Speak / Lesson 39
A Dialogue About What We Should Do Tonight
In this lesson, we’re going to listen to two people deciding what they’re going to do one evening. They go through a variety of options, including going to the cinema, getting Chinese food, and making food at home. Listen to find out what they ultimately decide.
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 |
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: And as always, find our previous lesson on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with “chai” spelled C-H-A-I.
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:
benazaré tō emshab chekār bokoneem?
nemeedoonam - tō chee fekr meekonee?
doost dāree bereem cinemā?
ché feelmee?
sabr kon bebeenam. hmm, benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
bejāsh meetooneem yé jā shām bokhoreem.
masalan kojā?
een nazdik yé restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé.
man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram. ghazāyé eetāliyāyee beeshtar doost dāram.
meetooneem ham too khooné shām dorost bokoneem.
āhā, een ham fekré khoobeeyé. chee dorost koneem?
too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
gojé farangee dāreem, gooshté charkh kardé dāreem, va peeyāz dāreem.
espāgetti chetor?
meetooneem yé feelmé eetāliyāyee ham kerāyé bokoneem va hameen jā, too khooné negāh bokoneem!
So as we do in every episode of the dialogue series, let’s listen to the first two lines of the dialogue:
benazaré tō emshab chekār bokoneem?
nemeedoonam - tō chee fekr meekonee?
So first, in the first line includes the word benazar. benazaré tō means ‘in your opinion’. benazaré tō.
Matt: benazaré tō.
Leyla: If we want to break down the word, it’s benazar, which means to the mind, and benazaré tō would be something along the lines of ‘to the mind of you (informal)’. So then how to you think you would say ‘in my opinion’?
Matt: benazaré man.
Leyla: Right, benazaré man. Okay, so the rest of the sentence should be easy to understand.
benazaré tō emshab chekār bokoneem?
So, ‘in your opinion, what should we do tonight?’: emshab chekār bokoneem?
Matt: emshab chekār bokoneem?
Leyla: And she replies:
nemeedoonam - tō chee fekr meekonee?
We’ve learned the word nemeedoonam before - it means ‘I don’t know’ nemeedoonam.
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 of the conjugations now, but we will put them on the bonus materials of the podcast for you to study. So then she asks “tō chee fekr meekonee?” What does this mean, Matt?
Matt: It means ‘what do you think?’.
Leyla: That’s right. tō chee fekr meekonee?
Matt: tō chee fekr meekonee?
Leyla: Great, and it has the emphasis on the “tō,” so ‘you, what do you think?’. Okay, great, next two lines:
doost dāree bereem cinemā?
ché feelmee?
This line of dialogue comes basically straight out of Unit 2. Let’s listen to the first sentence:
doost dāree bereem cinemā?
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 dāree bereem cinemā?
Matt: doost dāree bereem cinemā?
Leyla: And the next line:
ché feelmee?
This means ‘what film?’ ché feelmee?
Matt: ché feelmee?
Leyla: Okay, so next two lines:
sabr kon bebeenam. hmm, benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
bejāsh meetooneem yek jā shām bokhoreem.
So this first line is a bit more complicated. So first, "sabr kon bebeenam." sabr is the word for ‘patience’. sabr kon is a phrase that means ‘wait’. sabr kon.
Matt: sabr kon.
Leyla: 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: Okay, next sentence:
benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
Okay, so in this sentence, we have the word benazar again. In this instance, it’s used in the phrase “benazar meeyād.” So before, we said benazaram, making it personal - 'in my opinion'. In this phrase, “benazar meeyād,” 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 meeyād.
Matt: benazar meeyād.
Leyla: And the word jāleb means ‘interesting’. jāleb.
Matt: jāleb.
Leyla: So let’s listen to the full sentence again and see if we understand it now:
sabr kon bebeenam. hmm, benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
So it means- ‘it seems there isn’t an interesting film in the cinema’. So again:
benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
Leyla: Let’s repeat it by breaking it down. benazar meeyād too cinemā.
Matt: benazar meeyād too cinemā.
Leyla: feelmé jālebee neest.
Matt: feelmé jālebee neest.
