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 [sɒː.ˈʔæt]. It means “watch, clock.” Say "sah-AT" with a tiny catch in the throat (a glottal stop) between the two syllables, like the pause in English 'uh-oh'.

Say "sah-AT" with a tiny catch in the throat (a glottal stop) between the two syllables, like the pause in English 'uh-oh'.

ساعت [sɒː.ˈʔæt]

sā'at

Stress falls on the final syllable -'at; the glottal stop marked by ع must keep the two syllables distinctly separate rather than blending into one long vowel.

Listen: ساعت

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

Sound it out

سا س is a plain 's' as in 'sun'; ا is long 'ā' like 'father'.

ع ع marks a glottal stop — a brief catch in the throat, the same sound in the middle of English 'uh-oh' — separating the two vowels rather than blending them together.

ت ت is a crisp, unaspirated 't', with a short 'a' vowel (like 'cup') right before it.

Hear it in a sentence

ساعتم را گم کردم.

Sā'at-am rā gom kardam.

I lost my watch.

Listen: ساعتم را گم کردم.

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

"Sā'at-am rā gom kardam" attaches the possessive -am to ساعت and marks the whole phrase with را as the object of گم کردم ('to lose', literally 'to make lost'), a common light-verb construction pairing the adjective گم ('lost') with کردن.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers usually smooth the ع away, saying something like 'saht' instead of keeping the two syllables distinctly separated by the glottal catch; also note ساعت can mean either 'hour' or 'watch/clock' depending on context, so don't assume its meaning from spelling alone.