Speak / Lesson 28
Habitual Actions
Lesson 28 teaches how to talk about habitual actions.
Listen Now
Download lesson MP3GREETINGS:
hello
سَلام
how are you?
چِطوری؟
Note: In Persian, as in many other languages, there is a formal and an informal way of speaking. We will be covering this in more detail in later lessons. For now, however, chetor-ee is the informal way of asking someone how they are, so it should only be used with people that you are familiar with. hālé shomā chetor-é is the formal expression for ‘how are you.’
Spelling note: In written Persian, words are not capitalized. For this reason, we do not capitalize Persian words written in phonetic English in the guides.
ANSWERS:
I’m well
خوبَم
Pronunciation tip: kh is one of two unique sounds in the Persian language that is not used in the English language. It should be repeated daily until mastered, as it is essential to successfully speak Persian. Listen to the podcast for more information on how to make the sound.
| Persian | English |
|---|---|
| salām | hello |
| chetor-ee | how are you? |
| khoobam | I’m well |
| merci | thank you |
| khayli | very |
| khayli khoobam | I’m very well |
| khoob neestam | I’m not well |
| man | me/I |
| bad neestam | I’m not bad |
| ālee | great |
| chetor-een? | how are you? (formal) |
| hālé shomā chetor-é? | how are you? (formal) |
| hālet chetor-é? | how are you? (informal) |
| khoob-ee? | are you well? (informal) |
| mamnoonam | thank you |
| chetor peesh meeré? | how’s it going? |
| ché khabar? | what’s the news? (what’s up?) |
| testeeeee |
Last week we learned the present simple tense. This can be used to talk about things that are done habitually. So now, we'll learn the vocabulary to make that happen.
So, we're going to use the verb to go to illustrate these phrases, just to keep things simple. Let's go over the present simple tense of the verb to go. First, the infinitive of to go is raftan.
Matt: Raftan
Leyla: So, Matt, you should remember this from last week, hopefully- how do you say 'I go'
Matt: Meeram
Leyla: Great, how about you go, informal
Matt: Meeree
Leyla: Great, and listeners, hopefully you are repeating these along with Matt. So how about he or she goes
Matt: Meere
Leyla: We go
Matt: Meereem
Leyla: You go, formal or plural
Matt: Meereen
Leyla: And finally, they go
Matt: Meeran
Leyla: Ok, so we're going to combine these with to go to work. To say I go to work, you say 'meeram kar
Matt: Meeram kar
Leyla: We go to work, meereem kar
Matt: Meereem kar
Leyla: And etc. So now, let's use this to talk about things we do habitually. So hopefully we remember the word for day. It's
Matt: Rooz
Leyla: Great rooz. So to say every day, you say 'har rooz'
Matt: Har rooz
Leyla: Great, so to say 'every day I go to work' you say 'har rooz be kar meeram
Matt: Har rooz be kar meeram
Leyla: So har rooz means every day. Har hafte means every week. Har hafte
Matt: Har hafteh
Leyla: So we had learned the word for class is kelass
Matt: Kelass
Leyla: And more specifically, kelasse yoga means yoga class. Kelasseh yoga
Matt: Kelasseh yoga
Leyla: So to say Every week I go to yoga class, you say 'har hafteh beh kelasseh yoga meeram
Matt: Har hafteh beh kelasseh yoga meeram
Leyla: So we have har rooz meaning every day and har hafteh meaning every week. Next, har mah means every month. Har mah
Matt: Har mah
Leyla: So let's say every month you go to your mother in laws house. You say 'har mah be khooneyeh madar zanam meeram
Matt: Har mah be khooneyeh madar zanam
meeram
Leyla: As you can guess madar zan means mother in law, or literally the mother of my wife. Madar zanam means my mother in law. Madar zanam
Matt: Madar zanam
Leyla: Har mah beh khooneyeh madar zanam meeram
Matt: Har mah be khooneyeh madar zanam meeram
Leyla: Next, let's say every year. In Persian, this is har sal
Matt: Har saal
Leyla: Let's say every year I go to Hawaii. Har saal be Hawaii meeram
Matt: Har saal meeram Hawaii
Leyla: I wish this was the case for me. Har saal be Hawaii meeram
Matt: Har saal beh Hawaii meeram
Leyla: So let's go over all of these again. How do you say 'every day'?
Matt: Har rooz
Leyla: Every week
Matt: Har hafteh
Leyla: Every month
Matt: Harm ah
Leyla: And finally every year
Matt: Har saal
Leyla: Ok great! Next, to say 'each day' you add a ee suffix to the word. So rooz becomes roozee
Matt: Roozee
Leyla: To say once each day, for instance, you say 'roozee yek bar
Matt: Roozee yek bar
Leyla: Bar means time. So you're literally saying 'each day one time' Roozee yek bar
Matt: Roozee yek bar
Leyla: So keeping with our example of to go, you could say 'roozee yek baar beh estakhr meeram
Matt: Roozee yek baar beh estakhr meeram
Leyla: Do you remember what estakhr means? We learned it a while back
Matt: The pool
Leyla: Exactly, the pool. So roozee yek bar means once a day. Can you guess how to say twice a day?
Matt: Roozee do bar
Leyla: Perfect, roozee do bar is twice a day. And if you want to say once every two days, you switch things around a bit. You say har do ruz yek bar.
Matt: Har do rooz yek bar
Leyla: So we're using the word 'har' or every here again. So every two days, one time, basically. Har do rooz yek bar
Matt: Har do rooz yek bar
Leyla: So har do rooz yek baar beh estakhr meeram
Matt: Har do rooz yek baar be estakhr meeram
Leyla: So once every two days, I go to the pool. How would you say once every three days?
Matt: Har she rooz yek baar.
Leyla: Right. har seh rooz yek bar. So next, to say 'each week' you say 'hafte-I'
Matt: Hafte-i
Leyla: So to say once a week, you say hafte-I yek bar
Matt: Hafte-I yek bar
Leyla; Hafte-I yek bar beh kelasseh yoga meeram
Matt: Hafte-I yek bar beh kelasseh yoga meeram
Leyla: How would you say every other week?
Matt: har do haftei yek bar
Leyla: Exactly, har do haftei yek bar. So har do haftei yek bar beh khooneyeh doostam meeram
Matt: Har do haftei yek bar beh khooneyeh doostam meeram
Leyla: So what does that mean?
Matt: Every other week, I go to my friend's house.
Leyla: Next, each month is mahi
Matt: Mahi
Leyla: So once a month would be
Matt: Mahi yek baar
Leyla: Great, you're getting the hang of it. So maahi yek baar beh Dallas meeram
Matt: Maahi yek baar beh Dallas meeram