Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "شب بخیر" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce شب بخیر in Farsi?

شب بخیر is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ʃæb be.ˈxejr]. It means “good night.” shahb beh-KHEYR — shab has a short, crisp 'a' as in 'cat', and bekheir ends in that same 'ay'-like diphthong as in صبح بخیر.

shahb beh-KHEYR — shab has a short, crisp 'a' as in 'cat', and bekheir ends in that same 'ay'-like diphthong as in صبح بخیر.

شب بخیر [ʃæb be.ˈxejr]

shab bekheir

شب is a single unstressed syllable; the phrase's main stress falls on the final syllable of بخیر, exactly as in صبح بخیر.

Listen: شب بخیر

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Sound it out

شب 'sh' (as in 'shoe') plus a short 'a' (as in 'cat') and closing 'b' — one crisp, unstressed syllable.

ب Unstressed 'be-', meaning 'to/with'.

خیر The same raspy 'kh', 'ey' diphthong (like 'ay' in 'day'), and tapped 'r' as in صبح بخیر — carries the stress.

Hear it in a sentence

شب بخیر، خواب‌های خوش.

Shab bekheir, khāb-hā-ye khosh.

Good night, sweet dreams.

Listen: شب بخیر، خواب‌های خوش.

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'شب بخیر، خواب‌های خوش' literally means 'good night, sweet/pleasant dreams' — خواب‌های خوش pluralizes خواب ('dream') with -hā and modifies it with خوش ('pleasant'), a set poetic-sounding phrase rather than a literal word-for-word translation of English 'sweet dreams'.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often lengthen the vowel in شب to match the spelling patterns of other words they've seen, but it should stay short and crisp — the length distinction between short 'a' (شب) and long 'ā' (as in صبح's absent long vowel) matters for being understood.