خ ق غ ع ژ ح. Everyone dreads them. Here is where each one is made in your mouth, and a listening game to train the ear that has to hear the difference first.
Good news first
Only two are genuinely new: خ and the ق/غ gargle. ح is just an h. ژ lives inside “measure”. ع is a light catch. Persian is kinder here than Arabic.
کجا ساخته میشود Where the sound is made
◖ Lips & teethair flows ↗Throat ◗
خ
خِ
khe · /x/
New sound · drill it
Sounds like
The ch in Scottish “loch” and German “Bach”.
Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and push air through the gap. It scrapes. No voice, just the hiss.
خوبkhubgood
گوش کن The ear test · one word plays, which was it?
Telling خ / ق apartStreak ۰ · best ۰
Tap play, listen, then choose the word you heard.
جفتهای کمینه Minimal pairs · one sound apart
خ / ق
خ / غ
غ / ک
خ / ک
خ / ح
غ / ک
What the textbooks gloss over
Written Persian keeps letters that spoken Persian, especially in Tehran, has quietly merged. Learn the spoken truth and half the fear disappears.
ق = غ
In Tehran they collapse into one gargly sound. قالب and غالب come out nearly the same. Do not lose sleep telling them apart in speech.
ح = ه
Both are a plain h in Persian. حال (mood) and هال (a hallway) are perfect homophones. One sound, two spellings.
ع is light
Forget the tense Arabic ‘ayn. In Persian it is a soft catch, or it just shapes the vowel beside it. Gentle, never forced.
Persian With El◆Tabriz → Milano