Giving Thanks

Leyla: salām bé hamegee, and welcome to lesson 69 of Chai and Conversation. In this lesson, we're going to be learning how to give thanks. I'm joined today by my colleague Vijay jān. salām Vijay jān, chetor-ee?

Vijay:  salām bé rooyé māhet! khoob-am, merci. shomā chetor-ee? 

Leyla: khaylee mamnoon, bad neestam. So today we are going to be doing a conversation about giving thanks. Can you give us a little background on this conversation? 

Vijay: Absolutely. So I think in all of the dialogues that we've seen before, you know, we've been seeing a lot of dialogues that have to do with saying hello, but this is the first time that we're actually having a dialogue that's all about saying goodbye. So, you know, two lessons ago, we had a dialogue with some guests at a party or, you know, guests at somebody else's house, and they were being welcomed. But here, they're actually leaving. So we have some more tārof phrases that are relevant to that particular situation. 

Leyla: Wonderful. And I'm sure we'll see when you're leaving in Iranian culture, just as it takes a while to arrive somewhere, and you have a lot of phrases that you need to use when you arrive, the same is true for when you're leaving. You can't just get up and go. It's a whole process that starts well before you are going to actually get up and go. Just slowly making your way toward the door. There's a whole process and words you need to use and phrases that you need to use. I'm sure we'll see a lot of that in this dialogue. So without further ado, let's go ahead and listen.

mehmān 1: vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen. deegé bāyad raf'é zahmat koneem 

meezbān: ekhteeyār dāreen mā eenghadr az shomā mohabat deedeem ké een-ā hesāb neest shomā zahmat kesheedeen tashreef ovordeen 

mehmān 2: een harf-ā chee-yé? hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem had aghal kāsh meezāshteen komaketoon koneem 

meezbān: alān ākharé shab-é behtareen kār een-é ké bā ehteeyāt rānandegee koneed va bereseen khooné 

Leyla: Okay. We're laughing because it's all, we've experienced this many times, right? Okay. Is Indian culture like this, Vijay? 

Vijay: There's a little bit of this. I mean, I think especially, you know, the taking leave, you know, taking a very long time at the door. That's very classic, like, Indian party thing, you know, like, whenever we had a party and, you know, when I was a little kid then, you know, they'd say, like, oh, you know, come down, we're leaving and then, you know, they’d spend like 15 minutes at the door so then, you know, kids would actually sneak back, you know, upstairs and play some more and then they'd be like, hey, where are the kids? Hey! Come down, we're leaving. 

Leyla: That is very common. Okay, that's very, very good. Yes. But then the whole like, all these, like, apologizing for bringing upon so much difficulty and stuff, y’all don't have that as much?

Vijay: Not as much. I think, you know, Persians have really mastered this art of tārof to an extent that we haven’t really. Yeah. 

Leyla: Okay. Well, well, let's listen to it. This definitely has a lot of that. Let's start with the first sentence. 

mehmān 1: vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen. deegé bāyad raf'é zahmat koneem 

Leyla: Okay. This is beautiful. So one of the first things that you do when you want to leave the party is exactly what this guy is saying. He goes vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen and zahmat is the word for hard work or sacrifice and difficulty. So zahmat kesheedeen, you have really put in some hard work. You've put in some difficult, hard work. So let's say that. vāgh'an means really. So let's start with that. vāgh'an

Vijay: vāgh'an 

Leyla: And then zahmat kesheedeen 

Vijay: zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: So you have put in a lot of hard work. So you've gone through a lot of trouble. Basically that's another really good way of putting it. You've gone through a lot of trouble. zahmat kesheedeen 

Vijay: zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: And again, it's really hard to translate these things directly. But you can think like zahmat kesheedan is like a laborer putting in hard work all day, you know, building a factory or something, or someone who has really worked with their body hard or like, you know, gone through a lot of difficulty. So what part of tārof is this exaggeration? So this person put on a party, like really how much labor did they do? How much difficulty do they have? But this is a important thing to say vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen

Vijay: vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: You'll say this whether someone has brought you a cup of tea when you're at someone's house or whether they've, like, made you a ten-course meal and have to do all the dishes. So either way, they have gone through zahmat, they've gone through hard work. And then he goes, deegé bāyad raf'é zahmat koneem. So this is a really good phrase. The guest, no matter who they are, what they have done, they have put a burden on the homeowner. So they are the burden and they are the hard work. So that comes through in the sentence. He goes, deegé, which we had in the last lesson, is an untranslatable word, but in this case it means and now, deegé. 

