Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "فقط" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce فقط in Farsi?

فقط is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /fæˈɣæt/. It means “only.” Say "fa-GHAHT," with a rasping "gh" sound in the middle and stress on the final syllable.

Say "fa-GHAHT," with a rasping "gh" sound in the middle and stress on the final syllable.

فقط /fæˈɣæt/

faghat

Stress falls on the final syllable, -ghat, following the regular Persian pattern of final-syllable stress.

Listen: فقط

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Sound it out

ف f, plus a short, unwritten "a" vowel — "fa-."

ق gh, a rasping sound made at the very back of the throat (think of a gentle gargle, not an English g), plus a short "a" — the stressed syllable, -GHAT.

ط t, closing the word; historically a distinct "emphatic" Arabic letter, but in Persian it's pronounced as a plain t.

Hear it in a sentence

فقط یک دقیقه وقت دارم.

Faghat yek daghighe vaght dāram.

I only have one minute.

Listen: فقط یک دقیقه وقت دارم.

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"فقط یک دقیقه وقت دارم" (Faghat yek daghighe vaght dāram) means "I only have one minute." فقط fronts the whole phrase it limits (یک دقیقه وقت, "one minute of time"), much like English "only" placed at the start of the sentence.

Where English speakers slip

Don't turn the gh into a hard English g — that sound doesn't exist in English and needs to be made further back in the throat, closer to a French/German uvular r than a g. Learners also sometimes place فقط after the word it limits instead of before, which sounds unnatural; keep it up front.