The World of Languages · Indo-European
Persian · فارسی (Fārsi)
The language of Hafez and Rumi: an Indo-European language written in Arabic script, spoken as Farsi, Dari and Tajik.
- 65 million native speakers
- 82 million speakers in total
- Arabic script
- FSI Category III · 44 weeks
- Official in 2 countries
Where Persian is spoken
Tap or hover over a country. Colours show the language's status, based on Unicode CLDR territory data (population estimates mix sources and years).
Top countries by speakers
- Iran · ایرانOfficial language · 66M (75%)
- Afghanistan · افغانستانOfficial language · 20M (50%)
- Pakistan · پاکستانWidely spoken · 1.7M (0.66%)
- Qatar · قطرWidely spoken · 281k (11%)
Key numbers
- Native (L1) speakers
- 65 million
- Second-language (L2) speakers
- 17 million
- Total speakers
- 82 million
- Source
- Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia
Figures are for Iranian Persian only; Dari (Afghanistan) and Tajik are counted separately by Ethnologue.
Persian at a glance
Persian, also known as Farsi, is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian (officially known as Farsi), Afghan Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population in Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivative of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivative of the Cyrillic script.
From the Wikipedia article Persian language (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Name in Persian
- فارسی (Fārsi)
- Family
- Indo-EuropeanClassical Indo-EuropeanIndo-IranianIranian-NuristaniIranianSouthwestern IranianMiddle-Modern PersianModern Southwestern IranianFarsic-Caucasian TatFarsic
- Writing system
- Persian alphabet (Arabic-based, 32 letters); Tajik uses Cyrillic
- Direction
- Right to left
- Official in
- Iran, Afghanistan
- Codes
- ISO 639-3
fas· Glottologwest2369· Q9168 - Writing sample
تمام افراد بشر آزاد بدنیا میایند و از لحاظ حیثیت و حقوق با هم برابرند. همه دارای عقل و وجدان میباشند و باید نسبت بیکدیگر با روح برادری رفتار کنند.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…”
Linguistic profile
How hard is Persian for English speakers?
The US Foreign Service Institute puts Persian in Category III: about 44 weeks (1100 class hours) of full-time study to reach professional working proficiency.
Source: FSI language learning timelines. See all languages ranked: hardest · easiest.
Feature values from the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS Online, CC BY 4.0).
The Persian script
Persian alphabet (Arabic-based, 32 letters); Tajik uses Cyrillic. Tap a character to hear it (your device reads the letter name or sound).
Standard letters from Unicode CLDR exemplar characters.
Useful Persian phrases with pronunciation
Numbers 1–10
- یِک yek
- دو do
- سِه se
- چَهار čahâr
Days of the week
- Mon دوشنبه
- Tue سه‌شنبه
- Wed چهارشنبه
- Thu پنجشنبه
- Fri جمعه
- Sat شنبه
- Sun یکشنبه
Everyday words
- water آب âb
- cat گُرْبِه gorbe
- dog سَگ sag
- coffee قَهْوِه ġahve
- beer آبْجُوْ âbjow
- bread نان nân
- book کِتاب ketâb
Phrases and words checked against Wiktionary; days and months from Unicode CLDR. Audio uses your browser's built-in Persian voice when available.
Dialects and varieties
Iranian Persian (Farsi)
Iran
“Merci” is a common everyday thanks; Tehran speech turns “ān” into “un”: nān (bread) ≈ “nun”.
Dari
Afghanistan
Keeps older vowel distinctions; “tashakor” is the usual thanks.
Tajik
Tajikistan
Written in Cyrillic: “салом” (salom) for hello.
Hazaragi and others
Central Afghanistan
Persian varieties with Turkic and Mongolic loanwords.
Hear the dialects
Fun words, untranslatables
تعارف
ta'ārof
An elaborate etiquette of politeness, with ritual offers and refusals: the shopkeeper who says “be my guest” but expects you to pay.
جان
jān
“Soul, dear”: added after names to show affection, as in Maryam-jān.
دلم برات تنگ شده
delam barāt tang shode
“My heart has become tight for you”: I miss you.
Curious facts
- Persian has no grammatical gender. “U” means both he and she.
- Persian adds four letters to the Arabic alphabet for sounds Arabic lacks: پ p, چ ch, ژ zh and گ g.
- Nowruz, the Persian New Year at the spring equinox, has been celebrated for over 3,000 years.
- English words from Persian include bazaar, caravan, pyjamas, paradise and checkmate (shāh māt, “the king is helpless”).
- Ferdowsi's Shahnameh (c. 1010), about 50,000 couplets long, is credited with helping to preserve Persian with relatively few Arabic words.
Famous Persian-speaking voices
Singers & musicians
Writers & poets
Film & TV
Other famous figures
Descriptions from Wikidata; photos from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown.
Persian culture now
A Separation
2011 Iranian drama film
Shahnameh
Epic poem by Ferdowsi
The Salesman (2016 film)
2016 film
Taste of Cherry
1997 Iranian film by Abbas Kiarostami
Nowruz
New Year's Day on the Iranian calendars
Persian traditional music
Aspect of Iranian culture
Learn Persian on YouTube
Free lessons from teachers and channels with Persian courses. Videos load only when you press play.
The story of the language
Quick quiz: how well do you know Persian?
Where to learn Persian
The Endless Book
Read text you can understand, in the style of your favourite author and genre. About 30 languages.
LangMagicLangMagic Speak
Speaking lessons built around your topics, from materials you choose.
LangMagicLangMagic Meet
A virtual meeting platform built for language lessons, with follow-up exercises.
FreeWikivoyage Persian phrasebook
Free travel phrasebook with pronunciation guide
FreeWikibooks: Persian
Free, open textbook
FreeOmniglot: Persian
Script, pronunciation and useful phrases
FreeWiktionary: Persian dictionary
Free multilingual dictionary
Sources
- Speaker numbers: Ethnologue (2026), via Wikipedia.
- Countries, populations, alphabets, days and months: Unicode CLDR 46.
- Classification: Glottolog 5.3. Grammar features: WALS Online.
- Introduction: Wikipedia, Persian language (CC BY-SA 4.0). People and culture: Wikipedia and Wikidata. Images: Wikimedia Commons.
- Writing sample: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, from the Unicode UDHR collection. Phrases and words: Wiktionary. Difficulty: US Foreign Service Institute.
- Map: Natural Earth via world-atlas (public domain).