Introduction

What You Will Learn in This Course

This course takes you from absolute beginner to very advanced user of Persian (also called Farsi in Iran). You will move step by step, level by level, and at each level you will meet the most important Persian words and patterns that speakers really use. Persian is written in its own alphabet, is read from right to left, and has a grammar that is often simpler than many European languages. You will gradually become comfortable with all of this.

At every level you will see key Persian words written in the Persian script and also in a simple Latin transcription. The transcription helps you pronounce words before you fully master the script, but the main goal is that you become able to read and write in Persian.

Persian in this course means the standard variety spoken in Iran. Along the way you will also briefly meet the close relatives spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but the grammar and vocabulary you learn are always based on Iranian Persian.

At the end of each section there is a vocabulary list of all Persian words that appeared in that section. You will see the Persian script, an approximate Latin transcription, and an English meaning.

How the Course Is Structured

The course is organized into levels from A1 to C2. These levels follow an international idea of language ability. A1 is complete beginner, C2 is near native. Each level is divided into smaller units that focus on specific skills like grammar, everyday topics, or expression of opinions.

You should move through the levels in order. Inside each level, you can move through the units in order, because grammar and vocabulary build on what you have already seen. Earlier sections give you the foundations. Later sections help you become more fluent, precise, and natural.

As you read this course, remember that each chapter has its own focus. If a topic appears as a separate chapter in the outline, it will be explained there, not in detail here. The introduction only gives you a roadmap and shows you what to expect at each level, especially the most important words that will guide your learning.

How to Study with This Course

You can use this course in several ways. You can read it from start to finish, or you can use individual chapters as reference when you need to review a topic. The ideal way is to combine reading, writing, listening, and speaking. For every chapter, you should read the explanations, copy the Persian examples by hand, say them aloud, and try to create your own examples by changing words and subjects.

Try to learn vocabulary in context, not as isolated lists. When you meet a new word, notice how it appears in a sentence, what comes before and after it, and how verbs and pronouns change. At the end of each section, you have a vocabulary list. Use it to review, but always go back and see the words in full sentences.

You do not need to memorize every detail before moving on. It is better to move forward, see patterns many times, and return to earlier chapters when needed. Persian becomes clearer by repetition and exposure. Over time, patterns such as verb endings, pronouns, and basic word order will start to feel natural to you.

You should also pay attention to register, that is, how formal or informal language is in each context. This will be treated directly in its own chapters, but you will see it across the course. In Persian, formal and informal speech are both very important in real life.

At any level, you can use the vocabulary lists here as a base to build your own flashcards or notes. Add your own example sentences, especially ones that match your life.

Overview of Levels and Key Words

In this introduction you will see a short preview of what each level gives you, including some of the most important words that will appear there. These words are not fully explained here. They will be taught in detail in their own chapters. Here they are like a first meeting with future friends.

A1 – Beginner: First Contact and Everyday Basics

At level A1 you learn to read and write the Persian alphabet, to pronounce letters and sounds, and to form your first simple sentences. You learn personal pronouns, the basic form of the verb “to be,” and how to greet people, introduce yourself, and handle simple daily situations. You also learn numbers, basic negation, and very common everyday vocabulary.

You will meet the alphabet letters and learn how they connect in words. You will see how short and long vowels work in Persian, and how this affects pronunciation and spelling. Even at this early level, you start to see the standard subject–object–verb order of Persian sentences.

Some central words that will guide you through A1 include greetings, basic pronouns, very common verbs, and everyday nouns such as family, numbers, and simple objects.

These are only examples, not a full list for A1, but you will see and practice all of them very often at this level.

A2 – Elementary: Daily Life and Simple Past

At level A2 you expand your basic communication. You start using the simple present tense more fully with many common verbs. You learn about time expressions and adverbs of frequency, and you become able to talk about routines, likes and dislikes, and everyday activities.

You also learn the simple past tense and how to talk about yesterday, last week, and simple stories about what happened. You begin using more prepositions, and you practice real situations such as shopping, ordering food, asking for directions, using transportation, and visiting a doctor.

A2 is where you begin to feel that you can “live” a simple day in Persian. You use verbs like “to go,” “to come,” “to want,” “to have,” “to eat,” and many others, in present and past forms. You also learn how to make polite requests and ask for things.

Again, these are examples of the kind of vocabulary that becomes active at A2. You will see them used in real short dialogues and texts.

B1 – Intermediate: Stories, Opinions, and Complex Sentences

At level B1 you start to connect sentences into longer speech. You learn forms such as the present continuous, future expressions, common compound verbs, relative clauses, and the object marker that Persian uses to show a specific object in a sentence. You begin telling stories with more detail and expressing opinions, agreement, and disagreement.

You also explore everyday and social topics such as education, work, technology, travel, and cultural traditions. At this level you move beyond survival language and begin to express who you are, what you think, and how you see the world.

You will meet many compound verbs. These are verbs that use a light verb like “to do,” “to become,” “to hit,” together with a noun or adjective, to create a specific meaning. You will also use connectors and discourse markers more often, to link reasons and consequences.

These forms and words give you the tools to tell stories in more detail and to explain why you think or feel something, which is essential for true intermediate communication.

