The Dari Alphabet

DLIFLC/ELTF/Dari

THE DARI ALPHABET

Overview
The Dari alphabet consists of 33 letters. Three of these letters are used to represent the following vowels and diphthongs: /aa/, /a/, /e/, /u/, /o/, /oo/, /au/, /ey/, /ee/ and /ay/. The remaining 30 letters represent consonants. All consonant sounds are represented in writing by letters. Unlike consonants, vowels are not always represented in writing. Since there has to be a vowel in every syllable, syllables may be shortened in writing if the vowel is not represented. As a result, about 25% of what is spoken and heard does not appear in writing. This turns Dari into a type of shorthand, and it makes reading and writing Dari a more complex task. To help the learners of Dari, special marks can be used to indicate the sound of the syllables that are shortened due to unrepresented vowels. These marks are called diacritics. The shape of most Dari letters changes depending on where the letter is located in a word: at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, or free-standing.

vii

DLIFLC/ELTF/Dari

The Dari Alphabet

Part 1: Consonants and Vowels

Notes This letter introduces the sounds of /aa/, /a/, /e/ or /u/ in Dari. Sound in English (varies) B P See also below See also and below T S J CH H To produce this sound, press the back of the tongue to the back of the palate and try to pronounce it. It is like the /ch/ in Ach! in German and the /ch/ in Loch in Scottish. Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. (See below.) Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. This letter represents a sound similar to pleasure and measure in English. KH Final Unjoined Final Joined Medial Initial Name alef bey pey tey sey jeem chey hey khey

D Z R Z ZH

daal zaal rey zey zhey

S SH S Z

seen sheen saad zaad

viii

The Dari Alphabet

DLIFLC/ELTF/Dari

T Z This represents a sound similar to /g/, but it is produced with audible friction to make a gargling sound. To form this sound correctly, the back of the tongue comes into contact with the rearmost part of the soft palate. This sound is produced similar to /k/, but further back in the throat. GH

toy zoy ayn ghayn

F Q K G L M N Cannot be connected with the letters that follow it. This letter can represent a consonant such as /w/, a vowel such as /o/, /oo/ or a diphthong such as the /au/ sound. In contrast to all other letters of the Dari alphabet, which have only two long and short forms in writing, the letter [hey] takes four different forms by position. It can represent the consonant /h/ but also the vowel /a/ at the end of a word. The [hamza] is carried by [alef] for initial vowels. It is almost always written over a bearer. This letter represents the vowel /ee/ and the semi vowel /y/. As a semi vowel it combines with other vowels to produce glides such as /ey/, /ay/, etc. W

fey qaaf kaaf gaaf laam meem noon wau

H (A)

hey

(varies) Y

hamza yaa

ix

DLIFLC/ELTF/Dari

The Dari Alphabet

Part 2: Vowels and Diacritic Marks

Notes Depending on the next letter or the diacritics, [alef] represents the sounds of /a/, /e/, /u/. When it is topped with [madd] it is always pronounced as /aa/. When represents a vowel, it is pronounced as a long vowel. When [wau] comes at the beginning of a word, it is a consonant. In such cases, it is followed by a vowel or a diacritic mark. This letter represents the vowel /ee/ and the semi vowel /y/. As a semi vowel it combines with other vowels to produce glides such as /ey/, /ay/, etc. When [yaa] comes at the beginning of a word, it is followed by a vowel. These three signs are indicators for the short vowels. They represent the sounds of /a/, /e/, /u/ in the words. These diacritic marks over or under a letter help readers pronounce that syllable properly. (See the examples of [alef] in the chart.) Examples dark around pet put door food town /aab/ water /asp/ horse /esm/ name /ur-doo/ army /top/ ball /boot/ shoe /nau/ new Pronounced aa a e u o oo au Form

Name alef

wau

say bee lie

/meyz/ table /neez/ also /kay/ when

ey ee ay

yaa

around pet put

/asp/ horse /esm/ name /ur-doo/ army

a e u

zabar zeyr peysh

Note: There are additional diacritic marks in Dari. One of them is [du-za-bar] or [tan-ween] ( ), which mostly appears over an [alef] at the end of some borrowed Arabic words. For example, /ba-zan/ sometimes or /ma-moo-lan/ usually. Another one of such diacritics commonly used is [shadda] or [tashdeed] ( ), which shows that a letter inside a word is written only once but pronounced twice. For example, /mud-dat/ period. In this example, the letter is written only once, but as shown in the transliteration, is pronounced twice.