Script guide › Arabic Script
How to recognize Persian (Farsi)
Persian (Farsi) is one of 5 languages in Grafle's Arabic Script group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Has the four extra letters پ چ ژ گ that Arabic lacks.
- Word-final ی without dots, and no constant ال articles.
What Persian (Farsi) looks like
همه انسانها آزاد و برابر به دنیا میآیند و زندگی حق همه است.
سلام، حال شما چطور است؟
تهران پایتخت ایران است.
Arabic Script scripts: Flowing right-to-left script where letters connect like cursive; dots above and below distinguish letters.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Iran
- Afghanistan
Easy to confuse with
- Arabic — Persian has four letters Arabic lacks: پ چ ژ گ. Arabic's tell is the constant ال (alif-lam) article.
- Urdu — Urdu hangs in diagonal nastaliq style and ends words with the wide ے; Persian sits closer to a flat baseline.
- Pashto — Pashto adds ringed/dotted letters (ټ ډ ښ) on top of the Persian set — rings mean Pashto.
- Kurdish (Sorani) — Sorani spells out all its vowels (ە ۆ ێ everywhere); Persian leaves most vowels unwritten.