E/i:/ or Y/jɛ/? | A Common Mistake in Persian

There are 6 vowels in Persian including /æ/, /ɛ/, /ʊ/, /a:/, /iː/, and /uː/. I'm going to talk about E/i:/ (Persian: ی) in this post because I think it's a common mistake among Journalers. The letter E in Persian makes two sounds. If the word starts with E( ی), it'd be pronounced like the y sound in the word yellow. If the word ends in E( ی), it'd be pronounced like ey in the word key.

Not only is E/i:/ a commonly used letter, but also has many different grammatical usages. For example, it can be used as an indefinite article, a nationality suffix, the preposition of, and so on. I only explain three ways to use ی and how to spell it in different places. I'll also explain the pronunciation. It's going to be a long post. Thanks in advance for reading, and sorry if you don't understand most of it!

E/i:/ as an Indefinite Article

In general, there are two indefinite articles in Persian: یک and ی. We only use the first form, یک, in speaking, but we pronounce it like یه /ye/ as ye in the word yellow. However, it's more common to use the second form, ی /E/, or /i:/, in writing.

For example, I say, ''I watched a movie'', but I can write it in two different ways: 1. ''I watched a movie.'' 2. ''I watched movie-y''. The second one is more common in formal writing.

The spoken form: یه فیلم دیدم

The written form: 1. یک فیلم دیدم. 2. فیلمی دیدم.

Now, I only talk about the change of spelling in the written form, the one that is used in formal writing.

• If the word ends in a consonant, the letterی won't change.

Example: کتابی، میزی، خودکاری، سالنی

• If the word ends in a vowel, then ی has to be spelled like either ای, or یی

1. If the word ends in /u:/ or /a:/, we have to change the letter ی to یی.

Example:

A. Words ending in /u:/ پارویی، رادیویی

B. Words ending in /a:/ صدایی، نوایی، کالایی

2. If the word ends in E/iː/ or eh/ɛ/, it has to change to ای.

Example:

A. Words ending in /iː/: سینی‌ای، شیرینی‌ای

B. Words ending in /ɛ/ :خانه‌ای، نامه‌ای، مدرسه‌ای

Note that some words already end in E, and when you add an indefinite article to them, they'll have two Es. So, you should remember that an indefinite article always is pronounced like E, not Yie. Otherwise, you'll change the meaning of that word.

Example:

1. I saw a baker : من نانوایی را دیدم /Man nanva-E ra didam/. In this case, نانوا+یی

2. I saw a bakery: من نانوایی‌ای را دیدم /Man nanvayi-E ra didam/. In this case, نانوایی+ای

*I don't think anyone ever talks about bakery in formal writing, but you get the idea.

E as a Nationality Suffix

If the name of a country or a continent, a place in general, ends in a consonant, the spelling won't change. If it ends in a vowel, the spelling will change.

1. If the word ends in /a:/ or /u:/, we have to change the letter ی/E/ to یی/E/. Otherwise, E would sound like Y/j/

Example:

Words ending in /a:/:اروپایی، آسیایی، آفریقایی، بریتانیایی، اسپانیایی، ایتالیایی

Words ending in /u:/: پرویی

* If you spell the word ایتالیایی like this: ایتالیای, it sounds like /i:ta:li:ay/, not /i:ta:li:a-i:/, which is not even a word.

2. If the word ends in /i:/, we should change ی/E/ to ایی/a:i:/

Example:

Words ending in /i:/: لتونیایی، لیتوانیایی، اسلونیایی

3. If the word ends in ɛ, it has to change to وی/vi:/

Example:

French, فرانسه+ای, becomes فرانسوی

*We don't say اروگوئوی, though.

/Ye/ as a Connector

As a connector, ی is pronounced like the Ye sound in the word yellow/. We normally connect the nouns and adjectives with the /ɛ/ sound, unless the noun ends in a vowel. In this case, we change the /ɛ/ to /jɛ/. Look at this examples:

1. The possessive adjectives:

A. my sister, my brother: خواهرِ من، برادرِ من

B. My uncle, my aunt: ، عموی من، عمه ی من،خاله ی من

In the first group, the ending is a consonant. That's why I connected them with the /ɛ/ sound. However, in the second group, the words end in a vowel. For example, the word عمو ends in /u:/, and the words عمه and خاله end in /ɛ/. Therefore, I have to use /jɛ ی/, instead of /ɛ ِ/.

2. The possessive adjectives (plural)

The plural nouns usually end in ها/ha:/, which ends in a vowel, so it always needs a ی/jɛ / .

E. g. His feet, your hands, their trees, our kids: پاهای او، دست های تو، درخت های آنها، بچه های ما

I'll put the other usages on this table. I would explain, but I don't know many grammatical terms. I hope you figure it out by yourself.

To sum up, ی usually comes after the vowels, and is spelled differently, depending on the vowel. By the way, the ending sound of the first noun should be a vowel, not the ending letter. For example, the word نامه /na:meh/ ends in h, but the ending H is silent, so the sound is /ɛ/not /h/. That's why there's a ی /ye/ in the phrase na:meh_ye_ a:shegha:neh.