Hello, Farsi Sound Detectives! Today, we’re on the case of a super sneaky sound combination in Farsi: the «ای مخفی» (Hidden i). This happens when you have the ‘ee’ sound (like in “see”) immediately followed by the ‘y’ sound (like in “yes”). Even though you hear both sounds clearly, like in بیا (bi-yâ – come) or زیارت (zi-yâ-rat – pilgrimage), Farsi sometimes uses a clever shortcut in writing. Instead of writing “ی” for the ‘ee’ sound and then “ی” for the ‘y’ sound, it combines them, and you only see one “ی”!