Spelling of X, H, Z, S, Sh, Ch

Sh and ch are made of two letters, but each stands for one sound: both are front-of-tongue unvoiced consonants. For example: shamol (wind), oshxona (kitchen); choy (tea), kechqurun (evening). When counting sounds we count each combination as one sound. In some words, however, s and h stand side by side and denote two separate sounds; so that they are not read as sh, an apostrophe is put between them: Is’hoq (a man’s name), as’hob (companions). One of the weekdays is written «chorshanba»: the n before b sounds like m, but n is written.