Days of the Week in Farsi, Plus Months and Seasons (Table)

Short answer: The Persian week starts on Saturday, شنبه (shanbe). Sunday to Thursday are numbered from it: yekshanbe, doshanbe, seshanbe, chahârshanbe, panjshanbe. Friday is جمعه (jom'e), the day off. Iran's twelve months run from Farvardin, which starts at Nowruz on March 20 or 21, to Esfand.

This is a reference page. The three tables below are the ones I wish someone had handed me on day one: the seven days, the twelve months with their Western dates, and the four seasons with the way people actually say them out loud. Every word in script links to its glossary entry, where you can see it used in a sentence.

If you came here for one word (Tuesday, say, or what Shahrivar is in English), the tables have it. If you want the logic, read on, because once you see the pattern you stop memorising and start working the days out.

Days of the Week in Farsi

Here is the trick that makes the whole week easy. The word for week is هفته (hafte), and the days are counted from Saturday. Shanbe is day zero. Sunday is "one-shanbe", Monday is "two-shanbe", and so on up to Thursday, "five-shanbe". So if you know your numbers from 1 to 5, you already know five days of the week.

Friday is the odd one out. It comes from Arabic and has nothing to do with numbers. In the time, calendar and money guide I note that the working week runs Saturday to Wednesday and the weekend is Thursday and Friday.

Two small things trip learners up. First, Tuesday and Thursday are written with a half-space (a zero-width non-joiner, the invisible character that keeps two parts of a word apart without a full space), so سه‌شنبه does not join into one blob. Second, "Wednesday night" in Iran is a big deal once a year: the last Wednesday before Nowruz is the fire festival, Chahârshanbe Suri, which actually happens on the Tuesday evening. The Chahârshanbe Suri post explains why.

Today, tomorrow, yesterday

• امروز (emruz): today
• فردا (fardâ): tomorrow
• دیروز (diruz): yesterday
• روز (ruz): day

Put them together and you can already make plans: "fardâ, doshanbe" is "tomorrow, Monday". Nobody will mind that you skipped the verb.

The 12 Iranian Months, With English Dates

Iran does not use January to December in daily life. It uses the Solar Hijri calendar, which starts the year at Nowruz, the spring equinox. As I write this it is 1405 in Iran. The months stay locked to the seasons, so Farvardin is always spring and Dey is always winter. The word for month is ماه (mâh), which also means moon.

The first six months have 31 days, the next five have 30, and Esfand has 29, or 30 in a leap year. Compare that to February and you will see why I find the Iranian calendar the tidier of the two.

Shahrivar, which a lot of people search for, is the sixth month: roughly August 23 to September 22. It is the last month of summer, and Mehr, the first month of autumn, comes right after it.

Many month names are also first names. Mehr means "love" or "sun", Âzar means "fire", and Bahman means "good mind". That comes from the ordinal numbers and dates post, which also shows how to say a full date like "the 15th of Mehr".

Seasons in Farsi

The word for season is فصل (fasl), which also means a chapter of a book. Each season covers exactly three months, so the table below doubles as a month-to-season cheat sheet.

The "spoken" column matters. In conversation, the long â before n often turns into u, so tâbestân becomes tâbestun and zemestân becomes zemestun. If you say the written form out loud, people will understand you perfectly. They will also know you learned it from a book.

For the weather words that go with each season (hot, cold, snow, rain), see the Persian weather and seasons vocabulary post.

A Quick Way to Practise

1. Say today's day in Farsi every morning. Just the one word.
2. Look up today's Iranian date and read the month name out loud.
3. Once a week, say the whole week from shanbe to jom'e without stopping. It takes ten seconds.

That is it. Three weeks of this and the days stop being vocabulary and start being days.

FAQ

What is the first day of the week in Iran?

Saturday, shanbe. The other days count from it, which is why Sunday is yekshanbe ("one-shanbe").

What is Shahrivar in English?

Shahrivar is the sixth month of the Iranian calendar, roughly August 23 to September 22. It is the last month of summer.

How do you say Tuesday and Thursday in Farsi?

Tuesday is seshanbe (سه‌شنبه) and Thursday is panjshanbe (پنج‌شنبه). Both are written with a half-space in the middle.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.