Persian from Zero: Read, Write, Speak
Farsi for absolute beginners — taught by a Tehran University scholar.
What you'll learn
- Read and write the Persian script confidently
- Hold everyday conversations: greetings, shopping, travel, taarof
- Master the core grammar: verbs, ezafe, and sentence flow
- Recognise the hundreds of Persian words already in Urdu and Hindi
- Read a simple poem of Rumi in the original by course end
Course curriculum
4 modules · 16 lessons · 30 hours. Green lessons are free previews.
- Persian, Urdu, and you: a shared historyPreview14:00
- The alphabet — familiar friends, four new lettersPreview24:00
- Greetings and taarof: the art of Iranian politeness20:00
- Quiz: Script & greetings12:00
- The verb 'to be' and your first sentences22:00
- Ezafe — the little sound that connects everything25:00
- Numbers, bazaar talk, and bargaining21:00
- Present tense: talking about your day26:00
- Quiz: Grammar checkpoint15:00
- At the chaikhana: food and small talk23:00
- Travel Farsi: Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz24:00
- Songs that teach: learning through music19:00
- Assignment: Record a self-introduction in Farsi20:00
- Reading Rumi: your first masnavi verses28:00
- Hafiz at Nowruz — poetry in Iranian life22:00
- Quiz: Final assessment20:00
About this course
Persian is closer than you think — thousands of Urdu and Hindi words are already Farsi. Dr. Farzaneh Rostami takes you from the alphabet to real conversation the way language actually sticks: through dialogue, songs, food, and the poems every Iranian knows by heart. If you read Urdu, the script is 90% familiar; if you don't, she teaches it from scratch.
Requirements
- No prior Persian needed
- Urdu script knowledge helps but is not required
Your teacher
Dr. Farzaneh Rostami
Persian · University of Tehran
Born and raised in Tehran, Dr. Farzaneh Rostami taught Persian literature at the University of Tehran before moving to Delhi to study the Indo-Persian tradition. She teaches Farsi the way it lives: through conversation, songs, and the poems every Iranian knows by heart. Her beginners are reading simple Rumi within three months — and understanding why the whole subcontinent once wrote in this language.
View full profile →Student reviews
20 June 2026
Dr. Rostami teaches like a friend hosting you in Tehran. Knowing Urdu, I was reading Farsi in two weeks — and the Rumi module at the end gave me goosebumps.