coLLoaulAL

PE S R IAN
Leila Moshiri

Gontents
Introduction Abbreviations The PersianAlphabet 1 3 4

6 Pronunciation Vowels; Diphthongs; Alterand Intonation; Consonants; Stress ation of Vowel Soundsin Colloquial Speech;Capital Letters and Functuation

11 Lesson 1 Articles; Gender; -elast, hast, nist; Word Order; Plurals; lnterrogatives;And; Phrasesand Expressions
19 Lesson2 SubjectPronouns;T\e ezfe;Adjectives; Comparisonof Adjecand Expressions tives; Demonstratives;Phrases 7 Lesson 3 formed from the past stem- simple Verbs I: the infinitive; tenses past, imperfect and past participle; The Verb 'to be'; Phrases and Expressions 38 Lesson4 presenttense' Verbs II: tensesformed from the present stem subjunctive, imperative, Noun of the Agent; Phrases and Expressions 49 Lesson5 Compound TensesUse of the Particle r; Compound Verbs; and Phrases perfect, pluperfect,future, pastsubjunctive,passive; Endings Summaryof Verb Expressions;

Lcsson 6 Ot phrascsand Adverbsand Adverbial E:rpressions; Prepositions; Expressions ksson 7 Numben; Phrases Expressions and
Lesson 8 79 The Calendar; The Seasons; The Days of the Week; The points of the Compass; Telling the Time; Currency; Expressions of Time Lesson9 97 Pronouns - possessive ponouns, interrogative ponouns, indefinite pronouns, khod, colloquial use of pronominal suffixes; Colloquial Use of the ezfe; Conjunctions; phrases and Expressions Lesson 10 96 Subordinate Clauses - relative clauses, indirect statements, wishes and commands, result clauses, conditional sentences, possibility; Impenonal Constructions; phrasesand Expressions

I*sson 11 Word Fornation Irsson 12 Polite Phrases Conventions; and Other Expressions Situational Phrases Conversations: and 110 113

At the Airport; At the Travel Agent; Shopping;Asking the Way; The Telephone Appendix Numbers; Currency; The Calendar Exercise key English-Persianglossary Persian-Englishglossary

t20

r23 r29
185

;j

lntroduction
The country is lran, its people are lranians, but things and the language are Persian. The Iranians themselves refer to their whereasthe country as a whole derived languageas frsi because its name from the Aryan peoples who first migrated there, the predominant tongue came to be that of the people of Fars, the province which held Persepolis,the capital of the Persianempire yearsago. of two thousand Persian is an Indo-European language,which means that it is related to the languages Western Europe (when you come to of them, you may like to compare the words for father, rnother, daughter, brother, with English or German). After the Islamic conquest of lran, Arabic became for a time the language of officialdom and learning with the result that Persianitself came to be written with the Arabic alphabet and there was an enormous in Arabic influenceon the language terms of vocabulary,though hardly any in terms of its oasic structure which retained its own for equivalent mostrabic identity.Thereis usuallya pure Persian borrowings, but one or the other has tended to becomedominant and more normally used.This is rather like the French borrowings in English after the Norman conquest. In the 1960sand 1970sa conscious effort was made to reducethe use of Arabic words, but that with the return to an Islamic societyand the greateremphasis is now placed on the teaching of Arabic and the learning of the Koran in schools,this trend hasbeenreversed.It is probablyworth noting, however,that many words of Arabic origin usedin modern Persian have acquired a different meaning or shade of meaning from that of present-dayArabic. of and converColloquial Persianis the language ordinary speech sation. It is not written down, exceptnowadaysin informal correspondencebetween young people. The main difference between the spoken word and the written languageis in the alteration of vowel sounds, the contractionsthat occur in many forms of the

2 ntnoouctrox verbs and the colloquial useof the many suffixes. It is quite difficult to draw a definite line between the conversationallanguageand more formal speech, not becausethe two forms are interchangeable, but becauseboth forms ll be heard, depending on the circumstances in which you may find yourself. Native speakers alwaysaddresseach other in colloquial Persian,but since they do not $'rite as they speak, anything being read, such as the radio or television news, official reports, etc, will be in the correct forms which would sound stilted if used in conversaon.It is partly for this reason that the languagecannot be learnt properly without some basic knowledge of the correct forms which are then altered in speech. I have tried, however, not to err too much in this direction. It may be of interest to note that a number of other languages are 5poken in the different regionsof [ran, chief amongwhich are Turkish in the north-western province of Azarbaijan and an Arabic dialect in the South. There are also Kurdish and Baluchi, and the dialect of the Caspian pronce of Gilan. There is a sizeable Armenian minority in the country, chiefly in Tehran and Isphan. People who are native speakersof any of these languageswill tend to have varying degreesof accent when speaking Persian and this has little to do with the degree of education of the speaker. The standard pronunciation is that of Tehran which is used in this book. A cassettehas been produced to accompany this book so that you can hear Percianspoken by native speakers.All material on the cassette marked by a I in the text. is

Abbreviations
The following abbreviationshave been used in this book:

The Persian Alphabet

As a matter of interest, the Persian alphabet is set out below, togetherwith the transcriptionusedin this book. [t is important to realisethat the letters changetheir shapeaccordingto the position they occupy in the word, and for the sake of simplicity only the initial forms and the final, unjoined forms of the letters are shown here. Name alef be pe te se jim che he
z
t

Final, unjoined form I

Initialform

Transcription
arareroru

b p t s j ch
>

e c
) ) .) ) )

\:-

h kh d z r z

!!e
dl zl re ze zhe sin shin sd zd

s sh s z

, ,-f

.t'
.b

J,

t :

ze
n n fe f kf gf lm mim nun vv he ye

v
0

L
j j

gE
f

s[
k E I m n
vrolv

"t
d

.J I
t
c

t
I

h
Y ' l r l

{s

Pronunciation
It is very difficult to render the pronunciationin transliteration of any language not written with the Roman alphabet.I have tried to keep the following guide as simple and accurateas possible,but correct pronunciation can really only be achievedby hearing and imitating native speech and for this purpose the accompanying cassette will be found to be extremelyvaluable, if not essential.

STRESSAI\ID INTONATION As a generalrule the stressin Persianfalls on the last syllable of the word. The main exceptions this are in words with the various to verb endings and some sufffrxes, which will be indicated as they occur, and words with the negativeprefixes.persian makes intensive use of prefixesand suffixes,but in generalwords tend to retain their basic stess pattern even when the number of syablesis altered by such additions: e.g. ketb - *etUi - kettsm - tette send. Intonation is also used a great deal to give variety of expression, but apart from mentioning the interrogative tone used for questions, the rest can really only be learnt by ear. r 1. CONSONANTS (a) Pronouncedas in English: b d f g - hard as in ge h j k I m n p s*asinsit t v

v
z

PRONUNCIATION 7

(b) r kh sh ch zh g! -

trilled, try sayingbrrrr as in the Scots/oclr as in sheep as in chat, chap like the j in the Frenchje there is no correspondingEnglish sound; pronunciation of this letter should be learnt from native speakers.You can achievean approximation by sticking the very back of your tongueto the roof of your mouth and then letting go, letting breath and sound out at the sametime. Where any of the aboveletters appearwithout the joining line underneath,each will have its own value as a consonant.

(c) ' - the glottal stop: The closest to this in English is in the cockney bo'Ie, fot 'bottle'. This soundis not asstrongin Persianasit is in Arabic. them: Between two vowels' really only separates (obedience) s'at (watch, time), etl'at It is slightly stronger between a vowel and a consonant: ta'mir (repair), fe'lan (for the time being) likewise after a consonantat the end of a word: rob' (quarter) (d) Double consonants(called tadid in Persian): The sound of the consonant is reinforced, so that each consonant is almost pronounced separately,rather like the English word boo/c-case: nqiir (carpenter) It is rather like coming down on the first letter then taking off again from the second.

r 2. volvEls
- as in wash,or the o in on r-asinhat e-asinend i - as in deed
bb (daddy) bad (bad) lhne (house), esm (name) in (this)

8 rnonuxcrenon o - asin the Frenchrzot u - asin oalr r 3. I'TPHTHONGS

nek (spectactes) mowz (banana) Where two vowels appear togethe in the text with no connecting line on top, each vowel will have its own value and must be pronouncedseparately.

bororg (big), do!!t r (girl) faulu(peach)

- as in raid orv- asin mow

I Pnonunciatbn Exerciscs a e i lu (plum); b (water); rd (flour); bt (up); bad (wind) ast (is); abru (eyebrow); namak (salt); bad (bad) esm (name); emr (building); nefrat (hate); negh (look); !!!ne (house); rnende (driver); entezr (waiting) in (this); iqie (here); imm (faith); bebin (took!); bidr (awake); bimr (ill); abi (blue); zendegiQife) oftd (he fell); otgh (room); bozorg (big); d@tar (grrl) un (that); hulu (peach);utu (iron); rezu (wish) nok (spe^ctacles);rven (verandah, balcony); maen (square); brne(between)

o u
el

r 4. aLTERATTON OF VOWAL SOITNDSIN COLLOQTIAL SPEBCH (a) The vowel almost always becomes u before an n and frequently also before an m: lhne (house) becomeskhune, nn (bread) becomesnun, mad (he came) can becomeumad. () Vowels followed by two consonants the end of a word are at lengthened,as in hast (there is); goft (he said); nist (there isn't); seft (hard). In general,throughout this book, the first time a word is used, it will be shown thus: colloquial or usual spokenform/literary o correct form. Thereafter the colloquial form will generally be usedunlessthe style or sentence rendersit necessary do to

PRONUNCIATION 9

otherwise. By correct or literary is meant the form as it is written down and which will not normally be usedin ordinary speech,but which one will hear if things are being read out, on radio and television ne\trs,for example.[n explanationsof grammaticalpoints, the correct forms will also be used' The glossaries will show the correct form.

I Pronunciation Exercise r rst (right); dorost (correct); rh (way); bardar (brother) kh khhar (sister);khar (last); kkh (palace);nimrokh (profile); ekhtiyar (will) sh shahr (town); qleno (swimming); shotor (camel); sh (broth) ch gler (why?); glatr (umbrella); chr (spanner);mgh (kiss); nuch (sticky) zh neghd(race); moghe(eyelash);Zhle (a girl's name) gh gharb (west); taghriban (approximately); oghb (eagle); aghrab (scorpion);meghdr(quantity); dorugh (lie); mag$ub (defeated);glad (height); nghadr (that much) s'at (time); et'at (obedience); ' ta'mir (repair); fe'lan (for the time being); jor'at (courage) e'terz (protest); e'tebr (credit); rob' (quarter) zh ezhr (statement) sh eshg! (Isaac); esht(dianhoea)

honunciation Exercise: Doubled Consonants pp ii tt chch w rr yy tappe (hill); lappe (yellow split peas) nqijr (carpenter) ettegh(happening);ettehd(unity) baghche(child) dowom (second) kharrt (woodcarver) tailor) $ayyt (dressmaker,

10 ProNUNcrATroN CAPITAL LDTTERS AIID PI,JNCTUATION Persianis written from right to left using the Arabic script. The Persianalphabet has four additional letters that representsounds that do not exist in Arabic. In transcriptiontheseare p, , g and zh. The letters of the alphabetchangetheir shapeaccordingto the position they occupy in the word, but capitalisationas such does not occur. The transcriptionusedin this book, therefore, doesnot use capital letters either. Exception has been made in the caseof proper nounsin the readingpassages it is felt that this will make as things easierfor the student. Punctuationmarks were not traditionally used in Persianas the sentence structure really renders them unnecessary.They are, however,now taught in schools and usedin modernPersian,though in a much more limited way than in English, and this has been incorporatedin the transcription.

Lesson One (darse awal)

Read aloud:

11 .

drr br-c/bz r poqferc bsst-ast/b6tc ast hev garm.e/gnnmact b sord.clsrrd a$ nuuhin ttu-ltt'p mdsr mehrabm-e/mehrabn ast 7. pedar llpst-ast/lchaste ast 8. peaa*ozorg pir.e/pir st 9. zan Javuo-e{avn ast 10. mdarbozory marlz.e/msiz ast 1 1 .pesar g!tun*/snten sst t2. d@tar kugbik*/tnlak ast bozorg-e/ast 13.!!ud!!ne 14. b sad nist 15. hav garm nist 1. mard pir nist 1 7 . gLaz khub-elast 18. otobus por-e/ast 19. otg! kh-e/ast zfr.otgh tamiz nist

) 3. 4. 5. 6.

The doo'r is open The window is closed The weather is hot The water is cold The bread is frestr The mother is loving The father is tired The grandfather is old The woman is young The grandmother is ill The boy is mischievous The girl is small The house is big The water is not cold The weather isn't hot The man is not old The food is good The bus is full The room is empty The room isn't clean

Vocabulary: water eb is -e/ast

bad baste bz bozorg cher chp

bad closed open big vhy what?

der d@tar garm ghlz hav javun/ javn khtli

thing door girVdaughter wann food weather young empty

12 rnssoxoxs:
tired !haste khune/hhne house khub good koj where? kuchik/huchak small mdar mother mard man mariz iil mehrabun/ loving, kind mehrabn min table nun/nn bread nist is not, isn't olva and ot. otobus paqiere pedar psar pir sard sandali shtun/ rht" ta,e y yek zan room bus window father boy/son old cold chair mischievous fresh or one woman

Notc:

but:

mdar pedar bozorg madrbozorg pedarbomrg nave

mother father big grandmother grandfather grandson/granddaughter

ARTICLES Persianhas no articles as such: khune - house,the house pedar - father, the father In a sentence,the noun on its own generallyconveysthe meaning of the definite article: \hune bozorg-e - The house is big pedar pir-e - The father is old The indefinite is expressed the addition of an unaccentedi at by the end of the noun exceptwhere the noun endswith an i, in which caseno distinction is made: khunei - a house pedari - a father BUT sandali - the chair/a chair

LESONONE 13 In colloquial usage, this l is largely replaced by the use of -ycl ('one') before the noun: yck $une - a house (one house) yck tends to get futhr shortened in speechto ye, so you will hear: yekhune -ahouse yeterU -abook yeogh -aroom yctksi -ataxi ye miz - a table yesandali -achair yemrgas -afly ye nafar - a person (someone) GENDER As in English, nouns in Persian do not have a specific gender beyond that indicated in their meaning: pesar ltun-e - The boy is mischievous - The girl is good dolhtar khub-e pedarbomrg pir-e - The grandfather is old rndarbozorg mariz-e - The grandmother is ill sandali bozorg-e - The chair is big miz bozorg-e - The table is big - The room is big otg! bozorg-e .E/AST; HAST; NIST -elast = is hast = there is

The third personsingularof the short form of the verb 'to be' (see LessonThree) is ast or hast. In spoken Persianast is shortenedto e after a word ending in a consonant,and is transcribedas -e in this book to help distinguish it from other e endings. After a vowel, ast is shortenedto st and transcribed-st. Where a such as baste(closed), word endsin e after a congonant,hotrrever, (fresh), then ast is not shortened.The e of the word is elided tze insteadand will be shown by a hyphen: dar bast-ast (dar basteas) - The door is closed nun tz-ast (nun tdze ast) - The bread is fresh

14 r,BssoN oNs Ast and hast are not interchangeable their correct use will best and be learnt by examplesand observation. As a generalrule, hast (a) conveys idea of ,thereis', or () is the more emphaticthan ast, dependingon the context: hotel khub-e/khub ast - The hotel is good nun hast - There rs bread hrst will also be used to ask 'is there?' (any bread, a room etc.): nun hast? - Is there any bread? (See'Interrogatives' below) The negativeof both ast and hast is nist - see sentence14 at the beginningof this lesson.

WORD ORDER Look again at the examplesunder the headingGENDER. Notice that the verb (-e) is at the end of the sentence phrase.The usual or word order in Persianis: subject- object (direct, then indirect) verb. The verb normally comesat the end of the sentence, e.g.: verb mtu bozorg + (ast) - The table is big pcsar sntun 4 (ast) - The boy is naulhty d@tar (ast) - The girl is good !!ub -e PLURAT,S l. As a general rule and particularly in colloquial use, the plural of nouns is formed by the addition of the suffix -h, which then carriesthe stress: (table, tables) miz - mirh (chair, chairs) sandali - sandalih * paqjereh paqjere (window, windows) (bus, buses) otobus - otobush (taxi, taxis) tksi - tksih Nate: ln colloquial usage,in fact in speechin general,as opposed to the written word, the h of -ha is often not pronounced exceptwhen the word itself endsin the sound e: otobus tksi sur paqiereh

LESTPN ONE 15

2. The sufftx -ln is used to form the plural of nouns denoting people, animals, birds etc. For euphony, suchnouns ending in o or u will also add v, those in s n'ill add y and those in e will add g before the suffix: (man, men) msrd - mrrdtn (woman, women) ,tn - ztnln pedar (father, fathen) - pdrfn (gentleman,gentlemen) ghr - rgliyin shenrvande -glcnavandegin (listener, listeners) gudand (one sheep,sheep) - gundrn (chicken, chickens) norx!, - morg!n poranAcgfn (bird, birds) Fmnde The plural suffix -ln is not interchangeablewith -h, but most words, such as mldrr, pcd.r, for which the correct, grammatical plurals are midartn, pedrrin, do in fact take -hn to form the plural in colloquial usage: ndrrhr (cotJ. nffarf) pedsrfl (pdt) pcrerf . dollterl This is the form we will us most in this book, but do not expec't even this to be entirely consistent. A common example of the inconsistenciesthat you will en@unter is in the phras 'ladiee and gentlemen'- khnumhl va g[tytn, whi shona the ttpo different forms of the plural which are in use. $lnum is the everyday word for 'lady' or 'Mrs', and is always [nmunhl in the plural, whereasqfyln is the correct grammatical plural of

@.
3. The Arabic plural sufx -it is also used, but not colloquially: bg! - bglr (garden, gardens) A form of broken plural is also used: nrrnzl - qrrrl (house, hOuses) But for both theseexamplesand rnanyotherslike them, bh and menzrlhl are more common in colloquial usage.The orher forms are mentioned so that you may recognize them for what they are should you encounter them.

16 Lessox.oxs. 4. Use of tlre singular and plurall , . . There ae tvo points of differehce to be noted,here between Persianand English: (a) Persian usel the singular when considering the noun collectively or in a general sense: Ifies are dirty - magaskasif-e Books are good - ketb khub-e () The singular is also used after ttum-6ersand after the word and'how many?': five books - panj ketb six boys - shish pesar how many books? - chand ketb? INTERROGATTVES Questions are asked either lvith the use of interrogative words which are usually placed immediately before the verb or the noun to which they refer, or, in the absence any interrogative word, of by raising the tone of the voice towards the end of the sentenceto indicate a question. The chief interrogative words are: koj where? ku where? i what? che what? gler why? ju" how? e ki who? chand how many? (+ kudunr/hodm which? noun tn smguk when? lar) chetowr how? I hava etowr+? hotel koj-st? (koj ast) kudum hotel? ki-e Qtronounced kiy e\? nun hast? What's the weather like? Where is the hotel? Which hotel? Who is it? (e.9. when answering the door, though it is more polite to say btle) Is there any bread?

