Learn Persian from Spain: Free Practice With Native Speakers
Persian from Zero Spanish: which sounds are easy, which trip you up, and how to practice for free with native Persian speakers and Spanish-speaking members.
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If you speak Spanish, the خ (kh) sound in Persian is basically a gift: it's the same as your jota. Words like خیلی (kheili, 'very') or خوب (khub, 'good') come out right from day one. What does get stuck is ق and غ, two uvular sounds Spanish doesn't have at all — in قلب (qalb, 'heart') or غذا (ghazâ, 'food') learners tend to swap them for a Spanish 'g' or 'j' for months without noticing. The vowels, though, are simpler than Spanish: six clean vowels, no tricky diphthongs like 'ue' or 'ie' to worry about.
Some words feel like traps and aren't: مدرسه (madrese) means 'school', not 'madre', even though the first syllables sound identical — that one catches almost everyone in week one. But there are real gifts too: شکر (shekar, 'sugar'), لیمو (limu, 'lemon') and نارنج (nârenj, 'bitter orange') traveled from Persian into Arabic and then into Spanish centuries ago, so you already half-know them.
The structure is where Spanish habits work against you: Persian is SOV, the verb goes at the end — 'man ketâb mikhânam' is literally 'I book read', not 'leo un libro'. You'll catch yourself reordering sentences in your head for a while. What does transfer well is the ezafe construction: adjectives go after the noun, just like in Spanish (ketâb-e jâleb, 'libro interesante'), so that part clicks fast. The one thing with zero Spanish equivalent is را (râ), the marker for definite direct objects — almost everyone forgets it or misplaces it early on.
Words you will actually hear
| Here | Elsewhere | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| شکر (shekar) | azúcar | Both come from the same Arabic root 'sukkar'. Recognizable the moment you hear it. |
| لیمو (limu) | limón | The word for lemon traveled from Persian through Arabic into Spanish — same root, same fruit. |
| نارنج (nârenj) | naranja | Persian for bitter orange; Spanish 'naranja' comes straight from this word. |
| زرافه (zarâfe) | jirafa | Both languages borrowed this word for giraffe from Arabic, so they sound close. |
| شطرنج (shatranj) | ajedrez | Chess: the word started as Persian 'chatrang', passed through Arabic, and ended up as 'ajedrez' in Spanish. |
| بازار (bâzâr) | bazar | Direct loanword, same meaning: an open market. |
| کاروان (kârvân) | caravana | Persian origin word for a group traveling together; Spanish kept it almost unchanged. |
| یاسمن (yâsaman) | jazmín | Same flower, same word, borrowed from Persian into Spanish via Arabic and French. |
| مدرسه (madrese) | madre | False friend: sounds like 'madre' but means 'school'. No relation at all — trips up almost everyone at first. |
How it works here
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Sign up and say your level
Two minutes. If you do not know your level, we place you in the first class.
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Pick a class or an exchange
Classes are led by a native teacher. An exchange is with another member: half the time in their language, half in yours.
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Join by video, nothing to install
From your phone or your computer. If you cannot make it, cancel and get your place back.
Questions about this
How long until I can hold a basic conversation in Persian?
The alphabet takes most people two to three weeks of steady practice since it only adds four letters to what you'd need for Arabic script. After that, Persian grammar is actually kinder than Spanish in some ways — no gender agreement, no subjunctive maze — so a basic conversation is realistic within a few months if you do regular exchanges and classes, not just study alone.
Is the one-to-one exchange really free?
Yes. You spend thirty minutes helping a native Persian speaker with their Spanish, and they spend thirty minutes helping you with Persian. Nobody pays for the exchange itself — it's a straight swap of time and knowledge between members.
What level do I need to join an exchange?
You can start from zero. The small group classes with a native teacher give you the basic structure and vocabulary first, and the exchanges are where you actually use it with someone who speaks Persian day to day. Most people combine both rather than jumping into an exchange with nothing.
How exactly is the time split in a session?
In one-to-one exchanges it's a strict thirty-thirty: half the time in Persian, half in Spanish, so nobody ends up doing all the giving or all the taking. In the small group classes, the native teacher runs the full session and adapts the pace to whoever's in the room that day.
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