Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "راه رفتن" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce راه رفتن in Farsi?

راه رفتن is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /rɒːh ræfˈtæn/. It means “to walk.” Say RAHH raf-TAN — rāh gets its own stress, with a long open 'ah' and a clearly audible final h, and raftan carries its own stress separately.

Say RAHH raf-TAN — rāh gets its own stress, with a long open 'ah' and a clearly audible final h, and raftan carries its own stress separately.

راه رفتن /rɒːh ræfˈtæn/

rāh raftan

In this light-verb phrase, rāh (way/road) keeps its own word-stress, while raftan (to go) carries stress on its final syllable when bare, or on its mi- prefix when conjugated.

Listen: راه رفتن

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Sound it out

راه 'rāh' — a tapped r, a long open ā like 'father', then a clearly pronounced h at the end; this word ('way/road') stays fixed.

رفتن 'raftan' — the verb 'to go', which conjugates (miravam, raftam) while rāh stays put.

Hear it in a sentence

هر روز راه می‌روم.

Har ruz rāh miravam.

I walk every day.

Listen: هر روز راه می‌روم.

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'هر روز راه می‌روم' (har ruz rāh miravam, 'I walk every day') is a light-verb phrase literally meaning 'to go [by] road' = 'to walk'. هر روز (har ruz, 'every day') sits before the verb, as Persian adverbial time phrases usually do, and miravam carries the expected MI- stress.

Where English speakers slip

Dropping rāh and just saying 'miravam' changes the meaning to a generic 'I go' by any means, not specifically 'I walk' — rāh raftan is needed whenever walking, specifically, is meant.