Note that koj ast (where is?) is alwayscontractedto koj-st and ki ast (who is?) is alwaysshortenedto ki-st (coll. ki-e, pronounced ki-ye).

LESSON ONE I7

In colloquial use, the noun following th interrogative word gle takes the indefinite sufx "l and as well as just 'what', cte can also mean'what so of': I che ketibi? - What sort of book?lVhat book? The word yl, which is placed at the beginning of a sentence, is used to indicate that a question follows, but this is not colloquial and is seldom used in ordinary speech.

AID The word for'and'is va, usuallyshortenedin speechto o (vo after a word ending in a vowel): zen o mord - man and woman pir o javun - young and old pcsrr o dolltsr - boy and girl pcElrf vo Slterl - boys and girls b@org o k!$ - big and little nrmrl o lefd - salt and pepper (Note the order in the first two phraseswhich is different from that used in English).

I PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS salim (oa more formal and Icssuniversar, salim alkum) Hello, How do you do?, general greet@ - used where we would say either good morning, g@d afternoon or good anening. Thc simple arutwerro salm is also salm. You will also hear alkum assallm. How are you? I am well, thank you Good morning (/esscolloquial, than just salm) Goodbye (lit. God, the Keeper) Good night (on gotng to bed, or also used in conjunction with

u uq1"

hle glom gleowr.e? khubam, mersi

khodefez/lod hfez ttr"U t"Hi"

18 LD,ssoN oNE

bale na khrr

ii*t,t I!.!"0

!!od hezon taking leave,of someone night) at Yes No No (moreformal) Emphatic no, i.e. certainly not All right, O.K. (Properly speaking this ir !! khub - very good)

EXERCISES A. Put into Persian: 1. The food is good 2. T}lc \ilate is hot 3. The window is not open 4. Hello 5. How are you? 6. I am well, thank you 7. Goodbve 8. a house,a chair, a man 9. Where is the hotel? 10. Which hotel? The Esteghlal 11. Five books t2. The bread is fresh 13. Is the girl small? 14. The weather is not warm 15. The houseisn't big 1. The water is cold 17. The mother isn't bad 18. fathers,windows,boys 19. young and old 20. Is the room clean? B. Read aloud and translate: l. nun tze nist 2. hav gam-c 3. hav garm ast 4. pesar bozorg-e 5. miz koj-st? 6. dar bz-e 7. panjere bast-ast? 8. kudum panjere? 9. dokhtar shtun nist 10. mdarbozorgmanz-e 11. magaskasif-e 12. hav chetowr-e?

Lesson Two (darse dowom)

I Read aloud: 1. in otgbeman-e 2. forudghe Tehrn bozorg-e 3. bgle m ghaqhang-e 4. bilite havprmkhli gerun-e/gernast 5. behtarin hotele shahr koj-st? 6. istgheotobuse Shemrun/Shemrn koj-st? z. vtryam az Fte;; khli-6ozorgtar-e 8. in chameduneshom-st? 9. na, un chamedunmle man-e 10. ketbe man kuchiktar az ketbe Hasan-e kuchiktarin ketbamruye miz-e ast 11. frsi az ingilisi suntar-e/sntar Tehrn bozorgtaringhahrelrn-e 12. mshineman az mshineHasan behtar-e mshineHosein az hame behtar-e 13. lebseFteme az lebseMaryam tamiztar-e lebseZahr az hame tamizta-e 1.4.nune emruz tzetar az nune diruz-e Akbar gh-st tzetarin nun mle maghzeye 15. Maryam az Ali bozorgtar-e Hasan az hame bozorgtar-e 16. in nun azuntzela-e 17. in kaf az in yeki bozorgtar-e

Vocabulary: iisun az bg!. bardar baraye

mister, sir easy than, from garden brother for

b behtar bilit amedun dir diruz

to better ticket suitcase late yesterday

20 ressox lvo emnu ffrsl forudglh today Persian airport lovely aeroplane this English here shoe dirty book sister very dress, clothes shop I, me
mlef mshln mcdfd

s[sEqng
havrprmf in hdlisi lqi hfsh ksdf ketib khlhrr lebs nagbfze mrn

ruye sorbz scfid shrhr shgjl' dh Shemrn/ Shemrun

hrn|r

E!rt

tappe un/itr uqjqii

belonging to car pencil on soldier white tovm, city brave black name of the northern part of Tehran clean hill that there

*See LessonNine (l) Proper names: Boys: Mohammad, Hasan, Hosein, Akbar, Ali, Rez Girls: Maryam, Fteme, Zahr, Shirin SUBJECT PRONOTJNS The subject pronounsare as follows: singular man to u plural m shom ishn

0) (you) (he, she)

(we)

(vou)
(they)

There are two points to be noted here: (a) the subject pronouns are only used for persons,therefore the 3rd person u, ishn (he, she, they) cannot be used to denote inanimate objects. 'It' is expressed by the demonstrative pronoun tn Qtlural unh) or not separatelyat all, as the verb ending will indicate the subject of the verb.

I,ESSGN TIVO

2I

() ghe 2nd person plural om (you) is generally used as the polite form of address between strangers,.when children addressadults, as a sign of respect,etc. The singularform to (you) is usedbetweenfriends, by children and young peopleamongthemselves, adultsaddressing by children or superiorsaddressing inferiors. The distinction here is similar to that betweentu and vous in French. It is best to use shom in all casesat first.

THE EZFE: C The ezfeis a final e sound,rather like a suffix, after a word ending in a consonant,or ye after a word endingin a vowel. It has several uses: (a) To express the possessive: khuneyepedar - the father's house(/it. house-of the father) bilite otobus - the bus ticket (ticket-of the bus) bardareMaryam - Mariam's brother khhare Hasan - Hassan'ssister dare khune - the door of the house gharlhe ma$in - the wheel of the car lebsemard - the man's clothes chdorezan - the woman'sveil Note the word order which is quite different from the English usageof 's which is what it conveys: khuneyemard - the house-ofthe man. It is the thing which is possessed which takes the ezfe, not the possessor, in English. as (b) Whenan adjective qualifiesa noun - again note the word order: noun + ezafe- adjective: hotele hhub - the good hotel lebsetamiz - the clean dress bardare bozorg - the big brother farghe bozorg - the big carpet nune tze - the fresh bread

r ' ! '

?2

LESSON TWO

the good restaurant the right hand (note: this can also rnean on the right) If the noun is qualified by more than one adjective,the 'qualifyng' ezfe is also added to each adjective except the final one: - the small white house lhuneye k$ke sefid nunc garne tze - the hot fresh bread rrgle boaorgegerun - the large expensivecarpet If the noun is plural, then the ezfe is added onto the plural ending and sincethis is generally-h, the ezfen'ilIbe ye and not e: - large houses $unehye boorg baghclehiye kuchik - small children (c) For possessive adjectives- there are no sepate possessive adjectives as such (my, your, their etc.) in Persian. The meaning'my book', 'your book'etc. is renderedexactly as the possessive (a) above, using the subject ponouns instead of in the noun: skgular: kettbe man my book (tr. book-of I) kcttbc 3o your book (fanilior\ ketbc u his/her book phtrol: k&e mr t& sooi Lalbc Mn our book your book (polite, their book

rcstorc khub daste rlst

Much more @mmon, however, especiallyin speech,is the use of the pronominal suffixee: .em qtn (ny) (colJ. -cmun) (our) .etin (colL +tun) (your) (your) -at GoA. 4) .orh (coll .!) @is/her/ {h.tn (cott. <g!un) (their) its) The colloquial form for'my b@k', 'your book', etc. will therefore be: kenbem my book ketbemun our book your book kettbet your book kettbehn ketibeg! his/her/its ketbcglun their book book

rwo 23 LESSON likewise: budsrem berdrret blda@ bardaremun brdaretun bardareglun

but where a word endsin a vowel, the formal pattern will be:

llurelllflnc !!nan llrnct E$msh

fhurm $umt khunrsh

lllneyenen !!!reyetm llrncyeglrn $mmun I$ncron llunrun

which is fuher shortened in speechto:

adective is also Where the noun qualified by the possessive qualified by an adjective or adjectives,then the pronominal suffix is added to the final adjective: your brother - bordereat For exanple your big brother - bsridsre bozorget/et bw your big, thin brother - bardare bomr lghorc/ your smdl, naughty son - pesrne kryLike

sM/
ADJECTIVES Adjectives remain unchangedwhether the noun they qualify is singular or plural. As a general rule, they follow the nouns they qualify and the noun takes the eziife ending to relate it to the adjective: nune tre - fresh bread nunhyetze- fresh bread(s) dolltare bozorg - the big girl dokhtarhye bozorg - the big girls marde pir - the old man mardhyepir - old men sarbze$oj' - the brave soldier shoja'- the brave soldiers sarbzhye

24 r.rsson rwo
zenejrvur -e young woman *nh$yeJavun - the young uromen Departure from this rule is used for stylistic effect, in special expressionsor ones which are much-usedwhich will be pointed out as r,e encounter them. For example, marde pir, the old man, is often iendered as piremard, likewise zane pir becomespinezan. Notice that the abovephrases definite - thebig girl, etc. Where are the noun qualified by the adjective is indefinite, the indefinite suffix i is added to the qualifiing adjeaive: d@tare bozorg - the big girl do$tare bozorgi - a big girl marde pir - the old man marde piri - an old rnan If there is.more than one adjective, the indefinite i is added to the last one: fargle bozorge geruni - a large expensivecarpet The indefinite suffix i is never stressed. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES The comparativeand superlativeof adjectivesare formed by the addition of the suffixes-tar, for the comparative, and -tarin, for the superlative,to the adjectives.,Than' is rendered by the preposition az: Thus: Maryam az Feme kuchlktar-e - Maryam is smaller (or younger) than Fteme otobus az tksi bomrgar-e - The bus is bigger than the taxi The comparativefollows the noun: lluneye bozorgar marde behtar havye sardtar

nune tzetar pesarekugliktar mshine Uentar

but the superlativecomesbefore the noun: bozorgtarin khune tzetarin nun

LEssoN rwo behtarin mard sardtarin hav kuiktarin psrr behtlrin min

25

Here are the comparative and superlatives of common adjectives: glrrn garmta garmtarin sard sardtar sardtarin bozorg bozorgtar bozorgtarin kug$k kuchiktar kug$ktarin sakht sakhter satltarin srun sunter suntarin tre tzetar tzetarin kohne kohnetar kohnetarin kut kuttar kuttarin botand bdendtar bolandtarin nszdik nrzdlkter nazdiktarin dur durtar durtarin bod brdtar bldtarin khub behtar behtarin

some of the more (hot) (cold) (big) (little) (difficult) (easy) (fresh, new) (old - of thing) (short) (long, tall) (near) (far) (bad) (good)

Note: (a) khub changesits stem in the cornparative and superlative, using the form beh() sstlt is, of cqurse, sakht-tar, but the second 't' is dropped in speech. The combination 'dt' is also pronouncedvery closetogether. (c) when there is no point of comparison the superlative, for i.e. when we want to say'the biggest'without specifying the biggest of which things, a very common way of expressing the superlative in Persian is by using the constructionaz hame (than all) + the comparative,e.g. az hame bozorgtar Maryam az hame behtar-e - Maryam is the best

DEMONSTRATIVES The demonstrativeponouns are: in - this (one) in/inh - these (ones) un/n - that (one), it una/anha - those (ones), they

26 rcssox nilo Theseproneunsmay refer to either people or things: in bozong.e ' this is big un $ub-c thaVit is good inhl bocorgondr the* Qrcopleor things)are big unh khub-ad those/they are good 'Note: -and = are, and will be explainedin LessonThree. If, therefore, we urant to say 'this bread is fresher than that', we will say in nun az un tlzctar+. kewise: h krf$h az un kuiktar.e - This shoe is smaller than that one tn ot ez un behtar-e - This room is better than that one The demonstative adjectives are also ln and un but when used as such they do not vary in the plural: in der in dar/h -these doors - this door un ketib - that book un ketb/h- those books ln !!une - this house in khuneh - these houses II PHRASES ANI} F,XPRESSIONS hsr e andtar c}ie bettar mcslein ke besm ellhe rahmne rahlm As soon as possible So much the better It looks as if, I think In the Name of God, the Compassionate, Merciful. the This Arabic phrase slwuld be lcarned and recognised it is for widcly wed - to begin prayers, speeches, letters, docwtunts, etc. In the Name of God. ?hts,r the short form o/besm ellhe rahmne rrhim and is generally used bdore starting anything. It is also widcly used, in speech only, as a blessingupon an action to follow. Thankyou Thank you Please(lit. without trouble) Please

besmell

mersi kh mamnun bi zahmat lotfen

LESSON r1tlo

Note: ln speaking Persian, even in colloquial usage' people are much more formally polite than is customary in English. There is therefore a much greate variety of polite phrases and expressions.These are covered in geater detail in Les,sonTwelve.

EXERCISES A. Put into Penian: 1. My house is bigger than Hassan'shouse 2. Ttle biggest house is on the hill 3. My car is smaller than Hassan'scar 4. Fateme'sdressis cleanertban Maryam's 5. This dress is the cleanest . The hotel is clean 7. My room is small 8. This is your book 9. That table is dirty 10. That is my black suitcase B. Read atoud and transle: 1. tlite glom ruye miz-e 2. lebsedokhtare bozorg sefid-e 3. mdare Maryam mariz-e 4. in dar bz-e 5. un pesar tun-e 6. bardaramaz hame behtar-e 7. tam'.l,tarin hotel 8. chameduneman sih-e f. istgheotobus koj-st? 10. behtarin hotele shahr koj-st? C. Put into Persian: 1,. My book 2. My big book 3. Your houseis small 4. His car is big 5. The gardendoor is oPen 6. The girl's dressis clean

r F
I
I

28 LEssoxTnro 7. My mther's room isn't big 8. Your father's car is small 9. My brother's houseis on the hill 10. Hassan's sister is ill D. Read aloud.,putting in the ezfe: 1. ketb Hasan (Hassan'sbook) 2. khune mard (the man's house\ 3. khhar man (my srsrer) 4. khune man (my house) 5. bardar (hislher brother) . hotel !!ub (rfte good hotet) 7. bilit otobus (the bus ticket'; 8. ye fa! bozorg (a big carpet) 9. ketb shom $tour book) 10. char!! mshin (the wheel of the car)

Lesson Three (darse sewom)

I Read aloud: 1. havprm resid/rasid.dustam unj/anj nabud. b tksi be dir hotel raftam.!b dur nabud. otgham bozorg o tamiz bud. sobune/sobhnelhordam. ba'd neshastamye nme neveshtam o kami ruznme-khundam/khndm. dustam b mshinesh umad/mad. manesh n""ke hotel bud. b ham be manzele raftim. 2. br bud. derakhth glargle shokufe budand. sedyegonjishkh az hame taraf miumad. nasimemolyemi mivazid. bach-

LESSON TITNEE 29

gheh tuye kuche midowidand/midavidand. man tuye otgham budam o barye dustam nme mineveshtam.

Vocabulary: ua b ba'd bachcheh b ham bahr berye bud budand derakhth dur dust gonjighk gharghe hame j kami khordam khundam manzel mimad midowidand

from with then children together spring to was

\ilee

the trees ar friend spaow covered in all place a little I ate I read home, house he/she/it was coming they were running

mineveghtam I was writing it was blowmivazid ing mild, gentle molyem nabud he was not nme letter nasim breeze near Qtrep.) nazdike neshastam I sat I wrote nevetam I went raftam \ile rtrent raftim resid he/she/it arrived newspaper ruznme sound, voice sed breakfast sobune/ sobhne blossom shokufe side taraf in @rep.) tuye there uqiqi

Notes: nazdikeand tuye are prepositionswhich take the ezafe(see LessonSix). barye usually means 'for', but it is more colloquial to say ba.ryedustam name mineveshtamthan be dnstam . . . although be is the usual word for 'to'

30 ussox rrrREE VERBS I

A. THE INIIhIITTVE The infinitives of all verbs end in dan, -trn or -idan and each verb has two stems, the presentstern and the past sfern, which form the basisfor the mnjugation of the various tenses. The infinitive itself can be used as a noun, e.g.:

rundrn sq!!t e khordrn srn.e

Driving is dif6cult Eating is easy

Taking the -an off the end of the infinitive will alwaysgive the past Stem, and taking the -dan, -tan or -idan off will usually give the presentstem, but as so many verbshave an irregular presentstem, each new verb should be learnt as tfl'o elements: infinitive, froni which the past stem is regularly formed, and the present stem. Once thes two elementsare known, the conjugation of almost any verb simply follows the rules. Each new verb will therefore be shown thus: infinitive (presentstem) e.g. rndan(rn). ireshall take the verbs ratan (to go), rndan (coll. rundan) (to drive) and rasidan (colL rcsidan) (to anive) as models:

Infitive raftsn rund rsidrn '

Present stem r|v run

ne3

B. TENSES FORMED TROM TIIE PAST STEM 1. Thesimple past(or preterite) Since the past stem is closestto the infinitive, the natural order for learning the tensesin Persian begins with the simple past. To form the simple past (I went, I drove, I arrived etc.), we start with the infinitive. If we take the -an ending off this, we are left th the past stem: raftan (to go) - rat randen (to drive) - rand residan (to arrive) - rcsid

ressorrnREe 31 To this we add the personal endings Singular lst person .rtrl (I) 2nd person .i (you) 3rd person (he/she/it) The simple past is therefore: Singular -1stperson: raftam (I went) 2nd person: raf (you went) 3rd person: mft (he/she/it went) Plural mtrm raftd raftand {we went) (you went) (they went) Plural (we) -lm (you) -id .snd (they)

Note: T\e stressis on the sy'lable before the personal ending, and not on the ending itself. 'and'is generallypronounced'an'. Likewse: (I drove) nrndam (you drove) nrndi (he/she/it drove) rund residam residt resid (I anived) (you arrived) (he/she/it arrived) rundim rundid rundand restdim rstdid ddand (we drove) (you drove) (they drove) (we arrived) (you arrived) , (they anived)

The simple past of all verbs is formed in this way. Note that because the penonal endings already indicate who is doing e action, the subject pronouns are not used in simple sentences: e.g. be madreserafr az madresetmad be edfre rtftm az cd$re madim He/she went to school He/she came from school I went to the office We came from the office

When, however, the idea of.who is doing an action is to be stressed or contrasted or reinforced in someway, then the subject ponouns are used as well: e.g. u be madreseraft amm bardares! der khune mund/mnd He/she went to school but his/trer-brotheiltayed at home (mundan/mndan: to stay;present stem: mun/mn)

32 mssox rHnEE m az cdre madim amm unh mundand \Ve left (came from) the office but they stayed If the subject is a proper noun, the verb still carriesthe personal ending: Hrsan be madreseraft - Hassanwent to school Maryam o Hasan bc - Mariam and Hassan madreseratand went to school

The negative is formed by adding the verbal prefix na- to the beginning of the simple past; the negativeprefix then carries the stress: naraftam (I did not go) narafti (you did not go) narundam (I did not drive) narundi (you did not drive) naresidam (I did not arrive) Here are a few more examplesof the infinitive and the past stem:
gereftan madan ddan kharidan khordan neshastan khundan neveshtan odan gereft mad dd kharid

!!ord
neshast khund nevesht shod

to take to come to give to buy to eat to sit to read to write to become

The most commonuse of the simple past is to express completed a action in the past. It is also the narrative tense- i.e. the tenseused to describeor report on actionswhich have taken place. Note also the following use of the simple past for an action which is about to be completed: madam - I'm coming(in answero 'hurry up', or 'are you coming?')

