Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "متعجب" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce متعجب in Farsi?

متعجب is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /moteʔædʒˈdʒeb/. It means “surprised.” Say "mo-te-aj-JEB" — four syllables stressed on the last, with a brief catch (glottal stop) between 'te' and 'aj'.

Say "mo-te-aj-JEB" — four syllables stressed on the last, with a brief catch (glottal stop) between 'te' and 'aj'.

متعجب /moteʔædʒˈdʒeb/

mota'ajjeb

Stress lands on the final syllable, jeb, following the general Persian pattern of word-final stress; the ع marks a light glottal catch, not a full consonant.

Listen: متعجب

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Sound it out

مت 'mo-te', two quick unstressed syllables — 'mo' as in 'more', 'te' as in 'tell'.

ع the ayn — a brief catch in the throat before the next vowel, similar to the pause in English 'uh-oh'.

جب 'jjeb', the stressed ending — a doubled 'j' sound (held slightly longer than a single j) plus 'eb', rhyming with English 'Jeb'.

Hear it in a sentence

از این خبر متعجب شدم.

Az in khabar mota'ajjeb shodam.

I was surprised by this news.

Listen: از این خبر متعجب شدم.

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'Az in khabar mota'ajjeb shodam' means 'I became surprised by this news' — again using shodam (I became) rather than 'to be', the standard construction for entering an emotional state, parallel to shād shodam.

Where English speakers slip

The doubled j (jj) is often flattened to a single 'j' by English speakers; Persian speakers hold it slightly longer, and skipping the glottal catch after 'te' makes the word run together oddly.