Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "روی" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce روی in Farsi?

روی is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ruːje/. It means “on.” Say "roo-yeh": a long "oo" like in "boot," then a light "yeh" tacked on the end — the whole thing is smoother and faster than it looks written out.

Say "roo-yeh": a long "oo" like in "boot," then a light "yeh" tacked on the end — the whole thing is smoother and faster than it looks written out.

روی /ruːje/

ru-ye

Stress falls on the first syllable "RU"; the trailing "-ye" is an unstressed ezafe glide, said quickly and softly, almost like an afterthought.

Listen: روی

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Sound it out

ر A tapped "r," like Spanish "r" in "pero", not the English "r".

و A long "oo" vowel, like "oo" in "boot".

ی This final letter writes out the ezafe glide "-ye" that links the word to what follows — pronounce it as a quick "yeh", like the "y" in "yes".

Hear it in a sentence

کتاب روی میز است.

Ketāb ru-ye miz ast.

The book is on the table.

Listen: کتاب روی میز است.

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"Ketāb ru-ye miz ast" (کتاب روی میز است) shows ru-ye already carrying its ezafe ("-ye") baked into the spelling, because the bare root "ru" ends in a vowel and Persian writes the ezafe as ی after vowel-final words. So you never say a bare "ru" here — it's always "ru-ye X."

Where English speakers slip

Because the ezafe is spelled with a full letter (ی) here rather than left invisible, learners sometimes read it as a strong, separate syllable "yeh" with its own stress, when it should be a light, quick glide fused onto "ru" — think "ROO-yeh," not "ROO... YEH."