Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "شغل" in Farsi?

Say 'shoghl' as one syllable — 'sho' plus a growly 'gh' plus 'l', with the gh and l running together at the end.

شغل /ʃoɣl/

shoghl

Only one syllable; the real challenge is the final -ghl consonant cluster, which doesn't exist in English, so resist the urge to add an extra vowel between gh and l.

Listen: شغل

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

Sound it out

ش 'sh', exactly like English 'sh' in 'shop'.

غ the 'gh' sound — a voiced, raspy scrape at the back of the throat, similar to a French/German uvular r; there's no true English equivalent.

ل a clear final 'l', as in English 'goal', closing the word with a consonant cluster (-ghl) that English doesn't allow.

Hear it in a sentence

شغل جدیدی پیدا کردم.

Shoghl-e jadidi peydā kardam.

I found a new job.

Listen: شغل جدیدی پیدا کردم.

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

'Shoghl-e jadidi peydā kardam' means 'I found a new job' — shoghl-e jadidi ('job-ezafe new') uses the ezafe to attach the adjective 'new', and peydā kardam ('I made findable') is the compound verb peydā kardan, the standard way to say 'to find' in Persian.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often insert a vowel to break up the final -ghl cluster (saying something like 'sho-ghol'), but native speakers pronounce gh and l back-to-back with no vowel between them.