LESSON THREE 33

rrtrm

- We're off; we're going

In both the above examples, the simple past is being used in responseto questions or commandswhich imply that the action is overdue and ought already to have taken place. The answer to a straightforward question 'are you coming?' would be in the present tenseas in English. 2. The imperfc1 The imperfect is formed by the addition of the verbal prefix mi- to the simple past, with the stresson this prefix: (I was going) (we were going) miralam miram min niratd mireft mlrand mirundam mlntndi nlntnd mirecidrm mlreddi mircsid (I was driving) nlrundlm mirundtd mhmdrnd mlreddtm mlresidid miresidand

(I was dting)

The imperfect is used to expresscontinuous, habitual or recurrent actions in the past: e.g. pedaram har ruz be edre mirat My father used to go to the office every day Fteme har ruz az madresemimad Fateme used to come from school every day man hamishebe masjed miratrm I always \rent to the mosque Hasan har ruz az edre mimad Hassancame frorn the of6ce every day Maryam nun mipokht Mariam was baking bread monghi nme minevesht The secretary $'as \ilriting a letter The imperfect is also used in certain kinds of conditional sentences (SeeLessonTen)"

rrrnsr 34,rrssox
In the imperfect tense, the negativeprefix is ne- and the stressis transferredto this prefix: neniratam nemirati nemimndam nenirundi 3. The pastparticiple The past participle consistsof the past stem plus an e on the end which carriesthe stress.and this will be transcribedthus: for the sakeof differentiation: ralan rat rdt ntndan nrnd rund residsn rsid rsid It is used in the formation of the compound tenses (perfect and pluperfect) which will be covered in Lesson Fve. It is also used adjectivally. (I was not going) (you were not going) (I was not driving) (you were not dring)

C. hc ver 'lo be' (a) We have already encounteredthe use of ast, shortenedto .e o .str meaning'is' (LessonOne). In fact the verb 'to be' has two forms'in Persian.The presenttenseis alwaysexpressed: (i) by the use of the following personalendingswhich are added to the precedingword (exceptin the caseof the 3rd personsingular where ast standson its own) and can also be called the short form of 'to be'. Singular -am -i ast/-e (I am) (you are) (he/she/it is) Plural -im -id -and (we are) (you are) (they are)

Thus: (good) $ub (I am good) khubim llubam (you are good) khubid $ubi khub asU-e(he/she/it is good) khuband

(we are good) (you are good) (they are good)

LESSON I.|NEE

35

If one remembersthe basic rule.about word srder - i.e. gubict; object, verb, then it will not be difficadt to decide where to put these endingp. Some examplesof the use of the short form for 'to bsr: borfdanm kuchi.c My brother is little dustem miz-c My friend is sick dar bz.c The door is open ketlb ruye mtz.e The book is on the table nthir hzer.e Lunch is ready m hfzer.e Supper is ready mrn tuyc hanum.em I am in the bath pecrregtrn-ad The boys are naughty Note, however, the two colloquialisms:
SOmCnlm-e

tcsh[rmr

I am hungry I am thirsty

g{lsne means'hungry' and tcglne mans'this', thereforee oorect forn shouldin fact be gom.on, |fum, but these havebeenoontracted gorwn, fu to and then had the 3rd persor singglar+ addedalso. .! . ; (ii) by the useof the more eurphatic fornr hd, alsoreferredto in Lesson One, which is conjugatedas follows (remernber,the personal endings not take the stress): do hastsm hasd hst hasdm hasm hastand

The form in (i) above is much more common in colloquial use to expressthe simple present tense of 'to be', hast having the slightly more emphatic meaning already explained, bnr hast etc. is normally used after a word ending in i, e.g.: ingilisi hrstid? !!reji hss6d?

Are you English? Are you a foreigner?(lit. are you foreign?)

Both these forms survive in the present tense only, and although the infinitives astanor hrsten are to be found in Persiandictionaries and grammar books, they are no longer fully conjugated.

36 ressox rgnes A plural subject denoting rational beingstakes a plural verb, but inanimate objects and irrational beingstake the singular: e.g. bachcheh iqi hastand !!har o bardaram dar Tabriz-and ketb iqi nist ruznmehiqi-st kefsh hzer nist - The children are here - My brother and sister are in Tabriz - The books aren't here - The newspapers here are - The shoesaren't ready

For the negativein both cases negativeof hast is used: the nistam (I am not) (you are not) nisti (he/she/it is not) nist nistim (we are not) (you are not) nistid nistand (they are not)

(b) All other tensesof the verb 'to be' are expressed the verb by budan (b$) which is conjugatedas follows: Preteritelsimplepast budam (I was) budi (you were) (he/she/it was) bud budim budid budand (we were) (you were) (they were)

As with the preterite of other verbs,the negativeprefix is na- which is stressed: nabudam,nabudi, etc. Imperfect The forms mibudam, mibudi etc. are regularly formed but seldom used exceptin certain kinds of conditional sentences not at all and in coloquial speech.Theseare literary and only given here for the purposeof recognitionshould you encounterthem. Present tense This is formed quite regularly from the presentstem (bash), mibsham mibshi mibshad mibshim mibashid mibashand

but it is not normallyusedto express am', .you are' etc. It is in 'I fact so rarely used as such that if you ask the averagelranian the

rrssoN nEE present tense of budrn, you will probably be told hrm, hast etc.

37

hts$,

I PHRASF,SANI' EXPRESSIONS ingFlldenghr d|eh God willing. A much-used phrase in referenceA funre time. /it. what_Qodwills; a rnuch used verbal talisman. It is always said if one has paid sorneonea compliment, or praisedsomething.It's very much like'touch wood' only with a religious elernent. lasa be sLub is also said ('touch wood'), but not as much. The sun was shining It started to rain /it. it came nght; said of a satisfactory outcome It turned out welVbadly It was spoilt, it went wong

mshtl

ftb bud brun gereft dorost od !!ub qlod/bad glod lharb qlod EXERCISES

A. Read aloud.and then translate: 1.. otghambozorg o tamiz bud 2. dustam az edre mad 3. Maryam subune\hord 4. manzeledustam dur nabud 5. ingilisi hastid? 6. otobus por bud 7. tksi khli bud 8. Hasan har ruz be edre miraft 9. neshestam kami ruznmekhundam o 10. b dusteqhbe hotel raft 11. gher madi? 12. nasime molyemi mivazid

3E LEssoN THnEE B. Put into Percian: 1. The plane arrived late 2. My room was large and clean 3. My friend was there 4. We came yesterday 5. The secretarywas writing a letter 6. Did you write a letter? 7. Is your daughter'sschoolthere? 8. Did you go to his house? C. Make the sentences exerciseB negative in

Lesson Four (darse chahrom)

Nore: Passage1 is a little conversation and to peserve the flow and feeling of the text, the usual colloquiaUliterary format has not been followed. It is given insteadin the vocabulary. Read aloud: I l. koj miri? mil!m beram mive bekharam manambhet mim pas zud bag! zid vaght nadram pide miri? "hun bale 2. Maryam har ruz be maghzeye Akbar gh mire/miravad. dar unj chi o shir o kare vo panir mikhare/mikharad. ba'd be nunvi mire vo nun mikhare. diruz az ghassbigusht kharid. emnrz unj nemire. ire davkhune barye dokhtaresh dav mikhare. ba'd be m"nreh mire vo Ue Uactrchehsh/bachchehyash sobune miOeiAahaa.

LEssoNroun 39

Vocabulary: to with you bht/b be! @ be bellrran beram chni glun

dav

drvllune ilurr@rep.) gusht rssbi hrr kar !!id koj nageze nrnam/nrn hrm

(imperuive) to that I may buy that I may go tea because medicine pharmacy in meat butcher's each, every butter he/she bought where? shop me too

nide/mtdeha ni!$n/ mikhhsm nillerd mi!!9rad miri/minvi mirelmiravad mive nsdnm nemire nunvi panir pllde shtr vaght drd ztd ztd ry

he/she/it gives I want he/she buys you go helshe goes fruit I haven't got she doesn't go bakery cheese on foot milk time a lot early be quick

Norz; bhet: colloquial form of bto (with you) rnrnlrn: colloquial form of man ham (me too, I also)

VERBS II

TENSES FORMED FROM TIIE PRESENT STEM 1. Thepresenttense The present tense is formed by the addition of the verbal prefix mi- to the present sern, followed by the personal endings which are the same as for the simple past, except for the third person singularwhich is -ad. The endingswill therefore be:

40 rsssox Foun Lst person: 2nd penon: 3rd person: Singular -am -i -ad Plural -im -id -and

In regular verbs, if we take the -dan, -tan or -idan off the infinitive. we will be left with the presentstem, but as already mentioned in LessonThree, many verbs have an irregular presentstem which is why this should be learnt with each new verb. The presentstem of raftan is rav, of rundan, run, of residan,res, therefore: mi * rav * am : miravam (I go) mi * run * am : minrnam (I drive) mi * res * am : miresam (I arrive) As with the imperfect, the stressis on the verbal prefix mi-. From raftan (rav), we will therefore have: miravam miravi miravad (I go) (you go) (he/she/it goes) miravim miravid miravand (we go) (you go) (they go)

from rundan (run): mirunam miruni mirunad (I drive) (you drive) (he/she/it drives) mirunim mirunid mirunand (we drive) (you drive) (they drive)

from residan (res): miresam miresi miresad (I arrive) miresim miresid miresand (we arrive)

In speech,the -ad ending of the 3rd person singular of all verbs formed from tire present stem is shortenedto -e when the stem endsin a consonant. Therefore: miresadbecomesmirese (he/she/itarrives or is arriving) mirunad becomesmirune (he/shedrives or is driving)

LFSSON IOUR

4I

When the presentstem ends in h, v, or a vowel, however, (a) ay is sometimes inserted after the vowel and (b) tensesformed from it ae contracted still further. These have to be learned individually as there is no generalrule to indicate when this takes place. (i) mfran - pesent stem: nY mlravam, mlravi, mirevad, etc become: mlrem miri ntre mlrim mirid mlrtn

() inodrn (i) - to come milyam, miii, mirlyed, miiim, mlld, milyend, become

miim mlry nild

tn|ttm dd nifn

(iii) drd (dch) - to give; lircrary form: mtdrhrm, mldrhl etc. (Note the exceptional ange of the vowel e to a when the verb is conjugated) midrm midi mide midim midid midan

The stressremains on the first syllable. The negative is formed by adding the prefix ne-, which then carries the stress:e.g. nemiram, nemiri, nemire etc The presenttense in Persianrendersboth the simple presentand the presentcontinuousin English. Hasan mi'il (miyad\ Maryam mire bamid Maryam m$in mirune mongbi nime minevise b!run nemid HassancomeVis coming Mariam goes/isgoing lt snows/issnowing Mariam drives a carlis driving The secretary writeVis writing a letter It doesn't rain/isn't raining

42 LEssoN FouR It is also used for an action which beganin the past and continues into the present: paqi ruz+ ke dar hotel-em - I have been in the hotel for five days (and am still there) (Note: ke = 'that' and will be covered rnorefully in Lesson Ten) ez diruz t hiln minevise He has been writing sinceyesterday In colloquial usage,the presentis also used for the future: e.g. fard bilit mikharam - I'll buy a ticket tomorrolv It will alwaysbe clear from the context whether or not the future tenseis meant. 2. The Subjunctive The subjunctiveis formed from the presentstem \yith the addition of the prefix be- and the penonal endings.Othenviseit follows the samepattern as the present: be + presentstem + personalendings= subjunctive e.g. mndan - (ron): berunam (that I may drive) beruni berune/ad raftan - (rav): beravam beravi beravad (that I may go) beravim beravid beravand berunim beruntd berunand

which will be shortened speech in to: berim berid berand Note that the subjunctive budan(bsh),.to be', is formed from of the presentstem plus the personalendingsbut without the be-: bsham b@i bshe/-ad
bshim bshid bashand

beram beri bere

LESSON FOUR 43

The present subjunctive is used a great deal in Persian.Here are someof its uses: (i) The first and third personssingular and plural are used in questionswhich are expressed English by 'shall Awe?' in etc.: beram khune? berim bzr? berim sheno? bere kharid? (ii) Shall I go home? Shall we go to the bazaar? Shall we go swimming? Shall he/shego shopping?

The first personplural is used in the senseof 'let's': berim khune berim bzr berim gleno Let's go home Let's go to the bazaar Let's go swimming

(iii)

The subjunctiveis alwaysused after the verbs: - to want - to be able

!!stan (!Ih) and tavnestan(tavn)

nilil!m Brghlnberunam - [ want to drive a car mitunam mshln berunam - I can drive a car In each case both khsan and tavnesanand the verb expressingthe action agree with each other in person and number, and this usageshould be noted as it is quite unlike English: mikhtun (lst pers. sing. present) beram (lst pers. sing. subjunctive) I want (lst pers. sing. present)to go (infinitive) mi!!m beram bzr mi!!d bere khune ni!!m beram mive bekharam I want to go to the bazaar He wants to go home I want to go and buy some fruit

In order to say 'I do not want to go', 'I cannot drive' etc, the stressed negativeprefix ne- is put before the appropriate form of khstanor tavnestan: nemikhmberam nemituneberune I don't want to go He can't drive

44

LESSON FOUR

(iv)

The words byad (must, ought to) and"qhyad (perhaps, maybe) also take the presentsubjunctivewhen referring to the presentor future: byad beram khune byad kaf bekharam ghyadberam mosferat g!yad manzelbshe I must go home I must buy someshoes PerhapsI will go away (on a Journey) - Maybe he's at home

(v)

(gozr) which also means 'to Whenever the verb gozshtan put' is usedin the sense 'to permit', 'to allow', the verb of following it is in the subjunctive: (Note that in spoken Persian, the go is also dropped from so the presentstem of gozshtan that tensesformed from it sound as though the stem were zr.) bezr beram bezr bebinam nemizram beri L,et me go Let me see [ won't let you go

(vi)

The subjunctive is used in a variety of subordinateclauses which will be coveredin lrsson Ten.

3. The imperative The imperative singular is formed by adding the prefix be- to the present stem: rundan (run) residan(res) - berun - beres - drive! - arrive! (get there!)

The following exceptionsshould, however, be noted: (o) o If the presentstem endsin av, this becomes in the imperative singular: -+beshno(hear!) ---+ shenidan(shenav) besheno (b) If the imperative singularendsin o, the prefix be- sometimes becomesbo-: raftan (rav) --+bero ---rboro (go!) Thesecases have to be learned individuallv.

LESSON FOUN 45

(c)

The verb buden does not take be-: budan {bsttl + bsh

The plural takes the -id ending of the secondpersonplural: brunid beresid berid bshid

The negative imperative, 'do not . .' is formed by the use of the prefix na- instead of be/bo-: -narun nares mro nabsh narunid naresid narid nabshid

Apart from the actual numerical plural sense,i.e. for commands to more than one person, the imperative plural is also the more polite form when addressinga single person in the same \ilay as shom(seeLessonTwo, Subject Pronouns(b)).

NOUN OF THE AGENT A noun denotingthe persondoing the action concernedand therefore called the noun of the agentis formed from the pesent stem of some verbs. This is done by addingthe suffix -andeto the presentstem.A point that take placein the other to notice here is that the vowel changes spokenforms of suchverbs do not usually apply to the noun of the agent. e.g. rndan (rn) - to drive: rnande - driver (pl. rnandeh) forukhtan (foru) - to sell: forushande - salesperson(p/. forughandeh) khndan- G!an) - to read, to sing: ktanande - reader, singer (p/. khtuandeh) shenidan- (shenav)- to hear: shenavande hearer, listener (p/. shenavandegn)

M LEssoNFouR Somecommon verbs: medan () bordan (bar) varden (r) (coll. vorden) goftan (gu) budan (bg!) shoden (shav) kardan (kon) dildan (deh) gereftan (gir) !!ndan (!!an) (col/. khundan) bastan (band) nqlpstan (neq$n) isedan(ist) didsn (bin) glenidan (sheno) khordan @o") Elibidrn (khb) nushidan (nush) dshtsn (dr) zadan (zen) o come to take to bring to say to be to become to do to give to take to read to close,to shut to sit to stand,to stop to see to hear to eadrink to sleep to drink to have to hit

Notes: 1. Strictly speaking,llordan means'to eat', but it is also generally used to mean 'to drink': e.g. ghsz khordam I ate food b khordsm I drank water In fact, the term for'drinking-wate' is be khordan. 2. nug!$en is seldom used in colloquial speech, but the noun derived from it nushbe is commonly used to refer to nonalcoholic drinks of the bottled fizzy kind which are available in variety and very popular. Thus in a restaurantor even in a shop one might ask: nugllbc chi drid? - What do you have in the way of drinks? or one might be asked: nushbechi mikhid - lhat drink would you like?

LESSONFOUR 47

3. The verb dtan does not take mi- or bc-. Its presenttenseis: singular dram (I have) dri dre/ad plural drim drid drand

The imperfect is the sameas the simple past: dshtam:I had, I was having The present subjurictiveis: dsht bsham 4shtbashi etc. which is also the form of the past subjunctive(seeLessonFive). The imperative of dshtan is dag! ba!.

