| ā | is a low back open vowel, very close to [-aa-] in ‘aardvark’ and [-a-] in ‘father.’ |
| u | is invariably a high back round vowel, very close to [-oo-]. Compare and contrast the English word ‘poor’ and Persian پور pur ‘son (of)’. Unlike English, there is no off-glide. |
| i | is invariably a high front vowel /ī/, very close to [-ee-] in ‘cheese’ and [-ea-] in “please”; it is never a central /i/ (as in “sit”). |
Listen to the long vowels in the following set:
| starling | ā as in sār | سار |
| feast | u as in sur | سور |
| garlic | i as in sir | سیر |
Note that in Classical Persian, some words with a terminal long vowel [ā] and [ū] have a variation with a ی following that vowel:
پا
pā
پای
pāy
‘foot, leg’
خدا
xodā
خدای
xodāy
‘god, God’
In addition, some interjections, such as آی āy ‘an expression of pain; also ‘ahoy!’ and وای vāy ‘an expression of surprise and astonishment’ have the [-āy] ending. Therefore, in Persian—at least historically—the diphthongs āy and ūy also exist (see Diphthongs).
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