The Persian alphabet, also known as the Farsi alphabet, is the foundation of reading and writing in Persian. It’s written from right to left, which might feel different if you’re used to languages like English, but you'll get the hang of it quickly.

The script is a modified version of the Arabic alphabet and has 32 letters. While many letters are shared with Arabic, Persian includes four unique characters to represent sounds that don't exist in Arabic.

These four extra letters are پ (pe), چ (če), ژ (že), and گ (gâf).

Let's look at the full alphabet. Here are the letters, their names, and the sounds they make. Don't worry about memorizing them all at once. Just get familiar with their shapes and sounds.

In Persian, letters in a word connect to each other, much like cursive writing in English. Because of this, most letters have different forms depending on their position: at the beginning of a word (initial), in the middle (medial), or at the end (final). When a letter stands alone, it's in its isolated form.

For example, the letter ب (be) looks different in each position. Let's see how it's used to write the word کتاب (ketâb), which means "book."

While most letters connect to the letter on their left, a few are special. These letters only connect to the letter on their right. They never connect to the letter that follows them. This creates a small break in the middle of a word.

These non-connecting letters are easy to remember:

Let's look at the word در (dar), which means "door." The letter د (dâl) doesn't connect to the next letter, ر (re). So, they are written next to each other but without a connecting line.

That's the basic structure of the Persian alphabet. The next step is to practice recognizing and writing these letters. With a little practice, connecting them to form words will become second nature.

Keep practicing, and you'll be reading and writing Farsi in no time.