Leyla: And altogether: benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
Matt: benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
Leyla: So then the reply is:
bejāsh meetooneem yé jā shām bokhoreem.
First, the word bejāsh - this means ‘in its place’, which in English translates to ‘instead’. bejāsh.
Matt: bejāsh.
Leyla: So bejāsh meetooneem yek jā shām bokhoreem. jā is the word for ‘place’. jā.
Matt: jā.
Leyla: And “yek jā” is the phrase used for ‘somewhere’. ‘A place’, otherwise known as ‘somewhere’! yek jā.
Matt: yek jā.
Leyla: So the full sentence means ‘instead, we can eat dinner somewhere’. bejāsh meetooneem.
Matt: bejāsh meetooneem.
Leyla: yek jā.
Matt: yek jā.
Leyla: shām bokhoreem.
Matt: shām bokhoreem.
Leyla: Okay, next two sentences:
masalan kojā?
een nazdik yé restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé.
So the first question is “masalan kojā?” We’ve covered the word kojā 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 kojā?
Matt: masalan kojā?
Leyla: And the reply is:
een nazdik yé restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé.
So first, the word “nazdik” means ‘close’. nazdik.
Matt: nazdik.
Leyla: And the word “bāz” means ‘open’, so bāz shodé means ‘has opened’. een nazdik yek restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé, or ‘nearby, a Chinese restaurant has opened’. een nazdik.
Matt: een nazdik.
Leyla: yé restoorāné cheenee.
Matt: yé restoorāné cheenee.
Leyla: bāz shodé.
Matt: bāz shodé.
Leyla: The reason, by the way, that we add "een" to nazdik is to specify that you’re talking about the location you’re currently in. So een nazdik means ‘close to here’. een nazdik.
Matt: een nazdik.
Leyla: Great. Okay, let’s listen to the entire conversation up to this point again:
benazaré tō emshab chekār bokoneem?
nemeedoonam - tō chee fekr meekonee?
doost dāree bereem cinemā?
ché feelmee?
sabr kon bebeenam. hmm, benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
bejāsh meetooneem yé jā shām bokhoreem.
masalan kojā?
een nazdik yé restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé.
And hopefully that’s all clear up to this point. So now, the next two sentences:
man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram. ghazāyé eetāliyāyee beeshtar doost dāram.
meetooneem ham too khooné shām dorost koneem.
Okay, so first, man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram. 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 okay, so man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram.
Matt: man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram.
Leyla: Now the next sentence:
ghazāyé eetāliyāyee beeshtar doost dāram.
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. ghazāyé eetāliyāyee.
Matt: ghazāyé eetāliyāyee.
Leyla: beeshtar doost dāram.
Matt: beeshtar doost dāram.
Leyla: And the reply was:
meetooneem ham too khooné shām dorost bokoneem.
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’. meetooneem.
Matt: meetooneem.
Leyla: So the full sentence again:
meetooneem ham too khooné shām dorost bokoneem.
So this means ‘we can also make dinner at home’. meetooneem ham.
Matt: meetooneem ham.
Leyla: too khooné.
Matt: too khooné.
Leyla: shām dorost bokoneem.
Matt: shām dorost bokoneem.
Leyla: So now, the next two sentences:
āhā, een ham fekré khoobeeyé. chee dorost bokoneem?
too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
So again, we have the word fekr in this sentence - een ham fekré khoobeeyé. What does this mean, Matt?
Matt: It means ‘this is a good thought’.
Leyla: Exactly, so ‘that’s a good idea’. een ham fekré khoobeeyé.
Matt: een ham fekré khoobeeyé.
Leyla: And then chee dorost koneem? This means ‘what should we make?’ chee dorost bokoneem?
Matt: chee dorost bokoneem?
Leyla: Next:
too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
Now, to know what this sentence means, we have to know what the word “yakhchāl” means. It means ‘refrigerator’. yakhchāl.
Matt: yakhchāl.
Leyla: And Matt just had a new yakhchāl delivered to his house today, so again, the word is yakhchāl.
Matt: yakhchāl.
Leyla: So “too yakhchāl chee dāreem?” - ‘what do we have in the fridge?’ too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
Matt: too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
Leyla: And the next two sentences:
gojé farangee dāreem, gooshté charkh kardé dāreem, va peeyāz dāreem.
espāgetti chetor?
