🇮🇷 Learn Persian online
Persian (Farsi) springs a pleasant surprise: it's an Indo-European language, distantly related to English, with grammar far simpler than its script suggests. No grammatical gender, no noun cases, and remarkably regular verbs. The main hurdle to learn Persian online is the Perso-Arabic script, written right-to-left — and once you read it, the rest comes more easily than you'd expect.
Langadoo is well suited to that script-first challenge. Transcribe Persian YouTube videos, watch with dual Persian-and-English subtitles, click any word for an explanation, and save words and sentences into spaced repetition. AI-generated Persian stories, built from your own vocabulary, keep you reading right-to-left at the right level until the script feels natural — opening the door to one of the world's great poetic traditions.
- Native name
- فارسی
- Speakers
- ~80 million speakers
- Spoken in
- Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan
- Writing system
- Perso-Arabic (right-to-left)
- Difficulty
- Category III — a right-to-left script, but surprisingly simple grammar
Try reading a little Persian
This is exactly how learning works inside Langadoo. Click any word in the Persian text below to see what it means — the highlighted words also show a translation on hover.
A first taste of Persian
Click on any word to see its meaning — highlighted words have translations on hover
How Langadoo helps you learn Persian
- Learn from Persian YouTube videos — transcribe any video and watch with dual Persian-and-English subtitles.
- AI-generated Persian stories — comprehensible reading built from the words you already know (Krashen's i+1).
- Spaced repetition — save words and sentences into a true SM-2 review system with bidirectional cards.
- Sentence mining — capture real Persian sentences and audio clips from content you actually enjoy.
- Instant word explanations — tap any word for grammar, usage and examples in context.
Why learning Persian is hard
- Persian is written right-to-left in the Perso-Arabic script, and short vowels are usually not written, so you read from consonants and context.
- Letters change shape depending on their position in a word, which takes practice to read fluently.
- Everyday spoken Tehrani Persian differs noticeably from the formal written language, so casual speech has its own forms.
- Vocabulary includes many Arabic loanwords alongside native Persian roots.
- On the easy side: no grammatical gender, no noun cases, and very regular verb conjugation.
The honest gap: Duolingo doesn't offer Persian at all, leaving learners short of structured tools. Learning from real Persian video and audio fills that gap.
Reading and writing Persian
Persian uses the Perso-Arabic alphabet written right-to-left, with a few extra letters for sounds Arabic lacks, and short vowels usually left unwritten. Langadoo renders and stores Persian correctly right-to-left, so your saved words keep their exact spelling as you build real reading habits.
Persian YouTube channels to learn from
- Learn Persian with PersianPod101 — Hundreds of structured lessons covering vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and everyday conversation.
- Chai and Conversation — Practical spoken Farsi organised into themed lessons — strong for speaking and listening.
- Easy Persian — Step-by-step lessons on the script, reading and grammar — a solid foundation for beginners.
Drop any of these into Langadoo, transcribe a video, and start mining words straight into your review deck.
Frequently asked questions
Start learning Persian today
Free plan available — no credit card required. Learn Persian from real content, not textbook drills.