I PHRASES AND EXPR&SSIONS koj miri? koj mirid? b chi miri? b tksi miram vllh ba$e Where are you going? Where ae you going? Qtolite) How are you going? (/rr. with what are you going?) I'm going by taxi Honestly, in truth OK (spokenform of bslutd = let it be, the 3rd person singular of the subjunctive o/ budan) God forbid! Be quick! hurry up! (from jombidan, to move); get a move on!

tslod nakone bejomb

48 LEssoNFoun, EXER,CISES A. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Read aloud then translate: hav sard-e,barf mid moni nme minese har che zudtar miram mikhm pide beram mive bekharam Maryam az davkhunebaryepesaresh dav mikhare m barye sobunenun o panir o chi mikhorim dustam natunestb m bid fard miram edre dar-o beband

B. Put into Persian: L. Hassangoesto the office every day 2. She does not go there every day 3. It is raining 4. Are you English? 5. No, I am Iranian. I am not English 6. He wants to come to my house 7. I'll go tomorrow 8. Why did you Qtlural) come? 9. Where is he going? 10. Where are you going tomorrow? C. Put the following into (a) the present tense; (b) the imperfect; (c) the subjunctive' L. raftam 2. goftim 3. rundid 4. khordand 5. shod D. Give the imperativesingular of thefollowing: 1. to say 2. to hear 3. to eat 4. to run 5. to come

Lesson Five panjom) (darse

Read aloud: mosferbe istgheotobus resid. az gishechandtbiiit kharid chun dar lrn bilit o/r dar otobus nemifruand. mardom unh ro/r az gishe mikharand. otobus resid. hame savr shodand.dar ba'zi otobusa bilit o be rnande midand, dar ba'zih-ham be shgerdghofor. otobus rh oftd. j kam bud o chandnafar istdbudand. be istghe awal nazdik shodand. ye nafar sed zad: gh negah dr. otobus istd. rnande dar o bz kard. chand nafar pide shodand,dar bastshodo bzotobusrh oftad. rnandebe s'atash neghkard - kami dir shodbud.

Vocabulary: awal brz(adverb) ba'zi bast

first again some closed (pasr participle) some and several ghandt grshe booth ham also hame everyone, all istgh stop istghe otobus bus stop stopped

people mardom passenger moefer person nafar negah dr stop! nazdik od approached nemifnrshand they don't sell pide qlodand they got off rnande driver rh oftd set off savr shodandthey got on sedzad (zan) (he) called out sed noise. voice

Nole.' nemifrushand:the verb is forukhtan (forush); the u is elided in speechin tensesderived from the presentstem. Tensesformed from the past stem behavenormally. New verbs: savr shodan(gbav):to get on, to mount rh oftdan (oft): to set off, to start up

50 ressox rrw nzdtk shodan (qhav): to approach, to near sedladrn (zan): to call neg d&htsn (dr): to stop, to hold pide gloden (g!av): to get off (a bus etc.\ bsstan (band): to close istd8tr(lst): to stand, to stop

USE OF TIIE PARTICLE R One of the characteristics of Persian is the use of the particle r after the word or phrase that is the definite direct object of the verb. Up to now we have used very simple basic sentencepatterns vhich have tended to expressstates of being rather than actions:

dsr hste ast cEl hzer.c

The door is closed The tea is ready

but if we want to say 'he closed the door', then 'he' is the subject and'the door'is the definite direct object - the specicthing to which the aetion is being done - in which case it will.be followed by the particle rt. r is changed in speechto ro (following a word ending in a vowel sound) and o (following a consonant), though this is not necessarily very consistent, and you may notice such inconsistenciesin this book. dar o bast chi ro vord bilit o kharid ghaz ro !!ord If the direct object is a group of goup: otobusehotel o didam movenevazir o did sedyeradio ro shenid He He He He closedthe door brought the tea bought the ticket ate the food

words, the r comes after the I saw the hotel bus He saw the deputy minister He heard the sound of the radio

Where a noun to which a pronominal suffix has been added

LESSONFIVE

51

(kctbam,ketbet, etc.) is the direct object of the verb, then the r is added after the suffix: ketbam o gom kardsm - I lost my book (gom kardan: to lose) and if such a noun is qualified by an adjective, it follows the adjective: ketbc sefidan o gom kardam - I lost my white book Personalpronouns are definite and therefore take r when they are the direct object of the verb: man+rt=m8rt to+=tortetc. In speechthese forms ll be: rnrno mFo toro shomno

$enrran manozod- My sisterhit me A direct object can, however, indefinite,in whichcasethere be s,ill be no r: ye blt llarid He bought a ticket ye ketbvord She broug[t a book ye g!l !!ord He drank a orp of tea
the ye can also be left out: bilit kharid ketb vord chi khord He bought a ticket She brought a book He drank some tea

Note: One does not, however, say dar bast to mean 'he closed a door'. In colloquial speechone always says dar o bast, as the door is consideredto be a definite object in this case. The phrasedar bast is used adjectivally and is explained at the end of this lesson.

COMPOUND VERBS Persianhas relatively few simple verbs, therefore another feature of the languageis the extensiveuse that is made of compound verbs.Theseconsistof a few commonverbssuchas 'make'. 'do'.

52 rnssox rrvs 'become',etc. coupledwith a noun, adjective,adverb,verbal noun or preposition. In each casethe verb is conjugatedbut the qualifying word remainsunchanged throughout. The verbs used most in compoundsare: kardan (kon) - to do, to make,for transitiveverbs shodan(shav)- to become,for intransitiveverbs e.g.: bz- open kardan - to do bz kardan - to open dar o bz kard dar bz shod bachcheman o khaste kard fhaste qbodam or, in the presenttense: dar o bz mikone dar bz mishe bachchemen o khaste mikone - He opens the door - The door opens - The child makes me tired - I get tired He openedthe door The door opened The child made me tired I got tired

Compound verbs are used as if they \ilere a single verb, i.e. they generally come at the end of the sentenceand the separateparts are placed together. They are conjugated normally, the only difference being in the imperative, where the verb does not take the prefix be- so that whereasthe imperative of kardan used on its own will be bekon, in a compoundit is kon: dar o bz kon Open the door

Look againat this phrasefrom the readingpassage the beginning at of this lesson: gh negahdr (the verb is negahdshtan) and note that when dshtan beingusedas a compound is verb, its imperative is formed regularly. The following are some more verbs generally used. to form compounds:

LESSON.FIVE 53

dishtan (dr) ddrn (deh/deh) Seretsn (gir) zadan (zan) khordan (!!or) madan () vardan (r') (coll. vordan)

to have, to possess to gve to take, to get to hit, to strike to eat to come to bring

Some examplesof compoundverbs are: (a) with adjectives: boland - long, tall, high boland kardan - to lift (also to lengthen) boland shodan- to get up khub - good khub odan - to get well, to get better Note that in generalthe English 'to get . . .' will be renderedby a compoundverb with odan. kut - short kut kardan - to shorten dorost - correct, right, proper compoundverb) dorost kardan - to make, fix, mend (a much-used sandali ro boland kard az jash/jayashboland shod mariz khub shod emtahnamkhub shod o dmanesh kut kard ghazro dorost kard talhtekhb o dorost kard mshinesh dorost kard o (b) with nouns: gush gush kardan gush ddan
ear to listen to listen

He picked up the chair She got up from her place The patient got better I did well in my exam She shortenedher skirt She got the meal She made the bed He fixed the car

54 rnssoN nvn hammm (col/. hamum) hamun karden dush dush gereftan farr kardan dast dast ddan zamin zamin khordan be a$br gush kard b dusteghdast dd bqlgle zamin khord (c) with prepositions: bar (on, up, off) ber dshtsn bar gdtn ketb o bar dsht fard bar migardam dar (in) dar vonilan dar raftan to take off. to take out to escape(more colloquinl thanarir karden), to get away, to go off (gunsetc.), to snap(elastic),to ladder (stockings) to let off (a gun etc.) She took off her dress The cat got a\ilay I laddered my stocking (/ir: my stockingran away) to remove, to pick up, to take to return, to comeigo back She picked up the book I'll come back tomorrow bath to have a bath shower to have a shower to escape(seealso dar ratan in section (c)) hand to shake hands ground, land, earth (not soil which is khak) to fall down (ftr. to eat the ground) She listenedto the news He shook handswith his friend The child fell down

dar kardan lebsesh dar vord o gorbe dar raft jurbam dar raft

LEssoNFvE 55

(d) with prepositionalphrases: az brn raftan az dast ddan

to cease to exist to lose {a person through death, a contract, a job, etc.; to lose things ,s another compound gom kardan; to get lost ir gom qbodan)

COMPOUND TENSES The compoundtenses singleverbsare the perfect, the pluperfect, of the future, the past subjunctiveand the passive.They are formed with the use of the verbs budan (bsh) otobe', khstan(khh) 'to want' and shodan (shav) 'to become', which therefore act as auxiliary verbs.

1. he Peect This is formed from the past participle with the addition of the short forms of the verb 'to be': -am -i ast -im -id -and

The past participle consistsof the past stem with an accentede sound (transcribed) on the end: raftan - raft - raft. The forms of the perfect tenseare: raft-am (I have gone) raft-im (we have gone) raft-i rat-id raft ast rat-and rnd-am(I have driven) rnd-i rnd ast rnd-im (we have driven) r:and-id rnd-and

The perfect tenseis generallycontractedin speech that it sounds so very much like the simple past, exceptthat the stressis now'on the last syllable and not the first:

56 Lssso{ FrvE raft-am rat-i rat ast rnd-am rnd.id rnd ast raft-im aft-id raft-and rnd-im rnd-id rnd-and

In the third person singular, it is also quite common in speechto usethe past participle on its own when in fact the perfect is meant:otobus raft The bus has gone

The negativeprefix is na-, which then carriesthe stress: otobusnaraft The bus hasn't gone The perfect tenseis quite commonin colloquial Persian.It usually. refers to actions which have recently been completed or which started in the past but which haven't yet been completed: ketb o vord-am ruznmer khund-arn tksi mad ast Maryam khbid ast 2. The Pluperfect The pluperfect is formed from the past participle, which does not change,and the simple past of budan: raft budam (I had gone) raft budi raft bud raft budim (we had gone) raft budid raft budand I have brought the book I have read the newspaper The taxi has come Mariam is sleeping

The useof the pluperfectin Persianis much the sameas in English, exceptthat it is also used as a descriptivetensein the past: istd bud : was standing,stood. 3. The Future The future tenseis formed by using the presenttense of the verb khJtsn (E!h) 'to tvant', minus the usual verbal prefix mi-, followed by the past stem of the verb:

FIvE 57 LEssoN khham raft (I will go) khhi raft khhad raft khhim raft (we will go) lhhid reft khhand raft

The future prope is used in formal speech(radio and television news or announcements, example)but in colloquial speechthe for presenttenseis used instead,as already indicatedin LessonFour. Note that wheneverkhstanis used in its own senseand not as an auxiliary, it behavesquite normally in the presenttense:
chi mikham

tra--n""am khune -it 4. The Past Subjunctive

t want sometea I want to go home

The past subjunctiveis formed by usingthe pastparticiple followed by the presentsubjunctiveof the verb budan: rat bsham(I may have gone) rajt bshi rat bgle/baglad raft bshim raft bid raft bqband

The past subjunctiveis used: (a) after byad and shyadwhen they refer to the past: bvad raft bshe shvadin o did bshi He must have gone Perhapsyou've seenthis

(b) to expressdoubt about somethingin the past: mitarsam gom shodbshe I'm afraid it may have got lost

(c) as the presentsubjunctiveof dshtan(seeLessonFour). 5. The Passive The passiveis formed by using the past participle followed by the appropriate tenseof the verb ghodan(qhav)'to become': e.g. from kotan (kosh)to kill: koglt qlod kosht misham he/she/it was killed I shall be killed etc.

58 rnssox nvr, Use of the passiveis very restrictedin Persianand it is not used if the active can be used instead. I PHRASESAND EXPRESSIONS dar bast Exclusive - in relation to the hire of cars, taxisor evenbuses;if they are * bastit meansno one other than the person hiring them (or members of their party) wll use them. The phrase ts relevant because ordinary taxis, for exarnple, are by no means da passenbrrst.Theypick up several gers as they go, depending on whether their dutinations fit the route the taxi happens to be taking. lit. the imperativeo/farmudan'to command'.Thisk avery common word, used '1,.when givtng or showing someone sornething to mean 'here you are' of 2. in the snse 'after you' of 3. in the sense 'come in' 4. by peopleservingthepublic in shops, offices etc. to mean 'what can I do for you?' Please, when asking someoneto do something (from khegh kardan 'to requestpolitely', 'to ask a favour'). khheshmikonam can be usedat the beginningor at the end of a sentenceor phrase e.g. !!he mikonarndar r bz konid: pleaseopen the door. Tell me, " . . e.g. begu bebinam emruz koj mirim tell me, where are twegoing today

befarmid

khhesh mikonam

begu bebinam

LESSoN Fryl

59

begid bebinrm I Some useful commands: bar gard/bar gerdid boro/brid bzkon/bz konid dar o bcbond dar o bebandid bE[iilbcg$nd boland go boland shH

polite form of beg! bebinam

Come back! ffamiliarlpolite) Gol (familiarlpolite) Open! Shut the door! Shut the door! @olite) Sit down! (familiarlpolite) Get up!, Stand uP! Get up!, Stand up! (polit

EXERCISES A, Readaloud and translate: 1. rnande dar o bz kard 2. pesaram dar o bast 3. ketb o vord 4. bilite otobus o az sishe kharid 5. pesare shtun 51tfi tumin mikhore 6. be hotel raftam o hamum kardam 7. hav khli sard shod vo har ruz brun mid 8. lebsamo dar vordam 9. dar o bz kon. nazdike b naro. panjere ro beband 10. dir residam o otobus raft bud B. Put into Persian: 1. He closedthe door; she brought the tea; they ate the food 2. He bought a newspaper;she drank a cup of tea; we had some food (i.e. we ate) 3. They saw the hotel bus 4. We saw the dePutYminister 5. My friend openedthe door. He said: "Come in" calledout: 'Stop' 6. Someone 7. Do not open the door 8. Pleaseclosethe window 9. The bus has gone 1.0.Has the taxi come?

60 ressox rrve SUMMARY OF VERB ENDINGS PRESENI.' m- * presentstem +

-sm -i
-ad -am -i -am -i .ltrl -t ast

-fun -id
-and -im -id -snd -im -id -and -im -id -and budim bd bnd

IMPERFECT:

mi- * past stem +

PRETERITE:

past stem +

PERFECT:

past participle +

PLUPERFECT: past participle *

btdrm budi bd

FUTURE PROPER:

khham khhi E!had

khhim + past stcm Ellhid khihand -am -i -ad bsham b@i bglad -im -id -and bshim bid bshand

PRESENT SUBJUNCTNE' be + presentstetn +

PAST SUBIUNCTNE: past participle +

IMPERATM:

be/bo+ present stem

NEGATNE IMPERATM.' na- + present stem The -ad of the 3rd personsingularpresentand subjunctiveis shortenedto -e in speech.

Lesson Six (darse shighom)

Read aloud: pyeta!!-te lrn Tehrn-e. Tehrn shahre bozorgi-e va taghriban noh meliun nafar jam'iyat dre. bigltqre unh dar ghesmathye jonubiye shahr zendegi mikonand. bishtare edrehdar ghesmathye markaziyeshahr-and.esmeghesmate shomliyeshhrShemrun-e. Shemrun dar dmaneyekuhye Alborz-e. bishtare khunehye bzorge Tehrn dar Shemrun-andchun havaye unla O"t tbestun khonaktar az ghesmathye digeye shahr-e. asrhye tbestunmardom ba'd az kreshunbarve sardesho tafrih o estefade az havye behtar be md-anhavo iarnaye-qnemrun mirand o gardeshmikonand. bishtar b mshineshakhsimirand, gar che b otobus o tksi ham mishe raft. havve Tehrn dar tbestun t1rti garm va dar zemestu-khhsard-e.brun kamtar azEngelestn mibre. dar zemestnghi barf zid mibre. dar jonube Tehrn, dar shahreghadimiyeRey, plyegheTehrn va gland karkhuneye dige gharr gereft. dneghe Tehrn dar vasate qhahr-e.har hafte mardom barye namzejom?ebe unj mirand.

Vocabulary: evemngs asrh brun rain bnridan (br) to fall (of rain, snow etc\ university d,ncglgh dmane foothills dige/digar other Engelestn England esm name ghi sometimes gardegh outing gar ghe although ghadini old

gharr gereft is situated pas, sections glesmath jam'iyat population jonub south work kr factory krfhune kuh mountains cool lhonak markazi central meliun million mibre it falls persons nafar prayers namez

62 rmsox slx noh plyeshgh pyetakht shakhsi om tbstun/n nine refinery capital personal northern summer
tafrih taghriban vasat(e) zemestun/n zendegi mikonand

recreation approximately middle (of) winter they live

Notes: migbe rat: one can go; in addition to 'become', tte verb shodanalso has the meaningof it is possible',and is used in this kind of impersonalconstruction. namz: the name for the prayers which every practising Moslem must say five times a day. It is one of the most important of the practical religious duties others are fasting, almsgivingand pilgrimage. On Fridays it is customaryfor the noon prayers to be said in congregationin the mosque.The word for ordinary prayer is do', the verb is do' kardan (kon)

ADVERBS AI{D ADVERBIAL EXPRF,SSIONS Adverbs or adverbialexpressions time usuallycomebefore those of of manner and place. If a sentencecontains all three, then the order will be: time, manner,placee.g.: har nrz b tSksi bc ednrc miram - I go to the office by taxi every day 1. Most adjectives are used as adverbs in Persian without any change: dir mad zud raft khub mikhune bad mirune rst boro dorost beshin/beneshin He came late She wenleft earlv She reads well He drives badly Go straight on Sit properly

LESSONSIX 63

2. Many nouns of time and place are also used adverbially: sob dars mikhune shab kr mikone ruz mikhbe asr brun mad zohr namzmikhune ghorub b pchi mikone sahar p mishe ketb o bezar iqi uqi naraftam az pelle bl raft He studiesin the morning He works at night He sleepsduring the day It rained in the evening She saysher prayersat noon He does the watering at dusk She gets up at dawn (pd $odan) Put the book here I didn't go there He went up the steps

It is also very common in speechfor thesenouns to be put in the plural when being used adver.bially: sob ruznme mikhune shab ketb mikhunam asr kels mire He reads the paper in the mornings I read books at night He goes to classes in the evenings

3. Other adverbsof time and manner are: (a) Time: emruz diruz pariruz dishab fardii psfard hamie ht mhyune emsl prsl hanuz hanuz. . . nahivaght har gez
altn

today yesterday the day before yesterday last night tomorrow the day after tomorrow always now monthly this year last year still not yet never never right now; just

64 rsssox srx r hli brhi chi yek dafe cnrnu miram $uneye dustam diruz maghzebaste bud pairuz raftam bzr dishab dir khbidam fard zud boland misham pasfard mirarn sahni hamishe ketb mikhune hamishemire masjed hl vaghnadram majaleyeDneshmand mhyune dar mid emsl biirun zid umad prsl mive farvun bud hanuz ba mid dustam hanuz naymade dustet hanuz naymade? higlvaght havpm savr nashodbud har gez tor farmush nemikonam al'n mim al'n telefonkard t hl khub kr kard t hl telefon nakard brh be manzele man madbud ghi u r mibinam yek dafe trik shod up to no\r'; yet often, many times sometimes suddenly(/r't.one time, one) I'm going to my friend's house today The shop was shut yesterday I went to the bazaarthe day before yesterday I went to bed late last night I'll get up early tomorrow I'll go to the hairdressers the day after tomorrow He's alwaysreading He alwaysgoesto the mosque I've no time now 'Daneshmand' appears monthly It rained a lot this year Fruit was plentiful last year It's still snowing My friend hasn'tcomeyet Hasn't your friend come yet? He had neverbeenon a plane I'll never forget you I'm coming right now Shejust telephoned lt hasworked well up to now Shehasn'ttelephoned yet He had come to my house many times I seehim sometimes lt suddenly went dark

Note: 'often' is frequently rendered in colloquial speechby titrli ('very') which is like the English use of ,a lot': kh b manzeleman mad- He has come to mv house a lot

LESSON,STX65

(b) Manner: heste yavaqh tond dbette tenh b ham intowr untowr gbetowr ond naro yavig! boro hste benid tanhi birun naro bi b ham berim gadcgh unlowr nist slowly slowly fast certainly alone togethe thus, in this way, like this like that how Don't go fast Go slowly Drive slowly Don't go out alone Let's go somewheretogether It's not like that

4. Some adverbs are derived from Arabic and usually end in -an: aghallan pbhn movaglattan tariban fetlrrn masalan aslan belakhare mshin tuye aghallan sadti saf bud inj ghablan madresebud edreyebargh fyuzemun o movaglattan dorost kard taghriban pa4jh nafar madbudan fe'lan nemitunam bim at least formerly temporarily approximately for the time being, for the moment for example at all at last, finally There were at least a hundred cars in the queue This [place] was formerly a school The electricity board temporarily mendedour fuse There were about fifty people there I can't come for the moment

6'.rmsox srx PREPOSITIONS There are two groupsof prepositions usedin Persian,thosewithout the ezfeand those which are connectedto the noun by meansof the ezfe. Some of these have already been used in the reading passages the beginningof the lessons. at Prepositionsalwayscome before the noun to which they refer. Prepositions without the ezfe are: , b beriyc bc hi t from with for to without up to, to, as far as except in on (in compounds)

tz
dar bor

u
az has a wide variety of meanings: In Lesson Two we saw its uss to express'than'in comparisons:

n4[irc mrn az n$lnc io bozorgsrr

e.g.: az dustam nme dshtam az hotel telefon mikonam mive ro az bzr kharidam az Tehrian t Tabriz sheshsad kilometr-e kilide otg! o az man gereft

- My car is biggerthan yours

The most common meaningof az, however,is 'from':

- I had a letter from my friend - I am phoning from the hotel - I bought the fruit from the bazaar - It is six hundred kilometres from Tehran to Tabriz - He took the key of the room from me

lrssox'stx az kojl rmd-id? az can also mean 'through/in': az dar mad az der vred sbod or 'of': kami az in b{!or - lVhere have come from?