So the first sentence might have a lot of new food vocabulary for us. First, “gojé farangee.” Now this is a funny word - farangee in Persian means ‘foreigner’, and gojé farangee means ‘tomato’. gojé farangee.
Matt: gojé farangee.
Leyla: So obviously, tomatoes were not native to Iran and were introduced at some point, making them foreign. gojé farangee.
Matt: gojé farangee.
Leyla: And then “gooshté charkh kardé” - this means ‘ground beef’. goosht is the word for ‘meat’, and charkh kardé means ‘ground’. gooshté charkh kardé.
Matt: gooshté charkh…charkh kardé.
Leyla: And the word “peeyāz” means onion. peeyāz.
Matt: peeyāz.
Leyla: So with these three ingredients, gojé farangee, gooshté charkh kardé, and peeyāz, the reply is:
espāgetti chetor?
Which should be pretty clear, Matt?
Matt: ‘What about spaghetti?’
Leyla: Exactly. espāgetti chetor?
Matt: espāgetti chetor?
Leyla: So obviously, “espāgetti” is the word for ‘spaghetti’. And the final two sentences:
meetooneem yé feelmé eetāliyāyee ham kerāyé bokoneem va hameen jā, too khooné negāh bokoneem!
Okay, so let’s break down the first part of the dialogue. First:
meetooneem yé feelmé eetāliyāyee ham kerāyé bokoneem
So the compound verb “kerāyé bokoneem” means ‘to rent’. kerāyé bokoneem.
Matt: kerāyé bokoneem.
Leyla: So this sentence means ‘we can also rent an Italian film.’ meetooneem yek.
Matt: meetooneem yek.
Leyla: feelmé eetāliyāyee.
Matt: feelmé eetāliyāyee.
Leyla: ham kerāyé bokoneem.
Matt: ham kerāyé bokoneem.
Leyla: And then "va hameen jā, too khooné negāh bokoneem!" So we know the word eenjā; it means ‘here’. eenjā.
Matt: eenjā.
Leyla: oonjā means there. oonjā.
Matt: oonjā.
Leyla: yek jā, we learned, means ‘somewhere’. yek jā.
Matt: yek jā.
Leyla: And, finally, hameen jā means something like ‘right here’. hameen jā.
Matt: hameen jā.
Leyla: And we’ve learned negāh before - it means ‘watch’. negāh.
Matt: negāh.
Leyla: So this full sentence means ‘and watch it right here at home!’. va hameen jā.
Matt: va hameen jā.
Leyla: too khooné.
Matt: too khooné.
Leyla: negāh bokoneem.
Matt: negāh bokoneem.
Leyla: So let’s listen to the full sentence again:
meetooneem yé feelmé eetāliyāyee ham kerāyé bokoneem va hameen jā, too khooné negāh bokoneem!
Leyla: Okay, let’s listen to the full dialogue again one more time:
benazaré tō emshab chekār bokoneem?
nemeedoonam - tō chee fekr meekonee?
doost dāree bereem cinemā?
ché feelmee?
sabr kon bebeenam. hmm, benazar meeyād too cinemā feelmé jālebee neest.
bejāsh meetooneem yé jā shām bokhoreem.
masalan kojā?
een nazdik yé restoorāné cheenee bāz shodé.
man ghazāyé cheenee doost nadāram. ghazāyé eetāliyāyee beeshtar doost dāram.
meetooneem ham too khooné shām dorost bokoneem.
āhā, een ham fekré khoobeeyé. chee dorost koneem?
too yakhchāl chee dāreem?
gojé farangee dāreem, gooshté charkh kardé dāreem, va peeyāz dāreem.
espāgetti chetor?
meetooneem yé feelmé eetāliyāyee ham kerāyé bokoneem va hameen jā, too khooné negāh bokoneem!
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 C-H-A-I, for more information about our podcast.
Leyla: And find us on facebook at facebook.com/learnpersian to get the latest updates and info!
Matt: And until next time, khodāhāfez from Matt!
Leyla: And bé omeedé deedār from Leyla!