Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "او" in Farsi?

Just a long "oo" sound, like the "oo" in English "food" — one long vowel, no consonant at all.

او /uː/

u

A single long vowel syllable; hold it a bit longer than an English "oo" would naturally run.

Listen: او

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Sound it out

آ The initial ا here doesn't add its own "a" sound — combined with the following و it forms one long "oo" vowel, like "oo" in "food."

و Completes the long "oo" vowel together with the preceding ا — together اِو spells one single sound, not two separate ones.

Hear it in a sentence

او معلم است.

U mo'allem ast.

He/She is a teacher.

Listen: او معلم است.

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"U mo'allem ast" (او معلم است) uses u for "he/she/it" — Persian famously has no grammatical gender, so this same word covers all three English pronouns depending on context. Note mo'allem contains a glottal stop (ء), a real consonant sound like the catch in English "uh-oh," between the "mo" and "allem" parts.

Where English speakers slip

Because English forces a gender choice ("he" vs. "she"), learners often want to know which one u "really" means — but there's no way to tell from the word itself, and no need to guess; Persian speakers rely entirely on context, and mixing up gendered pronouns is simply not a category error to worry about here.