Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "صندلی" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce صندلی in Farsi?

صندلی is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sændæˈli/. It means “chair.” Say "san-da-LEE," three syllables with the stress on the final "lee."

Say "san-da-LEE," three syllables with the stress on the final "lee."

صندلی /sændæˈli/

sandali

Stress falls on the final syllable -li; the letter ص is pronounced exactly like the more common س (s) in everyday Persian, despite its different Arabic-derived spelling.

Listen: صندلی

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

Sound it out

صن san, "s" (this ص sounds identical to plain س in Persian) plus a short flat "a" and "n," like English "sun" but with an "a" as in "cat."

د d, like English "d" in "day."

لی li, "l" plus a crisp short "ee," as in "believe."

Hear it in a sentence

لطفاً روی صندلی بنشینید.

Lotfan ruye sandali beneshinid.

Please sit on the chair.

Listen: لطفاً روی صندلی بنشینید.

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

"لطفاً روی صندلی بنشینید" (Lotfan ruye sandali beneshinid) again pairs لطفاً with a formal -id imperative, بنشینید ("sit," from نشستن), and the preposition روی ("on top of") before صندلی — locating the action before naming the verb, as Persian sentence order requires.

Where English speakers slip

Because ص looks distinct from the everyday س, learners sometimes hunt for a special "emphatic" sound (as it would have in Arabic). In standard Persian there's no such distinction — just pronounce it as a normal English-style "s," and put the stress on the final syllable rather than the first.