Farsi with Neda: Lesson 1

Basic Greetings

سلام

hello

خداحافظ

goodbye

خدافظ

goodbye (abbrev.)

خدا

god, deity

Non-Arabic Greetings

These greetings are used by some people in Iran, but they're are not as commonly used as the Arabic/Islamic greetings.

دُرود

hello

بِدْرود

goodbye

Are You Good?

How Are You?

Thanks

There are many words that express thanks in Persian. These are the common ones:

• مرسی
• ممنون / ممنونم
• تَشَکُر / مُتَشْکَرَم
• مچکر

These expressions are more formal:

• سپاسگزارم
• سپاس

You can use an intensifier. There are formal and colloquial intensifiers, which should match the formality of the expression.

خیلی

very

خیلی ممنون، خیلی ممنونم

خیلی متشکرم

thanks a lot

بِسْیار

very (forml.)

بسیار سپاسگزارم

thank you very much (very formal)

Me too

هم

as well

منم

me too

• من + هم

Vowel Shifting

An 'ا' representing a long a in standard or formal Persian may be shifted to a 'و', or long u, in speech.

• e.g. خانه becomes خونه (house)
• e.g. نان becomes نون (bread)

Saying your Name

اسم من ندا است

my name is Neda

اسم من کریس است

my name is Chris

Copula Enclitics

There are suffixes you can add to nouns as an alternative to using هست. It's common to use suffix these forms in speech.

• For nouns ending in a vowel, the suffixes are ـست and its abbreviated form ـس.
  • اسم من نداس
  • اسم من نداست
• For nouns ending in anything else, the suffix is ـِه.
  • اسم من کریسه

Subject Pronouns

من

I

تو

you (sing. colloq.)

او

he/she (standard)

اون

he/she (spoken)

ما

we

شما

you (pl. and sing. formal)

آنها، ایشان

they (standard, formal)

اونا

they (spoken)

To Be: بودن

Vocab

اُمید

hope

بوس

kiss