B2 – Upper Intermediate: Style, Fluency, and Argumentation

At level B2 you focus more on advanced grammar and on style. You learn the subjunctive mood, conditional sentences, passive voice, causative constructions, and reported speech. These structures let you express wishes, doubts, conditions, indirect statements, and more complex relationships between events.

You also work on idiomatic expressions, proverbs, emphasis, word order, and basic formal writing. You practice reading more complex texts about news, social issues, history, identity, arts, literature, and humor. You learn how to express arguments, support and refute ideas, and structure longer texts and spoken explanations.

At B2, Persian becomes a language you can use to discuss serious topics, not only daily life. You can understand and produce more complex sentences and recognize subtle differences in tone and nuance.

These are examples of the type of vocabulary and patterns that allow you to argue, explain, and write more formally and coherently at B2.

C1 – Advanced: Complex Structures and High-Level Expression

At level C1 you enter advanced territory. You study complex subordination, nominalization, advanced verb forms, stylistic variations, and ellipsis or implicit meaning. You learn to handle abstract ideas, academic and formal Persian, and persuasive language. You also see rhetorical devices and register shifting, that is, changing style according to context.

You start reading classical Persian poetry in a simple, introductory way, modern literature, newspapers, essays, and media. You work with figurative language and more detailed analysis of meaning. At this level, Persian becomes a tool for higher-level thinking and expression, similar to what an educated native speaker would expect.

At this level, you do not only understand such words. You also use them to talk about language itself, about style, and about texts you read or hear.

C2 – Mastery: Near-Native Competence

At level C2 you move toward near native use. You work with subtle meaning and pragmatics, irony, sarcasm, humor, and dialects and regional variants. You train your ear for fast and natural speech. You learn many cultural references and allusions, including literary and historical ones.

You also practice professional and academic use of Persian, such as academic writing and research, formal presentations, translation strategies, editing, proofreading, and specialized vocabulary. You engage with long literary texts, advanced listening, debates, panel discussions, essays, and articles. You also assess your own near native fluency.

At C2, you use Persian not only to communicate, but also to perform complex intellectual and professional tasks with near native control of nuance and style.

Key Learning Principles in This Course

There are some important ideas that will help you succeed with Persian throughout this course. These principles apply at every level and will be demonstrated again and again.

First, you will see that Persian grammar often relies on consistent patterns. Verb endings, for example, follow regular models that repeat across many verbs. Once you know how endings work for “to be,” “to go,” or “to want,” you can apply the same rules to many other verbs you meet later.

Second, Persian uses a subject–object–verb order in simple sentences. You will get used to placing the verb at the end and to marking specific objects with a special marker that you will learn in its own chapter. You do not need to master this now. You will slowly become comfortable with it as you see many examples.

Third, you will see the difference between written and spoken forms. Sometimes the same word looks one way in formal writing and is pronounced a bit differently in everyday speech. This course will usually show you the standard written form and also indicate common spoken forms when they are very frequent and useful.

Finally, review is important. New grammar and vocabulary at A2 and above constantly rely on what you learned at A1. B1 uses and extends A2, and so on. If something feels hard at a higher level, return to earlier chapters and review. This is normal and part of the process.

A Note on Script and Transcription

At the beginning of A1 you will focus on the Persian script. The course assumes that you want to be able to read and write in Persian. At first you may feel that the letters look very different, especially since you read from right to left. Soon, patterns become familiar, and you will recognize words like سلام and شما at a glance.

To help you, this course also gives a simple Latin transcription for Persian words. For example, سلام is written as salām. This transcription is not a perfect scientific system. It is a practical tool to help you approximate the sounds and remember pronunciation. As you advance, you should rely less on transcription and more on the original script.

Persian uses short and long vowels. In many written texts, short vowels are not shown as separate signs, although they exist in pronunciation. You will learn how this works and how to guess the correct word from context. At first this may seem difficult, but it quickly becomes natural as you learn more vocabulary and patterns.

How Culture and Variety Appear in the Course

Language and culture are closely connected. You will see cultural elements inside the language examples, especially at higher levels. Even at A1 and A2, you will meet greetings and politeness formulas that reflect Persian cultural values. At B1 and above, you will start to talk explicitly about traditions, holidays, and social topics.

This course focuses on the standard Persian of Iran. However, it also recognizes that Persian is spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan with their own names and characteristics. There is a separate introductory chapter that explains this in more depth. Here in the introduction it is enough to know that Persian is a multi-country language, and that understanding this gives you a broader view of the Persian-speaking world.

How to Use Vocabulary Lists

At the end of each section in the course, you will find a vocabulary list. It contains all the Persian words that appeared in that section. For each entry, you will see the Persian spelling, a simple Latin transcription, and an English meaning.

Use these lists to:
copy the words by hand, right to left
pronounce them aloud, using the transcription as support
highlight or mark the ones you want to memorize first
build your own flashcards or digital lists

Try not to study the lists in isolation. Always return to the sentences and explanations where the words appeared. Context shows you how words really live in the language.

Below is the vocabulary list for this introduction. Many of these words are preview items that you will meet again, and learn properly, in their own chapters at different levels.