Long Vowels
   

[tag resources longvowels_01a]ā[/tag] is a low back open vowel, very close to [-aa-] in ‘aardvark’ and [-a-] in ‘father.’
[tag resources longvowels_02a]u[/tag] 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.
[tag resources longvowels_03]i[/tag] 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 [tag resources longvowels_04]سار[/tag]
feast u as in sur [tag resources longvowels_05]سور[/tag]
garlic i as in sir [tag resources longvowels_06]سیر[/tag]

Note that in Classical Persian, some words with a terminal long vowel [ā] and [ū] have a variation with a ی following that vowel:

[tag resources longvowels_01]پا[/tag]
pā
[tag resources longvowels_02]پای[/tag]
pāy
‘foot, leg’

[tag resources longvowels_09]خدا[/tag]
xodā
[tag resources longvowels_10]خدای[/tag]
xodāy
‘god, God’

[tag resources longvowels_11]جو[/tag]
jū
[tag resources longvowels_12]جوی[/tag]
jūy
‘stream’

[tag resources longvowels_13]مو[/tag]
mū
[tag resources longvowels_14]موی[/tag]
mūy
‘hair’

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).