Vijay: deegé 

Leyla: Or anyways, anyhow, deegé 

Vijay: deegé 

Leyla: And then bāyad, we must, bāyad 

Vijay: bāyad 

Leyla: raf'é zahmat which means the relief of trouble. And raf'é zahmat koneem means we must relieve this trouble. We must lessen the trouble. raf'é zahmat koneem 

Vijay: raf'é zahmat koneem 

Leyla: And this means we must unburden you of this trouble. So that means that they’ve got to leave. So they're saying you really worked hard. We need to relieve you of this hard work. Meaning we as guests have given, we have been hard work for you, and now we must relieve you of this hard work. Meaning we must leave. So again, let's say this slowly together. vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen 

Vijay: vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: deegé bāyad 

Vijay: deegé bāyad 

Leyla: raf'é zahmat koneem 

Vijay: raf'é zahmat koneem 

Leyla: Great. And then he goes 

Meezbān: ekhteeyār dāreen mā eenghadr az shomā mohabat deedeem ké een-ā hesāb neest shomā zahmat kesheedeen tashreef ovordeen 

Leyla: Oh, man. Whew. Okay. He goes ekhteeyār dāreen 

Vijay: ekhteeyār dāreen 

Leyla: And we had this in another lesson that we talked about tārof; it again is one of those things that you can't really translate, but he's basically saying no, no trouble at all. ekhteeyār. 

Vijay: Oh, it's like you have the privilege or something. 

Leyla: Yeah, it doesn't really, translating it is a little bit nonsensical, but it means oh, of course not. No, of course not. Please, again it’s a tārof phrase, ekhteeyār dāreen 

Vijay: ekhteeyār dāreen 

Leyla: And then he goes mā eenghadr az shomā mohabat deedeem ké een-ā hesāb neest. So in this case, hesāb neest means it doesn't count. hesāb is to have a count of or 

Vijay: Account or like a bill. 

Leyla: Yes, exactly. Account for or a bill. Yes, exactly. So it doesn't count. hesāb neest

Vijay: hesāb neest 

Leyla: And he goes mā eenghadr az shomā mohabat deedeem So mā means we 

Vijay: mā 

Leyla: And then eenghadr mean so much. eenghadr 

Vijay: eenghadr 

Leyla: az shomā, from you, az shomā 

Vijay: az shomā

Leyla: And then mohabat deedeem. mohabat means kindness and deedeem means we've seen. So we've seen so much. mohabat deedeem 

Vijay: mohabat deedeem 

Leyla: So we so much from you have seen kindness. So we've seen so much kindness from you. ké, that, 

Vijay: ké 

Leyla: een-ā, these, een-ā 

Vijay: een-ā 

Leyla: hesāb neest, doesn't count. hesāb neest

Vijay: hesāb neest 

Leyla: Okay, so he’s saying we've seen so much kindness from you that this doesn't even count. So how much trouble you've given us? You have given us so much kindness that this means nothing, like we owe it to you, basically. So let's repeat this bit by bit. mā eenghadr 

Vijay: mā eenghadr 

Leyla: az shomā 

Vijay: az shomā

Leyla: mohabat deedeem 

Vijay: mohabat deedeem 

Leyla: ké een-ā 

Vijay: ké een-ā 

Leyla: hesāb neest 

Vijay: hesāb neest 

Leyla: And then he goes, he flips it, he goes, shomā zahmat kesheedeen tashreef ovordeen Okay, so we've seen the word tashreef ovordeen before. It means graced us with your presence. tashreef ovordeen

Vijay: tashreef ovordeen 

Leyla: And then he goes shomā zahmat kesheedeen. So we had that in the first sentence vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen. You have gone through a lot of trouble. And then he goes shomā zahmat kesheedeen. So you don't need to have that pronoun in there. You don't need to say you have gone through trouble, but he's doing it to emphasize shomā. You have gone through trouble. shomā zahmat kesheedeen 

Vijay: shomā zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: So you are the one who's gone through trouble by gracing us with your presence. So shomā zahmat kesheedeen 

Vijay: shomā zahmat kesheedeen 

Leyla: tashreef ovordeen

Vijay: tashreef ovordeen 

Leyla: That you have graced us with your presence. Okay. And then the next sentence. 

mehmān 2: een harf-ā chee-yé? hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem had aghal kāsh meezāshteen komaketoon koneem

Leyla: Okay. So this is another tārof phrase. He goes een harf-ā chee-yé? So een means these harf-ā or these words. chee-yé? What is it? So what are these words? What are you saying? een harf-ā chee-yé? 

