Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "حوله" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce حوله in Farsi?

حوله is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈho.le]. It means “towel.” Say "HOH-leh", stress on the first syllable, with a plain 'h' at the start (not a raspy one).

Say "HOH-leh", stress on the first syllable, with a plain 'h' at the start (not a raspy one).

حوله [ˈho.le]

hole

As with other words ending in the short, unstressed ه vowel, stress falls on the first syllable ho-, not the final -le.

Listen: حوله

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Sound it out

حو ح is a plain 'h' as in 'hat' (identical in sound to ه, just a different letter historically); و here is a short 'o' vowel like 'go' shortened.

له ل is a clear 'l' as in 'let'; the final ه is a short, unstressed 'e' vowel, like the end of 'coffee'.

Hear it in a sentence

حوله‌ی تمیزی می‌خواهم.

Hole-ye tamizi mikhāham.

I want a clean towel.

Listen: حوله‌ی تمیزی می‌خواهم.

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"Hole-ye tamizi mikhāham" attaches the ezafe as -ye rather than plain -e because حوله already ends in a vowel, linking it to its adjective تمیز ('clean') plus the indefinite -i suffix, exactly paralleling the pattern in 'kolāh-e garmi' but with a glide consonant inserted for smooth pronunciation between two vowels.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often confuse ح with خ and give it a raspy throat sound, when ح is actually pronounced identically to plain ه — just a plain 'h' as in English 'hat'; they also tend to misplace stress on the final syllable instead of the correct first syllable.