A Dialogue About What We Should Do Tonight

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

Leyla: Hello and welcome to lesson 39 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!

Matt: Thank you so much for joining us on the next to the last lesson in the dialogue series.

Leyla: In this lesson, we’re going to listen to two people deciding what they’re going to do one evening.

Matt: As always, find our previous lesson on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with chai spelled CHAI.

Leyla: And with that, Matt, are you ready to begin the lesson?

Matt: Ready!

Leyla: Great, then let’s begin to learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!

 

Leyla: So let’s get right on with the dialogue:

Benazareh to emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Nemeedoonam - to chee fekr meekonee?  

Doost daree bereem cinema?

Cheh feelmee? 

Sabr kon bebeenam. Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

Bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem.

Masalan koja ?

In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh.  

Man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram. Ghazayeh Italeeyayee beeshtar doost daram.

Meetooneem ham to khoneh sham dorost bokoneem.

Aha, een ham fekreh khoobeeyeh- chee dorost bokoneem?

Too yakhchal chee dareem?

Gojeh farangee dareem, gooshteh charkh kardeh dareem, va peeyaz dareem.

Espaghetti chetor?

Basheh, espaghetti! Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem va hameen ja , too khooneh negah bokoneem!

Aaliyeh!

So as we do in every episode of the dialogue series, let’s listen to the first two lines of the dialogue

Benazareh to emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Nemeedoonam - to chee fekr meekonee?  

Leyla: Ok, so first, in the first line includes the word benazar. Benazareh to means in your opinion

Matt: benazareh

Leyla: If we want to break down the word, it’s benazar, which means to the mind, and benazareh to would be something along the lines of to the mind of you, informal. So then how to you think you’d say in my opinion?

Matt: benazareh man

Leyla: Right, benazareh man. Ok, so the rest of the sentence should be easy to understand

Matt: Benazareh to emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Leyla: So, in your opinion. what should we do tonight? Emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Matt: Emshab cheekar bokoneem

Leyla: And she replies:

Nemeedoonam - to chee fekr meekonee?  

 

Leyla: We’ve learned the word nemeedoonam before- it means I don’t know

Matt: Nemeedoonam

Leyla: And of course this is conjugated for the first person. You don’t know, informal, for instance would be nemeedoonee.

Matt: Nemeedoonee

Leyla: We won’t go over the rest now, but we will put them on the bonus materials of the podcast for you to study. So then she asks ‘to chee fekr meekonee?’ What does this mean Matt?

Matt: It means what do you think?

Leyla: That’s right. To chee fekr meekonee.

Matt: To chee fekr meekonee

Leyla: Ok great, next two lines:

 

Doost daree bereem cinema?

Cheh feelmee? 

 

Leyla: This line of dialogue comes basically straight out of Unit 2. Let’s listen to the first sentence:

Matt: Doost daree bereem cinema?

 

Leyla: Matt, what does this mean?

Matt: It means ‘would you like for us to go to the cinema?’

Leyla: Right. Let’s repeat it: doost daree bereem cinema?

Matt: doost daree bereem cinema

Leyla: And the next line:

Cheh feelmee? 

 

Leyla: This means ‘what film?’ Cheh feelmee?

Matt: Cheh feelmee?

Leyla: Sabr kon bebeenam. Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

Matt: Bejash meetooneem yek jayee sham bokhoreem.

Leyla: Ok, so the this first line is a bit more complicated. So first, ‘sabr kon bebeenam.’ Sabr is the word patience. Sabr kon is a phrase that means ‘wait’. Sabr kon

Matt: Sabr kon

Leyla: And it’s a commanding sentence. This is the informal form, and if you’re speaking formally, you say ‘sabr koneen’

Matt: sabr koneen

Leyla: So then the full sentence ‘sabr kon bebeenam.’ means ‘wait, let me see’ Sabr kon bebeenam

Matt: Sabr kon bebeenam.

Leyla: Ok next sentence:

Matt: Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

Leyla: Ok so in this sentence we have that word benazar again. In this instance, it’s used in the phrase ‘benazar meeyad’. So before we said benazaram, making it personal- in my opinion. In this phrase, benazar meeyad, it’s more of a general phrase, meaning, it seems. So if we want to translate it literally, it means something like ‘it comes to the opinion that’- which in English translates to ‘it seems’. So benazar meeyad

Matt: benazar meeyad

Leyla: And the word jaleb means interesting. Jaleb

Matt: Jaleb. So let’s listen to the full sentence again and see if we understand it now:

Leyla: Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

 

Matt: So it means- ‘it seems there isn’t an interesting film in the cinema’. So again,

Leyla: Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

 

Leyla: Let’s repeat it by breaking it down. Benazar meeyad too cinema

Matt: benazar meeyad too cinema

Leyla: filme jalebee neest

Matt: filme jalebee neest

Leyla: and altogether: benazar meeyad…

 

Matt: benazar meeyad…

Leyla: So then the reply is: Bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem.