7 you

Helshe came through/in the door He/she entered through the door - Have some of this - I washed my hands with soap and water - Mariam went to school with her sister - I went lo a party with my friend - lYe ate together - I spoke toth deputy minister

b: witb dastam o b bo sibun sbosen Maryan b0 !$harq[ rgft mafr,ese

bduefam rrnrm memni

b hm sdllortu
b mo'&vm vdr sohbot larem (oohbot krrds - to speak) hrye: for loftan barye mon yek chli birid kgr kardan barye man siakhl+ barye chi madi?

- Pleasebring me a cup of tea - Work is difficult for me - What did you come for?

be: to be man telefon kon ketb o beh$ dd be Irn umad

behem neg kard/be man neg kard

- Telephoneme - He gave him the book - He/she came to lran (umaemad: both forms are used) - He/she looked at me

68 LEssoN srx Note that in colloquial speechthe forms be mtn, be to, be u etc., becomeshortenedas follows: behem behet bchE[ bi: without bi is most often used almost as a prefix, rather on the lines of the English suffix -/ess: tavq[ioh - care bi tavqijoh - careless kr - work bikr - without work, also, having nothing to do adab, terbiat - politeness bt.dab - rude bi trrblNt - mde men ghazyebi namak mi$oram - I eat unsalted food t: as far as, up to, to az manzel t edre pide raft joz: except joz fard har ruz zd hastam - I am free every day except tomorrolv dar: in mo'allem dar kelsbud - The teacherwas in the classroom dar is more generallyformal except in certain expressions (see phrases and expressions the end of this lesson). colloquial at In speechtu (or tuye, with the ezfe)is much more widely usedto render 'in': to me to you to him/her behemn behetn beheshn to us to you to them

- He walked from the house to the office

LESSNSIX

bi tu befarmid tu nme ro tuye kifam gozshtam -

Come in Come in (more polite) I put the letter in my bag

Prepositions which take the ezafe and which are derived from adverbsand nouns are: bedune: without birune: outside tuye: inside, in pine: below balye:above; up domble: behind, after poqLte:behind jeloye: in front of pishe: with dame: on the edge of, at zire: under ruye: on nazdike: near pahluye: beside kenre: beside bedunehejb birun naro birune ghahr krkune zid-e tuye oteg!!tfi garm bud pine pelleh istd bud pesarbalyederakht bud domble man bi poshtemiz neshastbud jeloye man bzeshkard tamme ruz Pigheman bud dame dar montazeret misham kafsh ro zire takht gorlht"zare mive ruYe miz'e Karaj nazdike Tehrn'e dustam pahluye man neast bud kenre rudkhune ghadam zadim

Vocabulary: hejb: prescribedIslamic coveringfor women pelleh:steps montazershodan:to wait for za: dish rudkhune: river ghadamzadan: to stroll

70 LEssoN srx T PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS mrgar, coll. mage preposition, literally meaning except magenagoftamnaro Didn't I tell you not to go? mage nayumad Didn't he come? magenabud Wasn't itlhe/she there?. wasn'tit so? magekret trmum naghod Wasn't your work finished? dar havyead dar ham bar ham az bas ke az sob ab kame kam dar har hil be har hl har towr shod azeshbadam umad cher In the open air Muddled, all mixed up together So much so that From morn till night At the very least In any case,at all events In any case,any\pay Come what may I took a dislike to him Yes (in $wer to a negative question)

EXERCTSBS A. Read aloud and translate 1.. man o dustampariruz raftim sinem 2. fard bi b ham berim kharid 3. dishabcherunghadrdir madi? 4. taghriban bist daghighesabr kardam amm otobus naymad 5. pedaram hanuz az mosferatbar nagasht 6. cher b ham naraftid 7. edram nazdike bzr-e 8. sle dige miram dneshgh 9. prsal b mqhinbe Torkiyye raftim 10. otobuseshahr sob o asr :z jeloye khuneye m rad mishe 11. gh,kafshemano nadidid? gher- zire takhtetun-e 12. begubebinam,joz to kesedigei ham umadbud?

LESSONSEVEN 71

B. Put into Persian: 1. The glasswas on the table 2. The child went slowly up the stairs 3. I finished my work yesterdaY 4. We went to Paris last Year 5. My friend drives well 6. My daughter came home late 7. The train travels very fast (useraftan) 8. Put your bag here 9. How did you come? 10. They flew to London last year (say 'went by plane') C. FilI in the blanks: man bi l. vazir bede 2. nme ro unj nakharidam 3. ketb o man kafsh kharid 4. pedaram koj madi? 5. grq$ goziishtam 6. mglin o dustam telefon kardam 7.

$even Lesson (darse hatom)

Read aloud: I Irn keshvarebozorgiy-e. hodude yek melyun o gheghsadosi hezr kilomeG morabba' mashat dre vo bishtar az panjh melyun nafar ham jam'iyyat. tagh:ribanyek panjome unh dar Tehrn zendegi mikonand' ghahrhye bozorge dige Mashhad, Tabriz, Esfahn, Shirz o Ahvez hastand. inh har kudum az hamdige khfi dur-and. masalanaz Tehrn t Tabriz y Esfn "ths"d Flo-"tt rh-e. dar shomleIrn daryyeKhezergharr gereftva dar jonub Khalije Frs' chand reshte kuhe bozorg ham az sh"t

72 r-essox savEN be gharb va az shoml be jonub keglid rhod. megldre zidi az ghesmathye markazi va sharghiye lrn kar-e v zendegi dar unja khli sakht-e. faghat mantagheyesheliyeDaryye Khezer brandegiye kfi dre va havyemartubeunj baryekeshteberenj o chi monseb-e. Vocabulary: rainfall brandegi rice bereqi sea-' dary the Caspian daryye sea Khezer far dur only faghat gbarb west gLarer gereft is situated section ghesmat hamdi each other thousand hezr hodude about jam'iyyat population jonub south kfi sufficient kavir salt desert keshvar country klhid shod are stretched kqlt cultivation kilometr kilometer sulf llal1i khal[ie Frs the Persian Gulf NTJMBERS Unlike the script which is written from right to left, numbers are written from left to right as in English (SeeAppendix). 1. The cardinal numbersare: 0 sefr 1 yek 2 do 3se 4 chr/chahr 5 panj

mantaghe markazi martub mashat masalan melyun metr monseb morabb' paqih rh reshte sheli

a"e!
shesad shoml yek pa4jom zendegi zendegi mikonand

regron central moist area (in terms of quantity) for example million mete suitable square (area) fiftv way, road range coastal east six hundred north a fifth life they live

LESSON SEVEN 73

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2l 22 23 24

rlb haft haqlt noh dah yzah davzdah sizd ghrdah/chahrdah punzdah ghunzdah hivdah higldah nuzdah bist bist-o-yek bist-o-do bist-o-se bist-o-chr erc.

30 si zm gleVchehel 50 panj 60 ghast 70 haftd 80 ha$td 90 navad lfi) sad (a hundreQ yeksad (one hwdreQ 101 sad-o-yek 102 sad-o'do 121 sad-o-bist-o-yekec 200 divist 3) sisad 4{X) chnad/hahnad 5(X) punsad etc. l0) hezr 1,(m,000 melyun

Note: Ttrc final h after the vowel (as in noh, dah, ylzdeh, etc. is hardly pronounced at all, but it has been written in to avoid confusion when forming the ordinal numbers where it ls pronounced(seeparagraph2). (a) When speaking of things, the word dune/dnc (&. grain, seed) is often used as an itemiser ye dune ketb kharam. For people, nafar Qterson)is used: ye nafar mad. When speakingof numbers of things (i.e. more than one), the suffix -t is added to the cardinal number and the noun remainsin the singular: Hasan behe dot ketb dad set chamedun dram Hasan gave him two books I have three suitcases

(b)

BUT for people and time (hours, days, months, years etc) the numberstandsalone: uran do ruz ur{ mundam emghabpaqi nafar mehrnundram I stayed there for two days I have five guests this evening

74 rrssox snvsN berdam se sI dar cngelestnbud Hasanpa4l si'at drr $uneye Akbar mund My brother was in England for three years - Hassan stayed at Akbar's house for five hours

(c) chandtglend - how many?/how much? In the sameway, when asking 'how many?' (things), the question is asked using andt: chandtn ketb dri? - poqit Maryam chendt ketb dre? = shisht chadt nrm khsridl? - set For people and time, the same distinction ap'pliesas in (b) above: cland nafan umadand? -shbh nafar cband s'at rh drim? -hat s'at chand nz kr drt? - s ruz chand slqi bdi? - paqi sl @ The expression 'how old are you?' which would, stictly speaking, be chand sl dri/darld? - how many yrs do you have?- is alwaysrenderedcolloquially as: chand slet-c (i.e. chand slat ast) and sletun.e Qhand sletn ast) pesaretungland slesh-e? How old is your son? (e) and is also used for'how much?' when askingthe price of something: in ketb chand-e? bilite otobuschand-e? khir yeki chand-e? gusht kiloi chand-e? How much is this book? How much are bus tickets? How much are cucumbers each?(for things sold singly) How much is meat per kilo?

One can alsojust namethe object, followedby chand-e: tksi chand-e? portaghl chand-e? daftar chand-e? How much are taxis? (i.e. the fare) How much are oranges? How much are exercise books?

LESSON SEVEN 75

in chend-e?

How much is this?

The sameexpression used for askingthe time: is s'atchand.e? Vhat is the time? (See also Lesson 8)

but remember,and s'at?- how many hours?in (c) above. 2. The ordinal numbersare: awal - first. This is an Arabic word and is alwaysused to mean 'frrst', not yekom as would be expected,e.g. nne awd - the frnt day. yekom is used in compoundnumbers, such as 'twenty-first'bist-o-yekom. dowom (coll. = doyyom) - second sewom (coll. = scyyom) - third ghrom (coll. g!rom) - fourth paqiom etc., the remaining ordinal numbers being formed by the addition of .om to the cardinal number. Where the cardinal number is a group of numberse.g. bbt o-yek, the last number takes the om: blst-o-yekom, srd-o-bi-o-dowom etc. 3. Fraaions Mathematical fractions are expressedby the use of the cardinal number followed by the ordinal: yek dowom yek sewom yek g!rom se paqiom haft davzdahomU2 rlz Yq 4s 1ln

The Arabic forms nesf (and its Persianequivalent nim), sols and robt are also commonly used for 'half', 'third' and 'quarter' respectively. (a) nesf and nim: both mean 'half', but are not necessarily interchangeable: (i) nesf: when used as a noun, nesf always takes the ezafe: nesfe shab the middle of the night, midnight

76- LessoNsevtx nesfe nrz nesfe pulq! ncsfe ketb nesfeklram o tamum kerdrm j half,day (but not midday, which is mhr) half of his money half the book I finished half of my work

(ii) nin: is usually used in expressions of quantity or measurement: nim nim nim nim kilo strt nomre metr half half half half a kilo an hour a mark (or shoe size) a metre

also 'one and a half', 'two and a half', etc. alwaysuse nim: yek o nim blstopaqiontm (b) one and a half twenty-five and a half

(c)

sols, 'a third', is much less commonly used in colloquial speechwhere it is preferable to sayyek sewom o ye sewom. The word sds is most commonly found in schools where it refers to a third of e academic year - the equivalent of the English term. Children go to school for nine months (apart from 13 days'holiday for the new year), consecutively and examsare held at the end of eachsols,rth the aggregate of the three sets of marks deciding a passor a fail at the end of the year. rob', 'a quaer', is most commonly used in telling the time (Irsson Elghq or in expressionsto do with time: lnqi o rob' rob's'at ye rob'dige a quater past five a quarter of an hour in a quarter of an hour, another quarter of an hour

'a quarter of a kilo' will usually be referred to as divist o poqii ram (250 grammes) and 'a quarter of a meter' when buyrng things by length, such as material, wire, ribbon etc., srill be referred to as bist o paqi snt.

LESSON SEVEN 77

4. To sayonce,twice,etc., the cardinalnumbersare used,followed by dafe/daf'e, br or martabe ('times'): yelyek dafe ye br do br do dafe se br sc dafe ye martabe do martabe se martabe once, one tlme twice three times

Notei yelyelr dafe and ye martabe are also used as expressions to mean 'suddenly' (i.e. 'all at once'); do martabeis also 'again'asis do bre. usedin the sense 'twice as much', 'twice as nrj', ae expressedby the cardinal number followed by the word barbar ('equal'). In colloquial speechthis constructionis also used to express'double', 'triple',
etc, i

do barbar se barbar paqi barbar sad barbar 5. Weights& Measures The metric systemis used:

double triple five times a hundred times

metr - meter sntimetr - centimeter (often shortenedto snt)

milimetr kilometr metre morabbat hektr geram kilogeram/kilo

squaremeter hectare gramme kilo - I bought two metres of fabric yesterday - Pleasegive me three metres and twentY-five centimetresof this - I bought three kilos of meat todaY - It is forty kilometres from Tehran to Karaj

e.g. diruz do metr prche kharidam bi zahmat se metr o bist o paqi snt az in bedid ernruz se kilo gut kharidam az Tehrn t Karqi ghehel kilometr-e

78 LEssoN sEvEN cband geram kare llzem - I need a few grammes of

diram

butter

Note the difference the useof the singularandplural in Penian in andEnglish- the wordskilro,metr etc. are not put into the plural. r PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS Here are somemoreusefulnumerical phrases:
don selli chirl y*i yeki ye-nrz-der.miun se-ruzdr.miun se.nrz-be-se-ruz yeki dot se chirt ketb yehi do nafer do sc s'at nh be mnh ye joft jurb ye livln lb EXERCISF,s A. Read aloud and translate: 1. sad o siyo panj nafar dar edreyem kr mikonand 2. mdaram dot pirhane sefid kharid 3. chandtbachchedrid? 4. barye man se kilo gut bekhar 5. ghandtakhhar bardar dre? 6. chand nafar tuye otobus budand? 7. yek sewome puleghobeman dd 8. paqj shishmetr prgbelzem dram 9. ghmate khune bist dar sad bl raft 10. az koj mitunam ye joft kafshekhub bekharam? Double; two-fold (le means layer, fold) Triple; three-fold Quadruple One by one On alternate days, every other day (lit. one day in the middle) Every three days Every three days One or two Three or four books One or rwo people Two or three hours Each month A pair of socks A glassof water

LESSONEIGET 79

B. Put into Persian: 1. How old are you? (Polite and familiar) 2. l'm forty-five 3. My son is four yearsold 4. He ate half of the loaf (= brea 5. There are two big mountain rangesin lran 6. I telephonedthem three times 7. He has been to my office tw'ice 8. I saw the minister once 9. How much are theseorangesper kilo? 10. How many people were there in the room?

Eight Lesson (darse hashtom)

Read aloud: T ^ EIDE NO\ry RUZ awale Farvardinruze awale sil va de now ruz-e. now n z shoru'e sle jadid va de ghadimiye lrn-e. har sl barye d e-dareha sizdahruz. dar s'atetahvile se t panj ruz ta'tiland va madreseh lebsenow mipushand,saresofreyehaftsin slenow khnevdeh jam mishando montazeree'lne oru'e sle jadid az dowre ham rdyo miqhand. ba'd do'ye sle now r milhunand, behamdige tabrik mi[and o shirini mikhorand. dar ayy-amed mardom be didane hamdige mirand. awal az fmile nazdik va bozorgne khnevde.horo' mikonand o be tadrij be didane hameyedustan mirand. esmein kr did o bz did-e glun yekl be didane o ghnh mire. maseme d betowre dam mid ba'd dam be bazdid-esh ruz edme dre - ruze sizdahomefarvardin esmesh kolli sizdah mardom hame az lhunehshun birun mirand o dar sizda-bedar-e. sahrvo bibun piknik mikonand. b in kr nahsiyeruze sizdahom barve tamme sl dar mishe.

