A Dialogue between Matt and Leyla

Leyla: Hello everyone! Welcome to Lesson 31 of Chai and Conversation!

Matt: Hello! It's been a while!

Leyla: Yes, we took a bit of a hiatus to edit and complete all the bonus materials for Unit 3, and now we're back for Unit 4 of Chai and Conversation!

Leyla: So this is a very special unit of Chai and Conversation. We're going to take all the vocabulary, phrases, and grammar rules we've learned in the first three units, and combine them in short and simple dialogues. In this lesson, the dialogue will be between Matt and myself. In subsequent lessons, the dialogue will take place between me and a native speaker of the Persian language. In the dialogues, you will hear native speakers speaking at a quicker speed than we usually hear on Chai and Conversation. This way, you'll know what to expect when having conversations in Persian with native speakers.

Matt: You'll probably be surprised with how much of the conversation you'll be able to pick up. I know I am surprised when I go to a gathering with all my in-laws- I might not be able to understand everything, but I usually understand the general meaning of the conversation, and can usually come up with a simple response to what they're saying.

Leyla: And hopefully after this unit you'll be able to do even more of that Matt- and so will you listeners! Anyhow, enough talking- now that you know what to expect in Unit 4, let's get on with the program. Shoroo bokoneem Matt? Shall we start?

Matt: Baleh, shoroo bokoneem!

Leyla: Great, pass farsi yad begeereem ba Chai and Conversation.

Leyla: Ok, so as we said in the intro, Matt and I haven't recorded in a while, and even though we both live in Austin, we haven't seen each other in a while! That's because we've both been very busy. The way you say 'I've been busy' in Persian is 'mashghool boodam'

Matt: Mashghool boodam

Leyla: This also means 'I was busy' but in conversational Persian, I was busy and I've been busy are the same. So mashghool boodam

Matt: Mashghool boodam

Leyla: Or, of course, khayli maghghool boodam

Matt: Khayli mashghool boodam

Leyla: Meaning I've been very busy.

So that being said, we are now going to listen to a dialogue between Matt and I- the first dialogue we've had after a while of not seeing each other. In this dialogue, there will be several parts you might not understand completely. But listen, and try to grasp as much of the conversation as you can. We'll go over it sentence by sentence afterwards, and repeat the parts that we'd like to incorporate into our vocabulary. All right, let's go ahead and listen to the conversation.

Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam.

Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

Jedi? Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.

Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Barayeh pezeshgee!

Ghabool shodee?

Ghabool shodam.

Jedi?! Cheghadr alee! Mobarak basheh!

Khayli mamnoon.

Khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee?

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.

Wow, khosh beh halet! Kojaye espaniya?

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid.

Khosh gozasht?

Khayli khosh gozasht! To chetor? Raftee Dallas?

Areh, man raftam Dallas, va khanevadam o deedam. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem.

Cheghadr khoob.

Leyla: Ok, great, and that brings us to the end of the dialogue. This dialogue emphasizes the past tense, which we learned about in Unit 3 of Chai and conversation. Again, you may not have understood every single word, but you should have understood the general concept of the dialogue. Now, this is a rather long dialogue, and we're going to go over it line by line, by listening to two sentences at a time. At the end of the lesson, we'll listen to the entire dialogue again, and hopefully by that point you'll be able to understand the whole thing. So let's go back to the first two sentences:

{Repeat: Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam.

Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

}

Leyla: Ok, so in this, first I say Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam. So first, the word alan. That means now. Alan

Matt: Alan

Leyla: Next, I say 'she mah-e ke to ro nadeedam. Now, we may not have heard all these words in this configuration, but we've learned all of the words in this sentence before. Matt, can you figure out what it means?

Matt: It means I haven't seen you in three months.

Leyla: Exactly. So seh mah-e- that means 'it's three months' 'seh mah-e'

Matt: Seh mah-e

Leyla: Ke to ro nadeedam. That I haven't seen you. Ke to ro nadeedam

Matt: Ke to ro nadeedam.

Leyla: So nadeedam, we've learned before is 'I haven't seen' in the past tense.