 

Leyla: First the word bejash- this means in its place, which in English translates to instead. Bejash

Matt: Bejash

Leyla: So bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem. Ja is the word for place. Ja

Matt: Ja

Leyla: And yek ja is the phrase used for somewhere. A place, otherwise known as somewhere. Yek ja

Matt: Yek ja.

Leyla: So the full sentence means, instead, we can eat dinner somewhere. Bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem

Matt: Bejash…

Leyla: Ok, next two sentences:

Masalan koja ?

In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh.  

Leyla: So, the first question is ‘masalan koja’? We’ve covered the word koja before, what does it mean Matt?

Matt: It means ‘where’

Leyla: That’s right, where. And the word masalan is also a good filler word to know, it means ‘for instance’. Masalan

Matt: Masalan.

Leyla: So the full question means ‘for instance where?’ So masalan koja?

Matt: masalan koja?

Leyla: And the reply is

In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh.  

So first, the word ‘nazdik’ means ‘close’. Nazdik

Matt: Nazdik

Leyla: And the word baz means ‘open’. So baz shodeh means has opened. In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh, or neary, a chinese restaurant has opened. In nazdik

Matt: In nazdik

Leyla: yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh

Matt: yek restooraneh…

Leyla: The reason, by the way, that we ad ‘een’ to nazdik is to specifiy that you’re talking about the location you’re currently in. So een nazdeek means ‘close to here’. Een nazdik

Matt: een nazdik

Leyla: Great. Ok, let’s listen to the entire conversation up to this point again:

Benazareh to emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Nemeedoonam - to chee fekr meekonee?  

Doost daree bereem cinema?

Cheh feelmee? 

Sabr kon bebeenam. Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

Bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem.

Masalan koja ?

In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh.  

Leyla: And hopefully that’s all clear up to this point. So now next two sentences:

Man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram. Ghazayeh Italeeyayee beeshtar doost daram.

Meetooneem ham to khoneh sham dorost bokoneem.

Leyla: Ok, so first, man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram. That should be very easy Matt, what does it mean:

Matt: I don’t like Chinese food.

Leyla: Yes. Which is very hard to understand, because who doesn’t love Chinese food, but ok, so man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram

Man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram

Ghazayeh Italeeyayee beeshtar doost daram.

Leyla: The word beeshtar means ‘more’. So then what does the full sentence mean Matt?

Matt: It means I like Italian food more.

Leyla: That’s right. Ghazayeh Italeeyeayee beeshtar doost daram

Matt: ghazayeh italeeyayee beeshtar doost daram.

Leyla: And the reply was:

Matt: Meetooneem ham to khoneh sham dorost bokoneem.

Leyla: Ok, so first the word meetooneem means we can. Meetooneem

Matt: Meetooneem

Leyla: Again, we won’t go over all the conjugations of this word, but you can find them on the bonus materials. So meetooneem- we can

Matt: Meetooneem

Leyla: And again, we won’t go over all the rest of the conjugations at the moment, but you’ll be able to find those on the bonus materials. So the full sentence again

Matt: Meetooneem ham to khoneh sham dorost bokoneem.

 

Leyla: So this means ‘we can also make dinner at home’. Meetooneem ham too khooneh sham dorost bokoneem.

Matt: Meetooneem ham too khooneh sham dorost bokoneem

Aha, een ham fekreh khoobeeyeh- chee dorost bokoneem?

Too yakhchal chee dareem?

Leyla: Ok, so again we have the word fekr in this setnece- een ham fekreh khoobeeyeh. What does this mean Matt?

Matt: It means ‘this is a good thought’

Leyla: Right, so that’s a good idea. Een ham fekreh khoobeyeh

Matt: Een ham fekreh khoobeeyeh.

Leyla: And then chee dorost bokoneem? This means ‘what should we make?’ Chee dorost bokoneem

Matt: Chee dorost bokoneem

Leyla: Next:

Too yakhchal chee dareem?

 

Leyla: Now, to know what this sentence means we have to know what the word ‘yakhchal’ means. It means refrigerator. Yakhchal

Matt: Yakhchal.