80 r-Bssoxercnr Vocabulary: fdrm plnf ryytm one; a penon acquaintance time (Arabic pl-o lomn = dav) gradually in all, all told wilderness; anywhere not cultivated or populated those who are older, the elders around together festival, feastday announcement relatives jen n[land hrftsin jadid lltnevde marsem they gather (see below) new family ceremonies (pt.o rasm = custom) people they wear waiting for ill luck nelv fields; desert yea at cloth (see notes) s\ileetmeats beginning holiday hand-over, change-over

be tdrii betowre kolli Hnbun

mardom mipushand montazere nahsi

no$t

bozorgn

sahr sl sane sofre irini oiu' ta'til tahvil

dowre dowre ham

e'ln fmil

Notes: sare sofre: Though this phrasecan be translatedas'at the table', its literal meaning is 'at the table cloth'. This is becausethe traditional way of sitting down to eat \ilas, and for many people still is, round a cloth spreadon the floor. 'at the table' is sare miz. An ordinary table cloth, not intended for eating off, would be ru mizi. haftsin: literally the sevens's. The Now Ruz table, or cloth, as the casemay be, is set with seventhings beginning with the Persian letter sin (s), aswell as a number of other things(suchas decorated eggs),each representingdesirableelementsin the year to come. sizda-bedar: traditional outing on the 13thday of the first month the of eachyear, intendedto do awaywith the ill-luck of the 13th days

LESSONEICIIT

81

of all the other months. Note that nahsi is not usedin the senseof 'I had bad luck' - that would be bad shnsidlshtqm or bad shnsi vordam; it has an element of supersfton as iingitis migt;d az zirc rrdebun nabyad rad shod, nahs.e - The English say you shouldn't walk under a ladder, it's bad luck. nabyad ghod: ldt. you shouldn't pass;impersonal use of byad, rad seeI-esson10. New verbs: pug$n (pug!) - to wear montazer odan (gil) - to wait (note the use of this yer.' montrzere e'llne om'e sile jadid nishend) edme dl[tsn (dr) - to continue bbrik goftrn Gu) - to congratulate

THE CALENDAR The Iranian calendar is basedon the Moslem era. It starts u/ith the flight (or hejraQ of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. lt differs from the Islamic lunar calendar used by the Arab world, however,as it is calculatedby the sun and usually has 365 days. It is known as stle hejrie glamsi ('the solar hejira year') and is used for all civil purposes. Religious holidays are observed accordingto the Islamic calendar(known as hejrie ehamrri, 'lunar hegira') (see Appendix), so most calendarsand diaries will show both setsof dates,togetherwith the corresponding gregoriandate. The namesof the gregoriancalendarmonths ae pronouncedas in French, and the Arabic names,with slight variationsin one or two cases,are used for the Islamic months. I There are twelve months in the Persiancalendarvear (sle iruni davzdahmh dre): Farvardin, Ordibeheght, I(hordd, Tir, Mordd, Shahrivar, Mehr, Abn, Azar, Dey, Bahman, Eand. The first six months have thirty-one days in each, the secondfive thirty and Esfand has twenty nine days and 30 in a leap year. The year begins on the first of Farvardin which usually correspondsto

82 r.rssox rrcrR 21 March and is the first day of spring. The seasonsare reckoned to correspondto three months each, i.e. summer beginswith the month of Tir, autumn in Mehr and winter in Dey. Dates are expressedthus: rwalc larvardinc hezro sisedo shasto sh - the first of Farvardin 13. When no specific y"at i. mentioned, 'the first of Farvardin' is just awale farvardin. The corresponding European date would be: blrt o y*m Drc hczr o nohsod o h.shtd o hdt 21st March 1997

TTTE SEASONS The seasonsare called (be fad ntrand):

b0r/hohrr tfbcshnltnbcstn Ph mcsrn/zemcstD

spring summer autumn winter

I THE I}AYS OT IHE WEDK The dap are (be rv.hiye hatc mtgond):
sbglnbe

ye*shpnbe dosngnbe scglanbe e$nbe (cnsh@ambe) panshambe(psqishanbe) Jom'e dar Irn ruze jom'e hamc j ta'til-e I THE POINTS OF THE COMPASS

Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

The points of the compass are (be jahte astiye gbotb-nam miqand): shom|,jonub, mashreg!, mqghreb and south-east etc. ar expressed follows:jonube shargbi(southas east), shomle gLarbi (north-west)etc.

LESSON EIGHT 83

TDLLING TIIE TIME The time is expressed the use of the word s'at (hour), plus the by ezfe plnrsthe cardinal numbers: s'alesc c'aedrh three o'clock ten o'clock

Tbe word for 'minute' is .lrl'he/drgEh; vdo is used for 'past', be is used fo 'to': c'aG hdt o b daEh bfut dohhc bc noh twenty past ssyen twenty to nine

Half an hour is nh sttat aod a quarter of an hour is ye rub' or robt or rtbt cltrt: sl'as drh o trh half past ten s'ateffi guater psst sir o rub' Note: He eameat sir o'clock = st'rte shbh umsd F.xonples: $'rl chsnd+? c'et Fqfe.c Et'sa p.qi o poqf &&e r ia'rt p.qf o drh detg[.d s'at paqf o rob'-e s'atpaqf o btst dstgb-ad st'at paql o bbt o paqf dd-as st'at prqi o nim.e s'at biso poqi delgle be lVhat's the time? lt's 6ve o'clocl It's fiye paS ve lt's ten past five lt's a quarter past five lt's twenty past f\ lt's twenty-five minutes past five lt's half past fiye lt's ts,enty-five to six lt's tventy to six lt's a quarter to six

shEE e
st'rt blst drlrrhe be shish.e sl'at ye rob'be gltshe.e

Note that instead of saying bist dste be glish it is also very common to say ghfu! o b delgle kem i.e. six Jess twenty minutes, sh!g! o rob' kem and so on. It is also quite common to leave out the word sl'et ('hour') when replying to s'atcand-c?, exoeptfor when the time is on the hour: st'at paqi+, but paqi o paqi drlsh-est, peqi o drh daioh-ast, poqi o rob'-e, ye rob' be peqidpeqi o rob'lssm-e, etc.

'84 r,rssow rrcrrr The words zohr and nesfeshab('midday'and ,midnight') aroften used instead of davz.dah, though not exclusively. \Mhen using zohr or nesfe shab instead of s'ate davzdah o paqi dliqhe, or s'ate davzdaho nim, you would have to say: paqi daigbe az zohr/nesfegbab gozaghte nim s'at az zohr/nesfeglab grzashtc paqi daighe be zohr mundg ec. a.m. is usually renderedas sob, p.m. as ba'd az zohr. If no time is stated, pish az zohr refers t-o the time before noon. Compare the following examples: s'aede sob byad beren dokor s'ale lnqie ba'd az zohr bii daftane rnqn farde pig! azmhr byad berem dalar vakilam I have to go to the doctor at 10 a.m. C"ometo my office at 5 p.m. I have to go to my solicitor's office before lunchtime tomorro\il

The word drgddlgar ('other') is used to render the idea of time left, e.g. ye rob'dige mid nim s'at dige ker dram shi ruz di miram mosferat in kr se hafteye dige tamum mishe otobus dah daigheyedige harekat mikone 'ago'is renderedby prsh: g!r sle pish in skhtemun iqi nabud This building wasn't here four years ago He'll come in a quarter of an hour I've got another half an hour's work I'll be going away in six days' time This job will be finished in three weeks' time The bus is leavingin ten minutes.

I.ESSON EIGIIT

85

CUNRENCY The basic unit of cuency is the riel (pronounced riat). Ten rials make one toman (toman), and although official monetary figures are alwaysgiven in rials, and coins and bank notes are both in rials only, native speaken always use the toman for round sums over ten rials, so that whereas,for example, a ministry might declare that they had budgeted one million rials for some purchase or other, a private individual would always refer to the same sum as one hundred thousand tomans (sad ezrlhezr toman). Till slips, receipts,etc. are alwaysin rials, but in handingyou a bill for 1500 rials, the shop assistantwill say sad o paqi ioman or sad o paqi omanmishe. In speech,the words gbenrn (usuallyonly usedfor one singlerial) and ezr, or zr after a number ending in a vowel sound, are used to mean rial, although in fact they are survivors of older currency systems. You will therefore hear the following: ye-glerun - 1 rial dozr-2rials se zr, chrezr, paqiezr, shishezr,hafezr, hashezr,nozr, ye toman; yzdezr, davzdezr, sirdezr, ghfdezar, punzdezr, unzdezr, hivdezr, hizhdezr, nuzdezr, do toman; bist o ye-glerun, bisto do zar etc. until se toman. From this point on it is usual to say se toman o ye-ghenrn, se totrran o do zr, se toman o se zr, etc. Change is called pute $urd and notes are eskens. A list of coins and notes currently in circulation is given in the Appendix. OF TIME: I EXPRESISIONS che s'ati mid? s'ate doye ba'd az zohr s'ate seyeba'd ez nafe shab At what time is he coming? 2 p.m. 3 a.m. (You can also say *ye s, but the hours nearer midnight tend to be rdened to rather than to the tnom-

W)

8 LEssoN ErcHr mhe gozaglt sh gozagltparsal glpmbeye pish shambcyegozaglt doshambeye yande doshambeye dige sare zohr sare shab gher dir kardi? ma'zerat mikhm ke dir kardam bebakhshid ke dir kardam mesleinke zud madam dir naya s'atam khbid s'ate min qglab-e/jelo-e Last month Last year Last Saturday Last Saturday Next Monday Next Monday At noon, on the dot of noon Early evening(dffirent useof the word sare) Why are y-oulate? I'm sorry ['m late I'm sorry I'm late It looks as though I'm early Don't be late My watch has stopped My watch is slow/fast

EXERCISES A. Read aloud and translateinto English: Maryam ye ketb dre. emruz Hasan behesh dot daftar dd. shambeMaryam be madresemire. madreseylMaty"m bozorg-e. taghriban haftsadt gerd diire. dar har kels hodude chehelt ghagerd hast.dar Irn bachcheh faghatjom'e ta'til-and. azlambe t chnhenbe bishtare madresehs'ate kreshun az hashte sob t yek o nime bA az zohr-e. panjshambeh-faghat 6,Tavzda hastand.sle tsili az awale mehr shoru' mishe va ma'mulan t avkhere khordd yeksare edme Oare. faglat dar awale bahr ham barye de now ruz szda ruz ta'tili drand. New words: g!gerd sle tahsili matmulan avkher yeksare edme dre pupil the academicyear usually around the end (ot); pl. of khar, the end straght through it continues

LESSONNINE 87

B. Put into Persian: 1. He's comingon Saturday 2. It's twenty past seven 3. I have a meeting at eight o'clock 4. My examsare in six months' time (use emtahndghtan) 5. I'm going to England on business next month 6. I have to be at the airport by sevena.m. 7. They left for London at eight p.m. yesterday 8. What time does the train leave? 9. Pleasedon't be late because have a lot to do I 10. I worked every day last week 11. Don't you haveany change? 12. The seventhof Ordibehesht1366.

Lesson Nine (darse nohom)

I Read aloud: salm, Maryam, hlet chetowr-e? to-i, Susan,salm, khli vaght-e nadidamet- koj-i? haminjh. faghat diruz o pariruz dneshgh nayumadam chun mdarammariz bud. chetowr, mage kese digei nabud p!e$ bemune? na, nabud. khob, che khabar, diruz chikar kardin? m kre zidi nakardim. ostdejadid umad bud b hame shn beshe.modatti ham tuye kelsem bud. adabiyytdars mide? na, trikh emtahni shod? mle m bad nabud vali shenidam mle goruhe to khli sakht bud. pas che behtar ke man nabudam.rsti khabar nadri rjebe ketbkhunechikr kardand? hanuz ke hichchi. migand khode ra'ise dneshgham nemidune

88 ussox ruxr chikr kone. albatte benazareman byad tuye ta'tilt-am vz bshe v khob, lbod sarparastiq! moqlkei mishe re, in ke hast. rsti, t ydam rlarafte, in pugle mle to-e? e - re, ghe !hub, fekr mikardam shyad injh oftd bshe,

khli mfrnrt-

ey vy - s'at o negkon! byadberam-_Ebli dir shod, ghorbne to khodfez Vocabulary: adabiyyt literature shni shodan to get acquainted che behtar so much the better chikr (cfte what kar) ikir kardin what did you (coll. for do kordid) emtehn exam goruh goup gborbne to goodbye (see Lesson 12) kre zidi we didn't do nakardim much ketblhune library, bookshelf

khode ra'is raris modatti nadtdamet ostd

pushe r{iebe (raje'be\ sarparasti Susan trikh t'til-t-am

the head himself director, boss a while : to ro nadidam professor (a/so s.o. good at sth.) folder about supervision girl's name historv shortiorm of t'tilt ham

PRONOUNS Personalpronouns, subject pronouns and the pronominal suffixes have already been mentionedin LessonTwo. Other pronouns are as follows:

l. Possessive Pronouns (mine, yours, etc)

LESSON NINE 89

pronouns are rendered'in Persian by the use of the Ttre possessive word mle, 'belongingto'., and the personalpronoun: un etbmle man-e in kife pul mle to-st? pedaram keshvarz-e, trktor ml,eun.e mshinekerem mle m-st That book is mine Is this purse yours? My father's a farmer, the tractor is his The cream-coloured car is ours Is this headscarfyoun? The little room is theirs

in ru sari mle shomi-st? otigL kuglikf mle un-st *otg! kuchik: see Colloquial Use of the ezfe, below.

2. Interrogetive honouns The word ki? renders 'who?', 'whom', in colloquial Persian.It is consideredto be definite and therefore takes r when it is the direct object of the verb: ki umad? ki bud? kiy-e kiyo did? kiyo zad? Who came? Who was it? Who is it? \ilhom did he see? Whom did he hit?

3. Indefinite Pronouns (a) hame- all, everyone hame umadand - They all came, everyone came hameis often used with the ezfe,to indicate possession: hameyedneshiuyndars All (of) the students study, mikhunand or all students study hame also takes the pronominal suffix -ag! in the third person, to give hameag[hamash - all of it: semunhamag! bi bud - The sky was all blue ghaze $ub bud? bale, hama$ -Was the food good? Yes, I ate it all (all of it) o khordam

9O Lrssox xtxe hrma$ is also used to mean 'all the time': EngGlcstn hrv$h hic! !!ub nis, hamesrh btrun mid (hevo$ = hrvVd) - English weather isn't at all good, it rains all the time (b) kesi hichkes kcsi uqist? ked hsst? ked nht hichkas nist hichkt nebud hi kudum - none hi kudum az ln chiz rlo neni!!!n htctr kudum az in n4ghs! bcdsrd ncm[lorand I don't vantany of these things None of these maps is any good - someone;no-one (with a negaive verb) - no one [s anyone there? Is anyone there? There's no one (there) There's no one (there) There s,as no one (there)

Note that Persian usesthe double negative in such cases. (c) tnnrnc - the whole of, all tsmmc sbpb kr krrd tammc ruz jalese dn (d) dige/dignr - another handige yekdige be hemdige salm kardand (e) foln, folni - so-and-so foln kas folni umad folni ostdein ker-e So-and-so So-and-so came So-and-sois very good at this one another one another They greeted one another He worked all nigtrt lVe had meetingp all day

LESSON NINE

91

(f)

be'zi * some This precedes noun it qualifies,which is put in the plural the and does not take the ezafe: bo'd ketlb !_hub nistand - Some books are not good der be'd jr havprti - The weather has got very cold slrd shodc in some places Note the difference in the use of ba'zi and ghrdti. andt carries the sense that a few individual items or people are referred to: I bought some books - 8ndt kctb llprilam it ba'zi (pl. ba'zi)is alsousedasa noun,in whichcase takesaz: be'zigz unh bo'zi az kr{luneh emruz ta'dl-snd bo'dt neshasand, bo'd pglodttrd bs'drzllrkden fnoglEu nntfd Someof them Some of the factories are closed today Some people sat dovn, others got up Some people don't like working

!!og! madan (), 'to like', takes the pronominal sufxes: az lrn lloghlsn mid - I like lran bad madan,'to dislike', behavesin the sameway: az ilame durug$u badam mid - I don't like people who tell lies k) kam: few,little kami:afew,alittle yek kami: a little gLaz kam bud - The food was not enough kami b mib!m - I want a little water (some u/ate) ye kami b mil!m - I want a little water (somewater)

92' LBsoN NINE , 4 lftod means'self is In colloquial Persianthe word khod which basi,cally mainly used in the following ways: (a) s,ith the pronominal suffixes (.am, .at, -ash; -emne-tltr' -!Em) and rl to form a kind of reflexive: $odet o khaste nakon Glodat r[ flpste nahon) llodet o nrhat nakon () Don't tire yourself Don't upset yourself/ Don't get upset

(c)

when the possessive adjective or personal pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence,the word khod is used, and in colloquial usage,it is againusedwith the pronominalsuffixes: ehahme !!odc!bo beman dd - He gave me his own pen !!od is also used as an emphatic particle, withthe ezfe: !!ode u bud - It was he himself which colloquially will be: khodeshbud daf $ode Landan zendegi - He lives in l-ondon itself mikone Here are some more examples: !!ode!U dar o bz kard lbodam miram $odet bokon gler $odet iemiri? llodgi! !!st She opened the door henelf I'll go myself Do it yourself! Why don't you go yourself? He himselflshe herself wanted (it)

5. Colloquial Use of Pronominal Suffixes In Lesson Two we saw the use of the pronominal suffixesl -tln, ketbam, -e, -et, -emun, -etun, -eshun,to conveythe possessive: ketb@, etc. This useis extendedto a variety of other expressions which, in English, would not quatify as possessives: diglab ye restorne tze rafitim, gharsh Xnti nuU nua We \pent to a nerv restaurant last night, the food was very good

LESSON NINE

93

hndunrsh g1n 3quU.e, mlkhtl ye kami behet bedrm? in ghaz n8makeB mti ziia.e in nash kerpg! *nli gluU-e -

This water melo?s very good, do you want some? here's too much salt in this food This painter's work is very good

(See also the example about the weather under 3(a): havr) Yet another use of thesesuffixesis instead of the personalpronouns plus r: uno glenrlltam (u r shenkhtatn)- I recognisedhim/her so that we have enkhtamesh !! vaglt-e noAiae-ef - I Faven't seen you for a long time/for ages In compound verbs, the suffixes are usually added to the noun/ adjective element of the verb, though compoundswith prepositions tend to vary: mshinet chi g!od? donosteg!kardam (an o dorost kardam) bart nme umade bud, didish? re, ber d$lttnq! irc, baresh d{ttn \ilhat happened about your car? I fixed it There was a letter for you, did you see it? Yes, I picked it up Yes, I picked it up

coLLoQtiIAL

USE OF THE EZFE

One of the examplesgiven in (1) abovewas: o3ghkug$k mle un-st - The little room is theirs You would expect this to have been otgLekug$k mle un-st, but in ordinary conversation, when a definite noun is qualified by an adjective, it is very conmon for the ezfe to move onto the adjective and to take the stress: g!!r bozorgkojl-st? - Where's the big spanne

94 ressor{ Nnre nemidunem, tzcgi nadidemeg! vali kugllk mye rnlr-e I don't know, I haven't seenit lately but the little one's on the table.

