Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "رودخانه" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce رودخانه in Farsi?

رودخانه is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ruːdxɒːne]. It means “river.” Say 'rood-KHAH-neh' — a long 'oo', then a raspy 'kh' plus long 'ah', ending in a light 'neh'; stress the middle syllable.

Say 'rood-KHAH-neh' — a long 'oo', then a raspy 'kh' plus long 'ah', ending in a light 'neh'; stress the middle syllable.

رودخانه [ruːdxɒːne]

rudkhāne

Stress falls on the middle syllable, -khā-, which carries the long open vowel; both the first and last syllables are lighter by comparison.

Listen: رودخانه

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

رود Pronounced 'rud' — a light tapped 'r' plus a long 'oo' as in 'moon' and a 'd'; this root alone means 'river/stream'.

خا Pronounced 'khā' — the raspy, throat-back خ (like Scottish 'loch') plus the long open 'ah' of 'father'; this is the stressed syllable.

نه Pronounced 'ne' — an English 'n' plus a short 'eh', fully voiced, not silent.

Hear it in a sentence

رودخانه از کنار شهر می‌گذرد.

Rudkhāne az kenār-e shahr migozarad.

The river passes by the city.

Listen: رودخانه از کنار شهر می‌گذرد.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Rudkhāne az kenār-e shahr migozarad. — 'The river passes by the city.' Az kenār-e shahr means 'from beside the city', with kenār-e shahr formed by the ezāfe link between kenār ('side/edge') and shahr ('city'); migozarad ('it passes') is the present tense of gozashtan, describing an ongoing, general fact about the river's path.

Where English speakers slip

This is a compound of rud ('river') and khāne ('house'), so learners sometimes split it into two clearly separate words with a pause in the middle. Say it as one smooth word, and keep the raspy خ in the middle from softening into a plain 'h' or 'k'.