Leyla: So too yakhchal chee dareem- what do we have in the fridge. Too yakhchal chee dareem?

Matt: Too yakhchal chee dareem?

Gojeh farangee dareem, gooshteh charkh kardeh dareem, va peeyaz dareem.

Espaghetti chetor?

Leyla: Ok so the first sentence might have a lot of new food vocabulary for us. First, gojeh farangee. Now this is a funny word- farangee in Persian means ‘foreigner’. And gojeh farangee means ‘tomato’. Gojeh farangee

Matt: gojeh farangee

Leyla: So obviously tomatoes were not native to Iran and were introduced at some point, making them foreign. Gojeh farangee

Matt: Gojeh farangee.

Leyla: And then gooshteh charkh kardeh- this means ground beef. Goosht is the word for meat, and charkh kardeh means ground. Gooshteh charkh kardeh

Matt: Gooshteh charkh kardeh

Leyla: And the word ‘peeyaz’ means onion. Peeyaz

Matt: Peeyaz

Leyla: So with these three ingredients, gojeh farangee, gooshteh charkh kardeh, and peeyaz, the reply is:

Matt: Espaghetti chetor?

Leyla: Which should be pretty clear, Matt?

Matt: What about spaghetti?

Leyla: Great, exactly. Espaghetti chetor?

Matt: Espaghetti chetor

Leyla: And the final two sentences:

Basheh, espaghetti! Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem va hameen ja , too khooneh negah bokoneem!

Aaliyeh!

 

Leyla: Ok, so let’s break down the first part of the dialogue. First

Basheh, espaghetti!

Leyla: That’s pretty clear- it means ‘ok, spaghetti’. Next,

Matt: Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem

Leyla: So the compound verb kerayeh bokoneem means to rent. Kerayeh bokoneem

Matt: Kerayeh bokoneem

Leyla: So this sentence means ‘we can also rent an Italian film.’ Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem

Matt: meetoneem yek feelmeh italiyayee

Leyla: And then va hameen ja , too khooneh negah bokoneem

Leyla: So we know the word eenja, it means here. Eenja

Matt: Here

Leyla: Oonja means there. Oonja.

Matt: oonja

Leyla: Yek ja we learned means somewhere. Yek ja

Matt: Yek ja

Leyla: And hameen ja means something like ‘right here’. Hameen ja

Matt: Hameen ja

Leyla: And we’ve learned negah before- it means watch. Negah

Matt: Negah.

Leyla: So this full sentence means ‘and watch it right here at home’. Va hameen ja, too khooneh negah bokoneem

Matt: va hameen ja too khooneh negah bokoneem.

Leyla: So let’s listen to the full sentence again:

Basheh, espaghetti! Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem va hameen ja , too khooneh negah bokoneem!

Leyla: And the dialogue ends with the word ‘aaaliyeh!’ so I guess they reached an agreement of the perfect thing to do in the evening- which is often a very difficult task to achieve.

Ok, let’s listen to the full dialogue again one more time:

Benazareh to emshab cheekar bokoneem?

Nemeedoonam - to chee fekr meekonee?  

Doost daree bereem cinema?

Cheh feelmee? 

Sabr kon bebeenam. Hmm, benazar meeyad too cinemaha filme jalebee neest.

Bejash meetooneem yek ja sham bokhoreem.

Masalan koja ?

In nazdik yek restooraneh cheenee baz shodeh.  

Man ghazayeh cheenee doost nadaram. Ghazayeh Italeeyayee beeshtar doost daram.

Meetooneem ham to khoneh sham dorost bokoneem.

Aha, een ham fekreh khoobeeyeh- chee dorost bokoneem?

Too yakhchal chee dareem?

Gojeh farangee dareem, gooshteh charkh kardeh dareem, va peeyaz dareem.

Espaghetti chetor?

Basheh, espaghetti! Meetooneem yek feelmeh Italiyayee ham kerayeh bokoneem va hameen ja , too khooneh negah bokoneem!

Aaliyeh!

Leyla: And hopefully you understood the full conversation this time!

Matt: Thank you so much for listening!

Leyla: We only have one more lesson left in Unit 4 of Chai and Conversation, and it’s a very special one!

Matt: Don’t forget to visit the website at www.chaiandconversation.com with Chai spelled CHAI for more information about our podcast.

Leyla: And find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/learnpersian to get the latest updates and info!

Matt: And until next time, khodahafez from Matt

Leyla: and beh omeedeh deedar from Leyla!