Copy the mark or use the active layout
To mark a Persian letter, type the letter and then the vowel sign. Copy zabar َ for a, zir ِ for e, or pish ُ for o. On Windows with the Persian (Standard) keyboard, the shortcuts are Shift+U for zabar, Shift+Y for zir, and Shift+T for pish. Mac and mobile layouts vary, so use the Keyboard Viewer, Character Viewer, or the copy buttons below.
Copy Persian vowel marks
Each button copies one combining character. Paste it immediately after the letter that should carry the sound. The dotted circle you may see around a mark is a display aid, not part of the character you are copying.
Example: turn گل into گُل
- Place the cursor after گ.
- Type or paste pish ـُ.
- The stored sequence is گ + ُ + ل.
- The font renders the mark above the first letter: گُل.
Windows Persian (Standard) keyboard shortcuts
Windows includes more than one Persian keyboard label across versions and installations. SelectPersian (Standard) if you want the mappings below. The older or plain “Persian” layout may differ. You can add the language in Settings under Time & language, then inspect the selected layout with the on-screen keyboard.
The zero-width non-joiner is not a vowel mark, but it matters in Persian typing. It prevents an unwanted letter connection without inserting a visible full space, as inمیروم. It does not replace the combining mark order used for zabar, zir, or pish.
How to type Persian vowel marks on a Mac
Add a Persian input source in System Settings under Keyboard and Text Input. Then open the Input menu and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. Hold Shift and Option while looking at the viewer to reveal additional characters. Use what the active layout displays instead of copying a Windows shortcut from a blog and assuming it applies to macOS.
- Add the Persian input source.Open System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input, and Edit.
- Show the Input menu.This gives you quick access to the Keyboard Viewer and Character Viewer.
- Select the exact Persian layout.macOS can offer more than one layout, and their physical key positions need not match.
- Inspect modifier layers.Hold Shift or Option and locate the mark you need.
- Type the base letter first.The combining mark follows it in the text sequence even when it appears above or below on screen.
How to type the marks on iPhone, iPad, and Android
Add a Persian keyboard through the device's language or keyboard settings. Some keyboard apps expose vowel marks through a symbol page or a long press; others do not expose all of them. Those positions can change with the operating-system version and the selected keyboard app, so there is no honest universal tap sequence.
If the mark is missing, copy it from the picker above and create a text replacement for the marks you use often. For example, you might assign a memorable private shortcut to zabar. Avoid a replacement that could expand accidentally inside ordinary English or Persian words.
Unicode reference for websites and code
The marks are encoded after their base character. In HTML, you can type the character directly in UTF-8 or use a numeric character reference.
U+064E · َU+064F · ُU+0650 · ِU+0651 · ّU+0652 · ْگُل
گ + U+064F + ل
The pish is stored after گ and rendered above it.
Why marks sometimes render badly
The font lacks careful positioning
Arabic-script fonts use shaping rules to place combining marks. A mark can collide with dots or sit too high in a font with weak support.
Line height is too tight
Marks above and below letters need vertical room. Clipped diacritics can be a CSS or document-layout problem rather than missing text.
The mark lost its base letter
A copied mark may appear with a dotted circle when it is separated from the consonant it should follow.
Several marks are stacked
Tashdid and a vowel mark can share a base letter. Software and fonts may display the stack differently even when the underlying sequence is valid.
Manual typing or automatic Persian diacritization?
If the challenge is choosing the marks: VowelMarks reads the full Persian sentence, adds contextual short vowels and Ezafe, and preserves the source letters. Manual typing remains useful when you already know one exact correction. The automated tool is for the harder case where the sentence must help choose the reading.
Related Persian reading guides
- Learn zabar, zir, and pish before typing them
- Persian vowels: how the complete system works
- Persian and Arabic diacritics compared
- How to read Persian when the marks are absent
Frequently asked questions
How do I type zabar, zir, and pish on a Persian keyboard?
On the Windows Persian (Standard) layout, use Shift+U for zabar, Shift+Y for zir, and Shift+T for pish. Type the Persian consonant first, then the mark. Other operating systems and Persian layouts can place the same characters on different keys, so inspect the active on-screen layout.
What are the Unicode codes for Persian vowel marks?
Zabar or fatha is U+064E, pish or damma is U+064F, and zir or kasra is U+0650. Tashdid or shadda is U+0651, and sukun is U+0652. These are combining characters shared across languages that use the Arabic script.
Why does a Persian vowel mark move or look wrong?
The mark is stored after a base letter but rendered above or below it. Font support, line height, stacked marks, text direction, and software bugs can change the appearance. Confirm the underlying Unicode sequence before replacing the character.
Can I copy and paste Farsi vowel marks?
Yes. Copy a mark from this page and paste it immediately after the Persian letter it belongs to. A combining mark shown alone may display with a dotted circle, which is only a visual placeholder for the missing base letter.
Is it faster to type Persian diacritics or add them automatically?
Manual typing is best when you know the exact mark, are teaching one word, or need to correct a name. For a full sentence or paragraph, contextual diacritization is faster because vowel choices and Ezafe depend on the surrounding Persian. Review automatic output when the text is poetry, dialect, a rare name, or highly specialized.
Sources and review notes
Sources are listed for the claims they support. Original practice examples are identified in the article. Product capabilities and access terms were checked on the review date and can change.
- Microsoft Learn, Persian (Standard) Keyboard. Used to verify the current Windows Persian (Standard) layout and its shifted diacritic keys. The Microsoft page is language-neutral even though this indexed copy uses Spanish interface labels.
- Persian Computing Community, Persian Keyboard. Used for the ISIRI 9147 standard layout, Persian characters, and the Shift+Space zero-width non-joiner convention.
- Apple Support, Change Input Sources settings on Mac. Used for adding and switching input sources and opening the Character Viewer or Keyboard Viewer.
- Apple Support, Use the Keyboard Viewer on Mac. Used for the instruction to inspect the active Persian layout and its Shift or Option layers rather than assuming one universal Mac shortcut.
- Apple Support, Add or change keyboards on iPhone. Used for the general mobile keyboard setup steps. Availability and long-press characters vary by operating system, keyboard, and version.
- Unicode Arabic names list. Primary reference for the official code points and character names of fatha, damma, kasra, shadda, and sukun.
- The Unicode Standard, Chapter 9: Middle Eastern Scripts. Used for the explanation that vowel signs are combining characters attached to a preceding base letter and rendered by the font.