LingoDrop
Farsi · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "-ی" in Farsi?
Just a quick, short "i" sound tacked onto the end of a word, like the "y" at the end of English "happy" said briefly.
-i
This is an unstressed enclitic suffix — it never carries stress itself and simply rides on the end of the noun it attaches to.
Listen: -ی
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
یک کتابی روی میز است.
Yek ketāb-i ru-ye miz ast.
There's a (certain) book on the table.
Listen: یک کتابی روی میز است.
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"Yek ketāb-i ru-ye miz ast" (یک کتابی روی میز است) shows -i attached to ketāb, turning "the book" into "a (certain) book" — this indefinite -i often pairs with yek ("one/a") for extra emphasis on non-specificity, as here.
Where English speakers slip
Because English "a/an" is a separate word placed before the noun, learners instinctively look for a standalone Persian word to do the same job — but Persian indefiniteness is instead a suffix glued onto the end of the noun, which takes some habit-breaking to remember.