Leyla: Ke, means that. Ke to ro nadeedam. We also have the word ro in there. We learned this in previous lessons- again, it doesn't have a direct translation in English, but it is a direct object marker. It point out that we are specifically talking about you. Ke to ro nadeedam. That I haven't seen you. Ke to ro nadeedam

Matt: Ke to ro nadeedam.

Leyla: Let's listen to the full sentence again.

{Matt, alan seh mahe keh to ro nadeedam}

Leyla: So literally, this means 'Now Matt, it's been three months that I haven't seen you. Ok, moving on, Matt replies

Matt: Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

Leyla: We learned this at the beginning of this sentence, and it means, yes, I was very busy. Ok, moving on, the next two sentences.

{Repeat: Jedi? Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Matt: Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.}

Leyla: So the first sentence of this is very easy. First, I asked 'Jedi?' This is a great word for a conversation, and it simply means' really?' Jedi?

Matt: Jedi?

Leyla: And then dar en seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Matt: Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Leyla: So dar een seh mah 'in these three months', cheh kar kardee? We've studied the phrase cheh kar kardee extensively- what does this mean Matt?

Matt: What did you do?

Leyla: Exactly. So, dar een seh mah cheh kar kardee? What did you do in these three months? Matt replied:

Matt: Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.

Leyla: Ok, there is a verb in this phrase that we haven't learned, and that is 'taghaza kardam'

Matt: Taghaza kardam

Leyla: This is a big word, but it simply means 'applied' in the past tense. Taghaza kardam

Matt: Taghaza kardam

Leyla: Do you remember what the word daneshgah means Matt?

Matt: It means 'university'.

Leyla: Exactly, so knowing that, what does this sentence mean?

Matt: It means I applied for the university.

Leyla: Exactly! So the word barayeh means for. Barayeh

Matt: Barayeh

Leyla: This word can of course be used in many ways. For example, for me is 'barayeh man'

Matt: Barayeh man

Leyla: Or for you, informal, would be

Matt: Barayeh to

Leyla: Ok, so the full phrase, 'Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam,' means well, first I applied for university'. Khob means well. Khob

Matt: Khob

Leyla: And by the way, one of the main goals of this dialogue unit is for you to learn these common dialogue fillers, like jedi or khob. These are used often in Persian conversations. So, now let's listen to the full first 4 sentences again.

{repeat: Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam.

Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

Jedi? Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Matt: Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.}

Leyla: Ok, let's listen to the next two sentences. These are short ones.

{repeat: Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Barayeh pezeshgee! }

Leyla: So we learned the word barayeh- what does this mean Matt?

Matt: For

Leyla: Exactly, barayeh means for. The word 'reshte' mean subject, like in the university. So barayeh cheh reshteyee, means for what subject? Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Matt: Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Leyla: And Matt replied 'barayeh pezeshgee'

Matt: Barayeh pezeshgee

Leyla: A pezeshk is a physician, and pezeshgee is the study of becoming a medical doctor. So med school. Barayeh pezeshgee

Matt: Barayeh pezeshgee

Leyla: Great. Next two sentences:

{Ghabool shodee?

Ghabool shodam.}

Leyla: So ghabool shodan is the infinitive of 'to become accepted.' Ghabool shodan

Matt: Ghabool shodan

Leyla: So ghabool shodee means 'you were accepted' Ghabool shodee?

Matt: Ghabool shodee?

Leyla: So, were you accepted? And Matt replied

Matt: Ghabool shodam

Leyla: Which means 'I was accepted'

And I want to note here that this is all real- Matt really did apply to med school and got in, so congratulations Matt!

Matt: Haha, thanks!

Leyla: Ok, so the next two lines

{Repeat: Jedi?! Cheghadr alee! Mobarak basheh!

Khayli mamnoon.}

Leyla: Ok, so after finding out Matt did get into med school, I said 'Jedi? Cheghard alee! Mobarak basheh!'

Mobarak basheh means 'congratulations!' and it's used very often in the Persian language. So 'mobarak basheh'

Matt: Mobarak basheh

Leyla: This isn't only used to congratulate people when they get in to med school. It's also used, for example, when someone buys something new and you want to congratulate them on it. So for example, if I buy a new car, you'll congratulate me on my new acquisition by saying 'mobarak basheh!'

