e" in "bed."

ک Like English "k" in "kettle."

س Like English "s" in "see."

ی A long "ee" vowel, like "ee" in "see" — stressed, closing out the phrase.

Hear it in a sentence

این کتاب مال چه کسی است؟

In ketāb māl-e che kasi ast?

Whose book is this?

Listen: این کتاب مال چه کسی است؟

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"In ketāb māl-e che kasi ast?" (این کتاب مال چه کسی است؟) literally asks "this book belongs to which person is?" — che kasi ("who," literally "what person") sits right after the ezafe māl-e, in the same slot a name or pronoun would normally fill when answering "whose is it."

Where English speakers slip

Learners often try to translate "who" word-for-word with a single Persian word, but the natural everyday phrase is the two-word che kasi ("what person"); using just che alone here would sound like asking "what" rather than "who," which is a different, less natural question about a person.