Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "زندگی کردن" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce زندگی کردن in Farsi?

زندگی کردن is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /zendeˈgiː kærˈdæn/. It means “to live.” Say zen-de-GEE kar-DAN — zendegi stresses its last syllable like a normal noun, and kardan stresses its own final syllable too.

Say zen-de-GEE kar-DAN — zendegi stresses its last syllable like a normal noun, and kardan stresses its own final syllable too.

زندگی کردن /zendeˈgiː kærˈdæn/

zendegi kardan

زندگی (zendegi) follows the regular noun pattern of final-syllable stress (zen-de-GI); kardan then adds its own final-syllable stress when unprefixed, or prefix stress when it takes mi-.

Listen: زندگی کردن

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Sound it out

زند 'zend' — z as in English 'zebra', then a short e like 'bed', then n and d.

گی 'gi', stressed — g as in 'go' plus a long ee like 'see'.

کردن 'kardan' — the light verb 'to do', which conjugates while zendegi stays fixed as the noun 'life'.

Hear it in a sentence

ما در تهران زندگی می‌کنیم.

Mā dar Tehrān zendegi mikonim.

We live in Tehran.

Listen: ما در تهران زندگی می‌کنیم.

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'ما در تهران زندگی می‌کنیم' (mā dar tehrān zendegi mikonim, 'We live in Tehran') is another light-verb phrase: zendegi (noun 'life') plus kardan. در تهران (dar tehrān, 'in Tehran') is the locative phrase, and mikonim carries the expected MI- stress.

Where English speakers slip

Learners sometimes reach for budan (to be) instead, saying something like 'mā dar tehrān-im' to mean 'we live in Tehran' — that only expresses location at a moment, not residing/dwelling there; zendegi kardan is the correct verb for 'to live/reside'.