If the noun in such a phraseis the direct object, taking r, there is a further change: r bozorgro koj gozllti? ( becomes) kif sihmo nadidi? _ Where did you put the big spanner? Have you seen my black bag?

Notice that in Persianve say nedidi where in English a straightforward 'have you seen' is more natural. 'haven't you seen' (indicating that you might weil have been expected to have done) is also nrdidi, but with a different intonation.

CONJI.'NCTIONS The most common conjunctions are: va/o: and ham: also, and hrm. . . vahanr: both . . . and y: or y. .. yi: either. . . or na. . . va na: neither . . . nor vali, rnrn: but mage,/magar: but; with a negative verb, mage has the meaning 'didn't . . .?' Most of the above have already been encounteredin the reading passages examples,but here ae somefurther examples: and kretun o tamum kardid? bale, harn nmehyeenrruz o mshin kardam o haur mle diruz o Have you finishedyour work? Yes, I typed both yesterday's letters and today's yeki az in ro byad entekhb konid, y in y un You must chooseone of these, either this one or that one na az in t@am mid na az un, or na az in khosham mid na az un yeki I like neither this one nor that one

LESSON NINE

95

in restorln ghez$ khub-e, vali mle un yeki behtar+ The food in this restaurantis good, but the food in that one is better mi$stm bart gol biram rmm golforushi baste bud t wanteOto bring you some flowers, but ttFflorist's was shut mage nadidi mglin ez kudum tlmf mimrd? Didn't you seewhich way the car was coming?

T PHRASES ANID EXPRESSIONS bedard khordan bedardam nemikhore bedardet mikhore? bdard nemikhore fiiyedenadre veleghkon velam kon omnh tlod bc llod Proverbs hm khod ro mikhd ham khorm ro b do tir ye ncshun (zadan) siliye naghd beh az halvye nesy-ast(nesye ast) ham fl o ham -mqba To be useful lt's no use to me Is it any use to you? lt's no good; it's no use (of things) lt's no ure (figurative) Leave it alone (un o vel kon) Leave me alone You people, you lot Of its om accord He wants to have his cake and eat it (/r. he wants both God and the date) To kill rwo birds with one stone (/. with two shots, one target) A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (tr. a slap in cash is better than halva on account) Businessand pleasure

EXERCISES A. Read aloud and translate: 1. un khodneviso bar nadr, mle man-e 2. bishtarein zaminh mle dowlat-e 3. age gofti diruz kiyo didam 4. harghedar zadamhichki javb nadd 5. diruz tammevaglt dars khundam

96 LESsoN,unrn 6. khodnes sihye rnan o nadidi? khodnevise siham o nadidi? -emsal 7. barye O mitctramberam kenre dary - shenidam un vaghte sl havsh kht kbub-e 8. in kr k!li sun-e,gletowr khodet nemikonish 9. mage nmidunesti ema tramda 6'til-e? 10. higlvaght in kr o nakon, kh badam mid B. Put into Persian 1. There \trasno one there 2. V/hy didn't you go yourself? (give polite and familiar forms) 3. Have you seenmy white bag? 4. That restaurant's food is very bad 5. What did you do about your car? I fixed it 6. Don't take that folder, it's mine 7. I don't like any of these shoes 8. I was on the plane all night 9. Some shops are closed tomorrow 10. She came in her own car

Lesson Ten (darse dahom)

f Read aloud: (b sedye boland belbunid) ghahrhye lrn mohemtarin re Irn Tehrn-e, ke pyetalhte keshvar o markaze hokumate. kh az krlhunehye bozorg o kuchik ham dar atrfe Tehrn arr gereftand. glahrhye mohemme digeye Irn Maglhad, Tabriz, Esfn o Shirliz-and. Mashhad, ke dar omle sh*ghiy" Irn ast, shahre zirati-st ghun ghabre Emm Rez, emme hashtome shi'ayan dar unj-st. havye Maglhad khonaktar az havye Tehrn-e va mardom ag$ab dar tbestun barye zirat o garde be unj miran. nazdike Maglhad, dar Tus,

LESSON lBN

Y/

gLabre Ferdowsi, sh'ere bozorge irni gharr gereft ke ghyad tarjomeye agh're u r lhund bid. agar javher dust dat bshid, firuzeye Maglhad niz ma'ruf ast. Tabriz bozorgtarin ghahre shomle glarbiye lrn-e va mardome unj dar asl tork zabn hastand. albatte hame frsi ham harf mizanand chun dar madresfrsi tadris mishe. agar dam belhd az the zamini be Orup bere, ma'mulan az Tabriz rad mishe va bishtare tejrate zaminiye bne lrn o Orup niz az rhe Tabriz anjm mighe ghun alve bar jdde, \hatte asliye rhhan niz az bozorgi dre. ghiili va noglreunj rad mishe. Tabriz dneghghe kriye in shahr ham ma'ruf ast. Vocabulary: q$hb alve bor ash'ir

generally in addition to poems(pl.of she'r) dust dshtan to like emm religisug leader firuze turquoise grave gLabr ghli carpet mer geret is situated government hokunat javther jewel ke that p/. o/madrese mrlres centre markaz ma'r famous

mohcm gli'er i'ayn

tdrls tarjome tJrot tott tork-zabn zabn zsmlni drat

important poet pl. of 'e, Shiites, the sect of Islam which is the official religion of lran teaching translation trade Turkish, Turk Turkish' speaking tongue overland pilgrimage

STJBORDINATECLAUSES

1. Relative Clauses Relative clausesare generally introduced by the relative pronoun

98'' rcssox rEx ke which in this context will rrean 'that', 'which', 'rvho', 'whomr etc. fre unaccentedsuffix i is then usually added to the noun beginning the relative expression (the antecedent). In this context, this i which we have already encounteredas an indefinite suffix (ketbi - a book) has the effect of singling out the noun and makiig it definite: ketbl ke llrridrn khub nrbud !!nuni ke pogltc miz bud Indlfui bolad nghd yd dglti ro kc bc u ddam gom kard The book that I bought wasn't any good The lady behind the desk didn't know any English He lost the note I gave him

Nouns already ending in I do not take-anotherone: sandali ke vord shekaste bud-The chair he brought wasbroken Note, however,that proper nounsand nounswith personalendings indicating the possessive not take the suffix i: do Ifasan ke ketbqlo beman g&otz dd dn$u bud - Hassan, who lent me his book. was a student Mashhrd, ke dar glonle glargliye lrn.e, shrc bozorgiy.e Mashad,which is in the north east of lran, is a big city un bardaram ke tuye glerkatc nat kr mikone raft Ahvz My brother who works in the oil company has gone to Ah\raz

2. Indirect Statements Indirecl statements,questions and reported speechwill also be introduced bv ke: sb$une gofr ke shm hzer. porsid ke istgheotobus koj-st girzh behem goft ke mshinam hanuz hzer nist The hostess said that supper was ready He asked where the bus stop was The garagetold me that my cr wasn't ready yet

Notice the difference in the use of tensesin Persianand English, as repoed speechin Persianis in-the sametense as would have

LESSON TEN..99

been used in the original statement.If in doubt about which tense to use, think what the original statementwould be and use the sametensein the subordinateclause.

3. Wishesand Commands (a) The subordinate clause wishesand commands introduced in is by kc followed by the verb in the subjunctive: behgof ke bere (beravad) nun beLhare He told him to go and buy some bread azeq! !!st ke bid o b khodeshmotarjem bire - He asked him to come and bring an interpeter with him beman gofl ke zud bim krh ro shoru' konam - She told me to come early and start the work (b) (i) or: (ii) with !!od kone ke@od konad ke plus the subjunctive: lhod kone ke bid - I do hope he'll come (lir. may God make him to come) !!oda nakone- God forbid - is used as an interjection and also with the subjunctivelike khod kone For the past, kshki is used with the imperfect or pluperfect: kshld umad bud kshki in kr-o nakard budarn I wish he had come I wish I hadn't done that 'I wish . . .' referring to the future can be said in tlvo $'ays, either: with kshkilk{! ke and the verb in the subjunctive: kglki bid - I wish he would come/I do hope he'll come

4. Result Clauses Theseare introduced: (a) by ungLadr ('so much') and untowr ('like that') in the main clause,plus ke to introduce the next clausewith the verb in and the present or past tense for definite consequences, in

100

I,ESSON'TEN

the subjunctive for indefinite consequences: ung[adr $ub ghenokerd ke ncbeglpro bord - He swam so well that he won the race gligerd darseshounghdr$ub bolad nabud ke ghabul begle - The pupil didn't know his subject well enough to pass men u r u4gladr !!ub nemQlnrsrm ke in o beh begorn - I don't know him well enough to tell him this hay untowr htm nist ke beghebcdune plo birutr raft - The \peather isn't really such that you can go out without a coat Note that where u4gladr is used in a time context, for example to mean 'so often', 'so long' etc., then it is used with tt and does not take the subjunctive: ungLadr teldon krrdam tf beh[lpre gtrq! vordm - I kept on telephoning until I got hold of him

(b)

by tl ('so that', 'in order to') which usually takes the subjunctive: mrn kr mlkonam ti zendqiye bhtrrl dfe brm - I work so that I can have a better life qiolkad tl be eran berse (beresad) Shehunied in order to get e train.

(c)

colloquially, by ke: paqiere ro bsz kard ke hav bid - He opened the window to let in some air zud madan ke to r ghabl az mftn bebtnam- I came early so that I could see you before leaving

(d)

by hrrye inke. In addition to 'because',barye inke can also mean 'in order that' in which case it takes the subjunctive and usually oomesat the beginning of the sentence: barye inke betunamllune Uellpran; meghdrebigltari pul lzem dram - I need more monev in order to be able to buy a house You could also say: meghdre bistrri pul lzem dram t betunam khune bellaran

LESSON TEN 101 5. Condional Scntenccs Conditional sentences generally introduced by agar (colloquial, are age: 'if') and can be divided into those referring to possible conditions and those referring to impossibleconditions. (a) Impossibleconditions Sentencesreferring to impossible conditions generally take the imperfect tense in both parts: agar midunestam ke hzer nisti nemiumada - I wouldn't have come if I'd known you weren't ready agar frsi balad budam in ketb-o nemillpridam - If I knew Persian, I wouldn't have bought this book agar zud mimad b ham miraftim Blarid - If he had come early, we'd have gone shoppingtogether () Possiblecontiors (D Sentences expressinga straightfor$,ard possibility, with little element of doubt, take the present tense in the 'if'clause and the pesent or future tensein the other clause: age khb-e,bida@ nakon sgar monrtcn nlsd, nekon age kr dri' nay agsr lbrfb-e nrzrn (ii) beheshdrst If he's asleep, don't wake him Don't do it if you're not sure Don't come if you're busy Don't touch it if it's not working

Possibleconditions referring to the future (where there is, therefore, much more of an element of doubt) take the presentsubjunctivein the'if'clause: agar biid ba ham mirim bzr - If he comes, we'll go to the bazaar together agar in kiro baryc man behoni, $li mamnunet niqbon - If you do this for me I'll be very grateful to you

1(2 rsssox rBx agar hav khub blglc mirim birun - We'll go out if the weather'sgood agar rh o gom mkonam, zud miresam - ['ll get there quickly if I don't lose the way agar beman begi chi llzem dari, bert nikhrram - If you tell me what you need, I'll buy it for you 'lVhen, however,the action in the 'if'clause is a single action which precedes the action in the main clause, the simple past is used: agar telefon kard, begu ke man mrnzd nistam - If he telephones,tell him that ['m not at home agar dustam umad in nme rr beheq! bede - If my friend comes, give her this letter agar rafti mocferathahsn barm nme benevls- Do write to me if you go away (iii) \ilhen the 'if'clause refersto the past,the pastsubjunctive is used: ag;rr oobus raft bgledirtar mireeam- If the bus has left I1t arrive later (iv) \ilhen nagtr or magsr inke is used conditionally (to mean 'unless'),it takes the verb in the subjunctive: mrn uqil nemlrsm mngar inke to hrm bhembii - I won't go there unless you come with me

. FosdHnty In addition to the use of shlyad (Lesson Four), possibility is also expressedby the use of momkm a ke followed by the verb in the subjunctive. Colloquially this becomesmomken-eand ke is often omitted: nnomken+ bid momken-etasrdof kard He may come He may have had an accident It mav be fine tomorrow

brgle
momken-cfard hav khub bgle

LESSONTEN 103

The sameconstructioncan also be used for polite equests: momken-ein kr o barye man bekoni? - Can you possibly do this for me momken-cbeporsamchi shod- May I ask what's happened? momken-ebeman begid nazdiktarin istgheotobus koj-st - Could you tell me where the nearestbus stop is?

IMPERSONAL CONSTR,UCTIONS Look again at the fourth sentence 4(a) above: in hav untowr ham nist ke beshe bedune pefto birun mfi byd and the appropriate tensesof glodan can be used with the past stem to give an impersonalconstruction: byad raft misheraft migbe goft (ke) One/you must go, it is necessaryto go It is possibleto go, you/one can go It can be said (that) . . .

tavnestancan also be used in this way, but not cplloquially.

I PHRASES AND BXPRESSIONS na bb age goftVagar gofti byad s$t You don't say (ft|. if you said) do you know what, guesswhat (lit. one has to build) one must make do, one must adapt. slltan also hac the meaningo/ to make do with, to get along with Well, we manage You've no idea . . .i e.g, Age beduni ch@adr in kr sakht bud you've no idea how difficult this was

miszim, dige agebedunagar beduni

lO4 urssonrsx fclr umrm I subjwraive, mln nrloam (+ sziutnive\ ekr nrkonam btd khgg! gourglt

I don't think . , . Veryoftcn. usedfutteadof &

ncmlkonm tG. . . which also tokes tte subjwrctive. I don't think he'll come (|lr. it passedwell) Vwe had a good time e.g. dishab ratrm mehmuni, B!tli !!og! gozoglt we \ilent to a party last night, we enjoyed ourselvesvery much. !!oq! gozagltm rr conjugatedh the third person only and is used irnpersonnlly: B!og! rnigzare/rnlgozsrod? are you having a good time?

EXER,CISES A. Read aloud and translatu: 1, azam !!st ke bim 2. mosfer porsid te havpma che s'a pawz mikone 3. baghcle ungladre gerye kard ta khbe bord 4.a&r belley Oel!hi) mituam bim aghabet bebaramet 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

llarid

agar beman goft budi ke mshin nadri zudtar mimadam j drid agar belhm yek qla6-ezfe bemunam? momkene fard nakhm beram birun panjeraro ungladr mohkam bast ke shisbaqbstrikast agar !!ub kar-koni zud piraft mikoni (pigbtlt : progr*s) agar diruz b m mimadi behet khosh migozaght

B. Put into Persian 1. He told me he was going to stay at home all day 2. She said that she would try and find my purse 3. He asked me what I was going to do 4. I thought you were coming yesterday 5. If I'd known you had this book, I wouldn't have bought it 6. If he comes,tell him I've gone

I.ESTK,N ELEVEN105 7. 8. 9. 10. Can you tell me where I can find a chem.ist? lVill it be ready if I come tomorrow? I don't think that's right Will I be able to see the doctor if I wait? '' .: ,

Lesson Eleven yzdahom) (darse

Read aloud: (b sedye boland belbunid) ghrhye Irn barye $arejih ruzi Esfahn ma'ruftarin re keghvarbud glun dar zamnepdeshhne safaviyye ke taghriban hamdowreye Elizbete awal budand, pyetakhte mamlekat bud. Esfiin ke dar kenre Zyande rud gharr gereft ch*d masjede ma're besyr didani dre va mdane shahr hanuz az mdanhye mashhure donyst. gh, dastduzi, noglre-kri, khtam.kri va shiriniye malhsusi benme gaz hame az towlidte mohemme in ghr-and. agr az bzr didan konid mitunid bigltare inh r dar hle dorost ghodan bebinid. ghre Shiz hodude ghnad kilometriye jonube Esfn arar gereft. maghbarehye Hfez o Sa'di, do sh'ere bozorge digeye irni, dar Shiz ast va khode r ham zib o didani-st. bghhye besyr ehaqhangvabzre jlebi ham dre. albatte barye mosfer g!yad az hame hiz jlebtar didane srebstniyetalbte jamg$d va naghsherostam bgle ke dar nazdikiye Shirz ghrr gereft. bishtare mantegle naftlhize Irn dar jonub-and va sahmeomdeye darmade keqhvar az san'ate naft bedast mid. sbeghanpalyeghgeUaaan-azbozorgtarinpalyeglghyedony-bud.-sdLrte naft az tarighe Khalije Frs surat migrre va zendegiyemardome in glesmat az keshvar aksaran be san'ate naft vbastegidre. shre Bandar Abbs albatte betowre kolli bandare tejriye bozorgiye va

106 rrssox ELEvEN e kheili az klhike az rhe dary be Irn mind be unj vred mishan.

