Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "گربه" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce گربه in Farsi?

گربه is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [gorbe]. It means “cat.” Say 'gor-BEH' — a short 'or' sound like in 'gorge' (without the American r-coloring) followed by a light, open final syllable.

Say 'gor-BEH' — a short 'or' sound like in 'gorge' (without the American r-coloring) followed by a light, open final syllable.

گربه [gorbe]

gorbe

Stress falls on the final syllable -be, which is fully voiced, not a silent 'e' the way it would be in English.

Listen: گربه

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Sound it out

گر Pronounced 'gor' — a hard English 'g' plus a short vowel similar to the 'o' in 'or', with a light tapped 'r'.

به Pronounced 'be' — an English 'b' plus a short 'eh' as in 'bed'; the final ه is always pronounced in Persian, never silent.

Hear it in a sentence

گربه روی صندلی خوابیده است.

Gorbe ruye sandali khābide ast.

The cat is sleeping on the chair.

Listen: گربه روی صندلی خوابیده است.

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Gorbe ruye sandali khābide ast. — 'The cat is sleeping on the chair.' Ruye ('on top of') is a compound preposition built from ru ('face/surface') plus the ezāfe -ye; khābide ast uses the past participle khābide ('slept/asleep') with ast to form a present-perfect-like state, Persian's way of expressing an ongoing 'is sleeping'.

Where English speakers slip

Because English final 'e' is silent (as in 'grape'), learners often drop the final ه in gorbe and say something like 'gorb'. In Persian that ه is a real, pronounced 'eh' vowel and carries the word's stress — don't swallow it.