Farsi · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "آب" in Farsi?

Q: How do you pronounce آب in Farsi?

آب is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɒːb/. It means “water.” Pronounce it like the English word "obb" — an open, long "ah" vowel followed by a crisp "b," as in "aww" + "b."

Pronounce it like the English word "obb" — an open, long "ah" vowel followed by a crisp "b," as in "aww" + "b."

آب /ɒːb/

āb

One syllable; the whole word is just the long ā vowel plus a final b, with no separate stressed/unstressed parts.

Listen: آب

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Sound it out

آ ā, an alef with a wavy "madda" mark on top — a long, open "ah" like in "father," pronounced right from the start of the word (a plain alef alone would need a helping vowel first).

ب b, exactly like English "b" in "boy," pronounced crisply at the end rather than swallowed.

Hear it in a sentence

لطفاً یک لیوان آب به من بدهید.

Lotfan yek livān āb be man bedahid.

Please give me a glass of water.

Listen: لطفاً یک لیوان آب به من بدهید.

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"لطفاً یک لیوان آب به من بدهید" (Lotfan yek livān āb be man bedahid) stacks two nouns, لیوان and آب, directly together ("a glass [of] water") with no linking word — Persian often drops "of" this way when one noun modifies another closely. لطفاً ("please") politely softens the imperative بدهید.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often reduce the final b to almost nothing, the way they might in casual speech. In Persian, that closing b needs to be fully released and audible, not swallowed — otherwise آب can sound like it's missing its last consonant entirely.