Vocabulary: sr bandar bsttui darlmad dilrni hemdowre jH kili I!rej l!tam.kri msbore nant@

remains (pI. of asar) port ancient income worth sceing contemporary interesting goods abroad inlaid work tomb regions (pl. o nantagle)

me'r famous naglhur famous mft[liz oil producing omde main, major pd!h king d river Ttlltc Persepolis Jtrshid orll products stdert exports sahm share ssn'tt industry vbastegidere depends on zamn age, time

WORD FORMATION C-omprehensive explanationsof all the various word formations are beyond the scopeof this book. A few of the more common variations are mentioned here as they should help you to understand what you might hear. 1. Abstract Not*ts Abstract nouns ae formed bv the addition of an accentedi to the adjective: Elub bad tambd zrrng bad bakht $ubi (goodness) badi (evil) rambali (laziness) zerangi (cleverness) brd brllti (misfortune)

LESSON ELEVEN 107

Where the adjectiveendsin the sound e, a g is addedfor euphony betweenthe e and the i ending:

!!ast gor(x|ne teg!ne

Ebasteg (weariness) goroenegi(hunger) tlnegi (thirst)

The stresson the i ending of abstractnouns is what distinguishes it from the indefinite i ending. Read the following aloud and notice the difference: marde khubi khubiye mard a good man the man's goodness

2. Verbal Nouns Verbal nouns are forrrredby the addition of various suffixesto the pesent stem. The most easily distinguishable theseis the suffix of -esh:

kushidan(k"rt l zu$tan (suz) !!ridan (!!r) balhshidan(h!hs!) puq$dan(push)

kushd (effort) suzeg!(a burning sensation) (itching) E!@ brlhsle!! (forgiveness) pusheg! (covering - a word now often heard in the context o/puglqle lmi which refers to suitable Islamic dress')

3. The Causative In colloquial Persianthe addition of the suffix -ndanto the present stemof the verb giveswhat is known asthe causative verb (because it has the meaning of making somethinghappen). This new verb tkes the usual personalendings: rsidsn (res) - rcsndan (to causeto arrive) dustem mNn{Db mshineshresund khune - Mv friend took me home in his car

108 mssox ELEvEN 4. The Gerundive shahre Shirz zib va didani-st - Shiraz is beautiful and worth seeing The addition of an unaccentedi suffix to the infinitive of some verbs giveswhat is known as the gerundivehich has the meaning of 'to be done', 'worth doing': didani raftani shodani shenidani sediye bolbol shenidani-st in kr odani nist worth seeing due to go, being about to go, having to go do-able worth hearing The song of the nightingale is worth hearing This cannot be done

The gerundive of nordan, to die, is often heard in the context of lglpr o mordani for people or animals that are thin and sicklylooking, or just very thin and therefore look as if they are about to die. You would not say mordani of a person who really was about to die. 5. Diminutives are formed by the addition of the following suffixes to the noun: -ak -c +ke -9!e -icbe pcsarak, dokhtarak, mardak, zanak, teffak (tefl = infant) pcsare, dokhtare, marde, zane mardeke (col/. martike), zaneke(coll. nnke) bag!e dariche

When these suffixes are added to nouns denoting people they can also denote either ffection or contempt. When used for adults they are quite often somewhatrude or contemptuous, it should but also be noted that different suffixes will give a different shade of meaningto the sameword, for example: do$tarak and pesarak usually convey the straightforward diminutive meaning and can be usedaffectionately, teflak is very eormon and just means lpoor thing'

LESTIONELEVEN 109

but: dokhtrre, pcftne, are usually slightly pejorative, and mlrdak, zamk, are used in a slightly derogatory senseor are at best disrespectful, with martike and zanlke being downright rude, whereas mlrde, zene, while not altogether polite, will often be heard in speechand mean little more than'the man', 'that man', 'the woman', 'that woman': raftam nunvi marde goft ke nun tamum shod- I went to the bakry and the man said the bread was fiffihed If one wants to be more polite, one refers to ghhe,$munc. Otherwiseone should say un lght, un khlnum, for'that man', 'that woman'. 6. Cotloquial rce of the suffix -esh The suffix -eg! is also used colloquially as a kind of pronominal suffix where none is actually needed: hargli aghabc dustrm ga$tam nabudq! This is given here so that you will recognize it if you hear it. 7. Other word formatiotts (a) The suffixes.gar and -chi tend to denote occupations: krgar - worker; zargar - goldsmith; hgar - blacksmith; shenogar- swimmer; shekryli - hunter () nouns can be formed from two nouns put together as in: ruznme - newspaper; mehmnkhne- hotel; dav!!!ne chemist or from the combination of a noun and a verb: pilderow - pavement; srrbiz - soldier; kf*in - workers

or by the combination of a preposition and a noun: hrmsrfor - fellow-traveller; hrmMd - playmate; hamrfh companion (c) prepgsrtionsand nouns can also grve adjectives: bikar - unemployed; birdab - rude . .

110 lrssox ELEVEN EXBRCISES A. Read aloud and trsnslate: 1. kre-o b zerangipish bord 2. az gorosnegio tenegi dlbt mimord 3. bedunepueshe eslmituye kuche nabyadraft 4. agarteran-o az dast ddi khodam b mshin miresunamet 5. dar Orup shahrhyedid;ni t<trti ziaO ast jadid vgle'an shenidanist 6. sedyein khnandeye 7. belakharenafahmidamke in kr shodani-sty na 8. diruz raftam aghabe s'atam,,nutd" goft keizer nist 9. rnandehecherghghermez-onadid, zad be ye mshinedige 10. dokhtare khli por ru bud B. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Put into Persian I am extremely tired (say: I am dying of tiredness) You won't get the job done by beinglazy Shiraz is beautiful and worth seeing I wanted to changethe door of my house but the man said it couldn't be done My friend said she would take me home The little boy was very tired That [awful] boy stuck his tongue out at me (usezabun derazi kardan) The poor little thing is very tired

C. Give the oppostes khubi; zerangi;kho-bakhti of

Lesson Twelve (darse dauzdahom)

I (1) POLTTE PHRASES& CONVENTTONS Persianhas an enormousvariety of polite phrasesand expressions which, while they will soundvery flowery in translation, especially to anyone accustomedto the more brief and basic politenessof

LESSONTWELVE 111

\ilestern culture, are not just literary forms, but are in everyday use. Here are a few of them: !$rti gloggvagtam, or khoshvagbtam- I am very fortunate [to meet you]; used. being introduced to someone on The sameexpression be usedwhen sayinggoodbyeafter hang can being introduced for the first time: glodan !!odfez, !!og!vat odam, or, khti!!e!v$t marharnat zid and lofetun zid ('may you have much favour', 'may you have much honour') are commonly used when saying goodbye, as is the expressionsyeyeglomn kam nasheo syetun kam nsshe which means 'may your shadow never gorv less'. Also usedis ghorbneshom,literally'may I be sacrificed you', and, for between closer friends gborbne to or even ghorbnat (Seereading passage Lesson9). for The more colloquial glorbunet or ghorbunetam, are also used in the senseof 'be a dear and...'or just'please': dar-o beband, glorbunetam or glorbunetam, dar-o beband - Shut the door, there's a dear or do shut the door please d"ste $om dard nakone, or dastet dard nakone ft?. 'may your hand never ache' is a common way of expressingthanks for a serviceperformed. jeye glom khli - 'your place was empty' is very often usedwhen reporting on somethingthat was good or was enjoyed: diruz raftim gardesh,jye shom khli khili khosh gozasht- re rvent on an outing yesterday;we had a very good time (and therefore yow place was empty - i.e. it would have been nice if you could have been there too) The word befarmid (Lesson5, Phrasesand Expressions) used is all the time. In situations where there is no specific answer to befarmid,.forexamplewhen someoneis askingyou to go through a door fint by saying befarmid, it is usual to demur and say t!he mikonam, shom befarmid or na, !!heg! mikonam, shombefarmid, at least once. Likewise at a party or in people's homesyou may seepeople being offered things- fruit, slveets etc. and first they will say na mersi in answer to the befarmid, then after several befarmid's and khhesh mikonam's, they will finally

LLz LEssoNTwELvE acceptwhat is being offered. This kind of processis known asttrrof. The less well people know each other or the more respect they wish to show, the greater the degreeof 6rof. The verb trof kerdrn of means'to offer someonesomething',but only in the sense food, drink, etc. chrylm (which is derived from be ruye g!cg!gn, 'upon my eyes') means'certainly', 'of couse', 'yes, f ll' in anstlreto a command or request: be pdehm salm bersunid- ch$rn - Give my regards to your father - Yes, of course (salh resnndan: to send regards, /d. to convey greetings; the sameexpressionis also usedfor'give my love to') arz kardrn is a polite version of goftan ('to say'), usually usedwhen referring to yourself, and farmuden ('to comrnand') is used when referring to others: e.g. sz kardam - I said, farmudid - you said tabrik arz mikonam Congratulations; I congratulate you. To be less formal one can saybehetun tbrik migam (or beet tbrik migam, for the familiar) Pleaseaccept my condolences;I offer my condolenees. Lessformal: behe behetun tasllrt mlgam

tsslirt arz mlkonam

At the New Year and on joyous religious festivals the greeting is: Ae snome mobrek mobrak ('blessed') is also used to @mment favourably on something new: e.g.: kafthe now pushidi? tre . noHrak (or mobirak c, or mobraket btshe) andhrcjadid mobirak - Congratulations on your new job

r (2) o[ItER EXPRESSTONS (a) The useof oathsto reinforcewhat is beingsaidis quite ' ' common,so you get expressions ke:

SITUAfiONAL PHRASES AND CONVERSATIONS 113

bellod (short for be khod ghassam- I swear to God) By God, which meanslittle more than ,honestly', ,truly' vll, bevallhe rcre or less like bekhod vll is also used as an interjection, rather like 'well': 'chi goft?' 'vll, dorost nafahmidam vali meslein ke goft fard mid'. -'What did he say?''Well, I didn't quite understand,but I think he said he'd come tomorrow'. be gbor'n be ghor'ne mqiid By the Koran By the glorious Koran: these two expressions slightly are sfionger than bel<h and are obviously usually only used by Moslems.

()

The following s\ilearwords may be heard, but it is clearly not a good idea to use them! gom o, or boro gom glo - Get lost! pedar sag- lit. your father's a dog; very insultingsincedogs are unclean to Moslems pedar sukht - Iit. burnt father, i.e. he's in hell, or should go there khk bar sar/saret- lit. earth on your head; drop dead

Situational Phrases and Gonversations

I AT THE AIRPORT ghesmategozarnme salm khosh madid chand vaght mimunid? do hafte dresctundar Irn koj-st? The passportsection Greetings Welcome How long are you staying? Two weeks What is your address lran? in

114 srnreuoNAl pHRAsEs coNvEnsATroNs AND nehele eghimrtetun drr lrn koJi.st? hotel tztdi befatmfid Jelo bcfarmid intar gomrok sl,one aqime tSrifte gomrohi Where are you staying in [ran? The Azadi Hotel Move forward please Come this way please Customs hall lit: The carrying out of customsformalities, i.e. going through customs What have you got/Anything to declare? Nothing, only personal effects You haven't any alcohol or cigarettes,have you? Yes I do, I have cigarettes but no alcohol No I do not Pleaseopen this suitcase Here you are You must pay customsduty on this What forign ctrrency have you got? Some dollars and pounds You must fill in a curency form Trolley Porter The runway The plane is late lVhere is the information desk? Pleasejoin the queue Entrance Exit Waiting room

chi drdn? hichi, fr$rt lavzemeshsllsi sigr o na$rub ke nadrid? eri, sigr dram vali maghrub nederam na!!n lofen in glpmeduno bsz konid bdarmrid barye in byad gomrok bedid arz chi dsrin? nedri dolr o pond byd forme erz por konid drd !! br bor bndeforudgfh hewpnr tr'khir dtr delrl't koJ-st? befarmiid tuye sef vorud !!on{ sfbne entelr

SITUATTONALPHRASESAND CO{VERSAfiONS 115

I AT TIIE TRAVEL AGENT mikhm yek j barnye Landen rezery konam besyr!!ob. baryeche ruzi? shambeewale ut mota'asefilneun parvz j nadre egar bekhhid barye do ghombr$ mitunem bchetun j bdrm ye'ni sewome ut? bde bshc,ps do shrnbc U &ob berlye do g$mbc r;rr mikonam. agrr hrm be[Fhid mitunem tuye liste entezreglambe hem om ro bezram. bale' bi zehmrt in kr ro bokonid va rgarj bud bemen khebar bedln. esmetunr befarmid qlomreye elefonetun chande? bi zahmetin jye mano ta'id konid otobuseEsfahen che s'ati harekat mikone? s'atepaqie sob mitunam az hl bilit

: I would like to make a reservationfor London Certainly. For what day? Saturday August the first Unfortunately there are no seatson that flight If you like I can give you a seat for the Monday You mean August the ird? Yes Alright, Monday then Very well, I'll make the booking for Monday. If you like I can also put you on the waiting list for the Saturday. Yes, pleasedo so and let me know if there is a seat. Your name, please What is your telephone number? Could you pleaseconfirm my reservation. What time does the Esfahan bus leave? At five a.m. Can I buv a ticket now? Yes of course Which platform does the Tabriz train leave from? Platform five At what time does it reach Tabriz?

)
;

ncgmramt
bale albatte terane Tabriz az kudurn sakku herekat mikone? sakkuye paqi ghe s'eti virede Tabriz mishe?

116 srrurrroxAl pHRAsEs corrvgRsATroNs AND g!|lUp sobc fard bite turbo teran bartye I/talllhad drid? motatasefne tmm shod. mitunld b ghatrre sfr'ol tr berh. bcsyr khob, ms yek bilite nrft o bar gaglt beman bcdin darcjeye yek mi[!!id? balc befarmnid ch$adr mis? divist o paqi iomon Six otclock tomorow momrng Do you have any tickets for the turbo train to,Mashad? I'm afraid there aren't any left You can take the "*pres Alright, I'll have a eturn, please First class? Yes Here you are How much is it? Two hundred and fifty tomans

I SHOPPING satrm {g!!/nanum, bdormtd sellm, shir drrin? pkati tamm od amm glflshei hast bshe,pas bi zahmat yeki beman bedid befamid. glize dige ham hzem darid? bale, ye g!$leb kare, diyist o paqi gerah panir o yek g!iye nim kilo'i *e @adri bshe? unam divist o pnj gerami bghe$ub-e bdsrmid fket drtn gleglfdr g_hod? Good morning, what can I do for you? Good morning. Is there any milk? The cartons are finished but we have bottled milk Alright then, could I have one please There you are. Anything else? Yes, butter, two hundred and fifty grammesof cheese and a half kilo packet of tea What size butter do you want? Two hundred and fifty grammeswill be fine Here you are Do you have a bag? : How much is it?

SITUATTONALPTRA!|ET} AND OONVBNSAIIONS 117

nrvd o poqi omrn o pqi & bdarmd merci, lgtlrnum $odffez in Sqgle mehi g!pnd.e? glpst o paqi toman $r genrn-e rrzuntaresh o . nedirid m, mota'asseftrne tamum shod takhtrham nadlre? ashn Etqmt, do meh bcdin bdarniid puteUo bedin sandoghrestdq! o bilrid jensetun o begirln portagLile Hbt g!and-e? punzda toman Ios se kib bcdin

Ninety-five tomans five rials ' Here you are Thank you sir/madam Goodbye How much a metre is this material? Sixty-five tomans It's very expensive, haven't you got anything cheaper? No, unfortunately it's all gone Can't you give me a reduction? No, I can't Alright, grve me two metres Pay at the cash desk, please. Bring the receipt and take your goods How much are the oranges per kilo? Fifteen tomans Give me three kilos, then

I ASKING TTIE WAY bnke markad az kudum tarrf-e? sare rwolln chlr rh doste nst bepiglld, tuye hrmun rtsetun-e $ilbun dasSe bebskhshid, gb/khnum, vezirrtekllverzi kojst? khnre hrinln khilbun-c khTr Aur-e? How does one get to the Central Bank? Turn right at the first crossroads.It is then in that road, on your right Excuse me, sir/madam, where is the Ministry of Agrioilture? It's at the end of this road Is it very far?

118

SITUATIoNAL pHRAsEs AND coNvERsATIoNs

ne, pide hrm mitunid berid

No, you can walk it if you

Itant

daste chap bepiglid mostagLimberid

Turn left Go straight on

I TIIE TELEPHONE rllo befarmid manzeterye Heghighi? nakhrr, ehtebh-e bcbskhshid allo manzeleghyeHagligli? befarmid gh tsshrif drand? bale, shom? man John Smith gushi !dmatetun salm ghye Smith salem, hle shomchetowr-e? mersi, be marhematetun,bad nistam, befarmid vll, mi$stam bebinamkvaght drid bim shomro bebinam khheq mikonarn, har s'a ke befarmid msn hzeram seglambe chetowr-e? seshambe che s5'ati? hsr s'ati shombelid/ Hello Yes? Is that Mr Haghighi's residence? No, you've got the \ilong number f'm sorrv Hello Is that Mr Haghighi's residence? Yes Is Mr Haghighi in? Yes. Who's that speaking? This is John Smith Hold the line, please Hello, M Smith Hello, how are you? I'm not too bad, thank you, what can I do for you? Well, I wanted to ask when I could come and seeyou Any time you say What about Tuesday? What time on Tuesday? Any time you say Is five o'clock alright?

qleid
st'& prqi khub+?

STTUATIONALPHNASESAND CONVEN,SATIONS119

bale, kh khub-e bcsyr$, pas s'atepaqi mibinrmetun. deftare nran{r baladid? bale pas t seshambe,khodfez $odefez.[!od,e hfezeshom merhemat zid

Yes, that's fine Very well, then, I'll seeyou at five o'clock. Do you know where my office is? Yes Well, till Tuesday, then Goodbye Goodbve

r IN A TAXI t Shemmn chegladr migirid, gh? bi zahmst berim mrdune Ferdowsi or: mrduneFerdowsi, loan on reachingyour destination: gbegladr gbod? How much do you charge to go to Shemran? (To) Ferdowsi Square, please

How much is it?

Appendix
IIT]MBERS The Arabic numerals,which are alsousedin Persian,are asfollows:

\
123= \ Y

1
: 2695

12 3 4 5 6 78910 65 = 1o

^
Y1lo

'

The decimal point is represented a comma. by

CURRENCY Notes and coins currentlv in circulation dre: COINS I rial (yegheruni) 2 rials (dozeri) 5 rials (paynzeri) 10 rials (ye-tomani) 20 rials (do-tomani) 50 rials (paqi-tomeni) NOTES 100 rials (da-tomani) zffi rials (bis-tomani) 500 rials(paqi-tomani) 1000 rials (sad-tomani) 2000 rials (divis-tomani) 5000 rials (punsad tomani) 10000 rials (hezr tomani)

TIIE CALEI\IDAR In Iran, the Islamic months are called: moharram safar rabi'ol awal rabi'os-sni jandi ol awal jamdi os-sni rqiab sha'bn ramazn shawt zigha'de zihqije

ppewox The chief civil public holidays are:

121

(approxiniat1ebrresponng date) I - 4 Farvardin 12 Farvardin 13 Farvardin 15 Khordd 17 Shahriver Now Ruz holidays Islamic Republic Day thirteenth of.Now Ruz Popular uprising of 1)63 C;ommemorationof the martyrs of the revolution Islamic Revolution Day Nationalisation of the Oil Industry (2L-24 March) . (1 April) (2 April) (5 June) (8 September)

Zl Bahman 29 Esfend

(11 February) (19 March)

The chief religrous public holidays are: 13 rqiab 27 rqiab 15 sho'bln 2l ramrzin 1g[swt Birthday of A, the Prophet's sonin-law rde meb'ss: the anniversary of the day Mohammad began his ministry Birthday of the 12th Imam The martyrdom of Ali dc letr: the celebration of the ending of the fasting month of Ramadan Death of Imam Ja'far Sdegh Birthday of Emam Rez (the 8 lmam of e Shiites) ae gucrban: the day on which pilgrims to Mecca make sactifices ae gmatr: the anniversary of e day Ali was appointed successor to the Prophet tsu'll: the eve of Imam Husseins mart5ndom

Zi glrwil ll dg[r'de 10 dhqij It dhqiie

9 mohrrnm

122 APPENDTx l0 moharram 20 safar 28 sdar 17 rabi-ol awal slur: martyrdom of Imam Hussein arba'in:40th day of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein Death of the Prophet and martyrdom of Imam Hassan Bfuthdayof the Prophet, birthday of Imam Ja'far Sdegh