Matt: Mobarak basheh!

Leyla: Or, if I buy a new shirt and you want to tell me it looks good, you can say the same thing. Mobarak basheh!

Matt: Mobarak basheh!

Leyla: Ok, great. So now let's listen to the entire dialogue up to this point again.

Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam.

Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

Jedi? Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.

Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Barayeh pezeshgee!

Ghabool shodee?

Ghabool shodam.

Jedi?! Cheghadr alee! Mobarak basheh!

Khayli mamnoon.

Leyla: So that's the first half of the dialogue. So far so good?

Matt: Yes.

Leyla: Ok, great, let's move on to the second half. Let's listen in

{repeat: Khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee?

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.}

Leyla: Ok, so the first sentence is 'khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee.' All of this should sound familiar, but perhaps you haven't heard the word 'deegeh' before. This is the colloquial way of saying 'other'. So deegeh cheh kar kardee means what other things did you do. So deegeh

Matt: Deegeh

Leyla: A common phrase you'll hear in conversation is 'deegeh chee'

Matt: Deegeh chee

Leyla: This simply means what else. And again, our phrase is 'deegeh chee kar kardee?

Matt: Deegeh chee kar kardee?

Leyla: To which Matt replied:

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.}

Leyla: First, 'ba ladan raftam espaniya. This is directly from a lesson in Unit 3- what does it mean Matt?

Matt: I went with Ladan to Spain.

Leyla: Exactly. And then 'oonja khayli fameel dareh.' What does this mean?

Matt: There, she has a lot of family.

Leyla: Great, exactly. We've learned all these words before too. Oonja means there, and fameel is the word for family. And dareh is the third person conjugation for to have. So oonja khayli fameel dareh,' meaning Ladan has a lot of family in Spain. Moving on to the next two sentences:

{repeat: Wow, khosh beh halet! Kojaye espaniya?

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid. }

Leyla: Ok, so I replied 'wow, khosh beh halet'. This is a phrase we haven't learned before, and means 'lucky for you'. It is a very common phrase. Khosh beh halet

Matt: Khosh beh halet.

Leyla: And kojaye espaniya simply means 'where in Spain?' Kojayeh espaniya

Matt: Kojayeh espaniya

Leyla: To which Matt replied

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid.

Leyla: So, to understand this phrase, first let's learn the word 'baad'. Now this word is a little tricky, because it's not the same as bad. It has a drawn out 'a' sound in the middle. Ba'ad.

Matt: Ba'ad.

Leyla: And this means after, or next. Baad

Matt: Baad

Leyla: Sometimes, you'll also hear it said as 'baadesh'

Matt: Baadesh

Leyla: This means the same thing, but sometimes the esh is dropped in conversation, as was done in our example. So aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid. This means 'first we went to Barcelona, and afterwards, we went to Madrid. Rafteem is the past first person plural for to go. Rafteem

Matt: Rafteem.

Leyla: How do you say 'I went'?

Matt: Raftam

Leyla:  and we learned these in Unit 3 as well. Ok, let's listen to this second half of the conversation so far again:

{ Khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee?

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.

Wow, khosh beh halet! Kojaye espaniya?

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid. }

Leyla: Ok, let's move on to the next two sentences.

{ Khosh gozasht?

Khayli khosh gozasht! To chetor? Raftee Dallas?}

Leyla: Ok, so first I asked 'khosh gozasht?'

Matt: Khosh gozasht?

Leyla: We've learned the phrase khosh gozasht in Unit 2 when we learned to say 'khayli khosh gozasht' at the end of a party. It means I had a great time. So I'm asking Matt 'did you have a good time? Khosh gozasht?

Matt: Khosh gozasht?

Leyla: And Matt replied with the sentence: Khayli khosh gozasht! To chetor? Raftee Dallas?

Leyla: You should understand every word in that reply! What did this answer mean Matt?

Matt: It means 'I had a great time! What about you, did you go to Dallas?

Leyla: Exactly. Let's listen to the last two sentences:

{ Areh, man raftam Dallas, va khanevadam o deedam. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem.

