Spoken and written Persian (زبان گفتاری و نوشتاری)

Two registers, one language

Iranians write one form of Persian and speak another. The difference is not slang: it is a set of regular sound changes that apply to almost every sentence. Books, newspapers, official letters and exams use the written form. Conversation, films, songs and text messages use the spoken form.

The sound changes

The verb "to be" in speech

خوبم، خوبی، خوبه، خوبیم، خوبین، خوبن. The third person ـه is the one to listen for: خوب است becomes خوبه. After a vowel است shrinks to ـس instead: کجاست؟ becomes کجاس؟.

Word order moves too

A destination often follows the verb and loses به:

• Written: به خانه می‌روم. Spoken: می‌رم خونه.
• Written: دیروز به بازار رفتم. Spoken: دیروز رفتم بازار.

The grammar itself does not change: می‌خوام برم is still the subjunctive after خواستن, just shortened.

Which one to use

Write می‌روم in a letter, an exam or an email to an office. Say می‌رم to a friend, a taxi driver or a shopkeeper. Reading a written text aloud in a casual conversation sounds like a news broadcast; writing می‌رم in a formal letter looks careless.

Watch out as an English speaker

• English contractions are optional and small; these changes are systematic, so می‌رم and می‌روم are the same word, not two words.
• Do not mix registers in one sentence: ✗ من می‌رم به خانه. / ✓ می‌رم خونه. or به خانه می‌روم.
• The spoken form still needs the subjunctive: ✗ می‌خوام می‌رم. / ✓ می‌خوام برم.
• Keep می‌روم in anything you submit: ✗ (in an exam) می‌رم / ✓ می‌روم.

Example dialogue

کجا می‌ری؟ — Where are you going?
می‌رم خونه. تو نمیای؟ — I'm going home. Aren't you coming?
نه، باید برم سرِ کار. فردا می‌بینمت. — No, I have to go to work. See you tomorrow.
باشه، مواظب خودت باش. — Okay, take care.