Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ساعت" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce ساعت in Farsi?

ساعت is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sɒːˈʔæt/. It means “hour.” Say "SAH," with a long open "ah," then catch your breath briefly (like the pause in "uh-oh") before finishing with a quick "-AT."

Say "SAH," with a long open "ah," then catch your breath briefly (like the pause in "uh-oh") before finishing with a quick "-AT."

ساعت /sɒːˈʔæt/

sā'at

Stress falls on the second syllable, -عت ("-at"), right after the glottal stop marked by ع, which must be pronounced as a real, brief catch in the throat rather than smoothed into one long vowel.

Listen: ساعت

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Sound it out

سا "Sā," a plain "s" plus a long, open "ā" as in "father."

ع A glottal stop — the same throat-catch found in بعضی — signaling a clean break between the two syllables rather than one continuous vowel.

ت A plain "t" as in "top," plus a short "a" before it, giving the stressed final syllable "-at."

Hear it in a sentence

دو ساعت منتظر شما بودم.

Do sā'at montazer-e shomā budam.

I waited for you for two hours.

Listen: دو ساعت منتظر شما بودم.

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In دو ساعت منتظر شما بودم, دو ساعت means "two hours," with ساعت used here as a unit of time following the number دو ("two") — Persian numbers directly precede the noun they count, with no plural marking needed on ساعت itself. منتظر شما بودم ("I was waiting for you") uses the compound expression منتظر بودن ("to be waiting") with شما as its object and بودم ("I was") closing the sentence.

Where English speakers slip

The most common mistake is smoothing the ع into the surrounding vowels and saying something like "saat" as one long, unbroken "ah" sound — but Persian speakers hear and expect a distinct catch in the throat there. Also remember ساعت doubles as both "hour" and "clock/watch" in Persian, so context determines which meaning is intended (a very common two-in-one word for learners to note).