Who it's for
Alefba is for grown-ups who understand Persian but never learned to read it, who answer their parents in English, or who married into an Iranian family and want to join the conversation. It's also fine if you're starting from zero. The app was first built for children of Persian-speaking families, and the same lessons work for adults: when you start, you choose whether a child or an adult is learning, and the conversations and the wording change to fit.
What you learn
- The Persian alphabet: all 32 letters, one at a time, with each letter's shapes, a word that uses it, and tracing practice.
- 188 everyday words: family, food, home, greetings, numbers, feelings and more, many recorded by a real Persian speaker, each with an example sentence.
- Spoken Persian, not just book Persian: Alefba shows how a word is written (خانه, khâne) and how people really say it (خونه, khune), side by side, with the rules behind the difference.
- Finglish while you need it: Persian words are shown in Latin letters too (like salâm) until you've learned each word, then the Finglish fades away.
- 24 adult conversations: your first day at a new job, a call with your mother-in-law, dinner at your in-laws', buying a carpet in the bazaar, a taxi in Tehran, a Nowruz visit, and more, grouped by level.
- Ta'arof, explained: the polite back-and-forth that every Iranian gathering runs on, with practice.
Word meanings can be shown in English, French, German, Swedish or Chinese.
Practice talking with AI
In a talk, you chat in Persian with a character such as a coworker, a shopkeeper or a relative, at your own level. You can write in Persian script, in Finglish or in English, and the character works out what you meant and gently shows the natural way to say it. With a plan you can also say your replies out loud and practice pronouncing words. Every talk is labeled AI and the chats aren't saved. The first 3 talks are free. The alphabet and the first three levels are free; a plan opens all twelve levels, the talks and speaking practice, from about $3.25 a month on the yearly plan. See the plans and how talks work.
Is there a Duolingo for Persian?
As of 2026, Duolingo doesn't offer a Persian (Farsi) course. Alefba is a Persian course, free to start, focused on the everyday Persian spoken at home rather than the formal written language, so what you learn is what you'll actually hear. Alefba isn't connected to Duolingo.
How it works
- It runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There's nothing to install and no account needed for the free lessons.
- Short lessons, a few minutes each, with a daily goal and review of the words you find tricky.
- A short level check at the start skips what you already know, so you don't sit through the alphabet if you can already read.
- Your name and progress stay on your own device. Alefba has no ads and no tracking.