Cheghadr khoob.}

Leyla: Ok, so areh, man raftam Dallas. Yes, I went to Dallas. 'va khanevadam o deedam'. Khanevadeh means family. Khanevadeh

Matt: Khanevadeh. So khanevadam is my family. Khanevadam

Leyla: Khanevadam. Va khanevadam o deedam, and I saw my family. The next sentence may sound unfamiliar to you. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem. We haven't learned these words before. Kolee basically means 'a lot' and 'kayf' means delight. So together, we had a lot of delight, or more figuratively, it means 'together, we had a lot of fun'. Ba ham, of course, is together, with each other. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem.

Matt: Ba ham kolee kayf kardem.

Leyla: And Matt replied 'cheghadr khoob', meaning how great. Cheghadr khoob

Matt: Cheghadr khoob.

Leyla: Ok, again, let's listen to the second half of this conversation:

Khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee?

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.

Wow, khosh beh halet! Kojaye espaniya?

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid.

Khosh gozasht?

Khayli khosh gozasht! To chetor? Raftee Dallas?

Areh, man raftam Dallas, va khanevadam o deedam. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem.

Cheghadr khoob.

Leyla: Ok, I want us to listen to the entire conversation again one more time with our new knowledge of all the words, but first, let's go over all the new vocabulary we learned in this lesson to make sure we remember them. First, jedi

Matt: Jedi

Leyla: Jedi means really. Next, taghaza kardam

Matt: Taghaza kardam

Leyla: Taghaza karam means to apply, and it's the first person past tense conjugation of this verb.

Matt: And this means 'for what subject'

Leyla: Next, ghabool shodam.

Matt: Ghabool shodam

Leyla: And this means I became accepted, or I was accepted.

Matt: Next, mobarak basheh

Matt: Mobarak basheh

Leyla: Meaning congratulations. Next, we learned the word 'deegeh'

Matt: Deegeh'

Leyla: And this means other. It can be used in the phrase 'deegeh chee'

Matt: Deegeh chee

Leyla: Meaning 'what else'

Matt: Next, 'khosh beh halet'

Leyla: Khosh beh halet

Matt: Meaning 'lucky for you'

Leyla: Finally, we learned the phrase kolee kayf kardeem

Matt: Kolee kayf kardeem

Leyla: This means we had a wonderful time, we had a delightful time.

Matt: Ok, now that we've repeated all these words and phrases, let's go back through the dialogue. Hopefully this time, you'll understand the entire thing with no problem:

Matt, alan seh mah-e ke to ro nadeedam.

Areh, khayli mashghool boodam!

Jedi? Dar een seh mah, cheh kar kardee?

Khob, aval, barayeh daneshgah taghaza kardam.

Barayeh cheh reshteyee?

Barayeh pezeshgee!

Ghabool shodee?

Ghabool shodam.

Jedi?! Cheghadr alee! Mobarak basheh!

Khayli mamnoon.

Khob, khayli khoobeh. Deegeh cheh kar kardee?

Ba Ladan raftam Espaniya. Oonja khayli fameel dareh.

Wow, khosh beh halet! Kojaye espaniya?

Aval rafteem Barcelona, va baad rafteem Madrid.

Khosh gozasht?

Khayli khosh gozasht! To chetor? Raftee Dallas?

Areh, man raftam Dallas, va khanevadam o deedam. Ba ham kolee kayf kardeem.

Cheghadr khoob.

Leyla: All right, and that brings us to the end of lesson 31!

Leyla: In the bonus material for Unit 4, we will include the entire transcript for each dialogue, along with the translations and spellings in phonetic English. In addition, when you purchase the bonus materials for this unit, you'll gain access to each of the sentences of the dialogue, which you can click on and listen to individually.

Matt: Again, bonus materials are available on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with chai spelled CHAI.

Leyla: In the next lessons of this unit, we'll listen to conversations between me and my family before and during my trip to Dallas. It should be a treat for all you listeners!

Matt: Again, thanks so much for listening to the lesson, and for supporting us on Chai and Conversation.

Leyla: And until next time, khodahafez from leyla

Matt: And beh omeede deedar from matt!