Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "پیراهن" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce پیراهن in Farsi?

پیراهن is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [pi.ɾɒːˈhæn]. It means “shirt.” Say "pee-rah-HAHN", with light stress on the final syllable; the 'r' is a quick tap, not an English 'r'.

Say "pee-rah-HAHN", with light stress on the final syllable; the 'r' is a quick tap, not an English 'r'.

پیراهن [pi.ɾɒːˈhæn]

pirāhan

Stress falls on the final syllable -han, as is typical for Persian nouns; don't stress the middle -rā as English intuition might suggest.

Listen: پیراهن

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Sound it out

پی پ is a crisp 'p' as in English 'pot'; ی here is a long 'ee' vowel, so پی sounds like 'pee'.

را ر is a light, tapped 'r' (like the 'tt' in American 'butter', not an English 'r'); ا is a long 'ā' like the 'a' in 'father'.

هن ه is a plain, clearly-pronounced 'h' as in 'hat'; ن is a normal 'n'.

Hear it in a sentence

پیراهن آبی پوشیدم.

Pirāhan-e ābi pushidam.

I wore a blue shirt.

Listen: پیراهن آبی پوشیدم.

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The example "Pirāhan-e ābi pushidam" shows the ezafe -e link connecting پیراهن to its adjective آبی ('blue') — Persian glues a noun to a following descriptive adjective with this unstressed -e vowel, which isn't written in the script but is always spoken. پوشیدم ('I wore') comes from پوشیدن, the general verb for putting on clothing.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often skip the ezafe -e that should link پیراهن to a following adjective, saying "pirāhan ābi" instead of "pirāhan-e ābi", which sounds like two disconnected words to a native ear. They also tend to pronounce ر as an English 'r' instead of a quick tongue-tap.