Vijay: een harf-ā chee-yé? 

Leyla: Which is a good way to counterbalance the tārof. What are you saying? een harf-ā chee-yé? 

Vijay: een harf-ā chee-yé? 

Leyla: So she rejects his premise. No, that is not. What are you saying? And then he goes, hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem So hesābee means fully or like really. 

Vijay: Yeah! Like totally or completely. 

Leyla: Totally, completely. But it's the same as what he says, hesāb neest, it doesn't count. hesābee mean completely like by all counts. So hesābee 

Vijay: Hesābee

Leyla: hamé cheez-rā hamé cheez means everything. She uses the word for thing. hamé means all. So all things, hamé cheez.

Vijay: hamé cheez 

Leyla: rā, and rā again. direct object marker. One of those things you have to just keep seeing in conversation before you know how to use it. But she's like all these particular things hamé cheez-rā 

Vijay: hamé cheez-rā 

Leyla: And then bé ham reekhteem and this means we have messed up. So we've like really made a mess. bé ham reekhteem 

Vijay: bé ham reekhteem 

Leyla: So we have really made a mess fully. hesābee, completely. hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem 

Vijay: hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem 

Leyla: Okay. So we have really made a mess. So she's like what are you saying. We have really made a mess. And then she goes had aghal meaning at least, had aghal.

Vijay:had aghal

Leyla: kāsh meezāshteen kāsh means if only, meezāshteen, you would let, kāsh meezāshteen

Vijay: kāsh meezāshteen

Leyla: And kāsh also, when it's in this conversation, it's been shortened. But you could say kāsh-kee, if only kāsh-kee meezāshteen or you can shorten it to kāsh meezāshteen In this case she's saying kāsh meezāshteen 

Vijay: kāsh meezāshteen 

Leyla: komaketoon koneem And that means for us to help you. komaketoon koneem.

Vijay: komaketoon koneem

Leyla: I wish that you would that you would let us help you basically, kāsh is like, I wish, it would be good if. had aghal, at least, kāsh meezāshteen komaketoon koneem At least, you would have let us to help you. had aghal 

Vijay: had aghal

Leyla: kāsh meezāshteen

Vijay: kāsh meezāshteen

Leyla: komaketoon koneem

Vijay: komaketoon koneem

Leyla: At least I wish that you would have let us help. And then he goes. 

meezbān: alān ākharé shab-é behtareen kār een-é ké bā ehteeyāt rānandegee koneed va bereseen khooné 

Leyla: And basically, he kicks them out. He goes, hmm. He’s like these people won't leave. They're just sitting here tārofing. So he goes alān ākharé shab-é. So alān means right now. alān 

Vijay: Alān

Leyla: ākharé shab-é, it’s the end of the night. ākhar mean the end. shab-é, of the night. It is the end of the night. ākharé shab-é 

Vijay: ākharé shab-é 

Leyla: behtareen kār een-é The best thing is, so behtareen, the best, behtareen 

Vijay: behtareen 

Leyla: And kār literally means work. But he's saying the best thing to do. Kār

Vijay: kār 

Leyla: een-é is this, een-é 

Vijay: een-é 

Leyla: ké bā ehteeyāt ké means that, ké 

Vijay: Ké

Leyla: bā is with, bā 

Vijay: bā 

Leyla: ehteeyāt, care, ehteeyāt. 

Vijay: ehteeyāt 

Leyla: Okay, so behtareen kār een-é ké bā ehteeyāt. The best thing is that you with care and then rānandegee koneed, which means to drive. That you drive, rānandegee koneed 

Vijay: rānandegee koneed. 

Leyla: So the best thing is that you, with care, drive. va bereseen khooné and arrive at home. va bereseen khooné 

Vijay: va bereseen khooné 

Leyla: So he's basically saying yes, you are trouble. The best thing for you to do is get out of here in so many words. But he, of course, doesn't say that. He says it with this nice tārof. So the best thing is for you to drive safely and get home safely is basically what he’s saying. So let's repeat all that again together. alān ākharé shab-é 

Vijay: alān ākharé shab-é 

Leyla: And behtareen kār een-é 

Vijay: behtareen kār een-é 

Leyla: ké bā ehteeyāt 

Vijay: ké bā ehteeyāt

Leyla: rānandegee koneed 

Vijay: rānandegee koneed 

Leyla: va bereseen khooné 

Vijay: va bereseen khooné 

Leyla: Perfect. And that is the end of the conversation. Vijay, is there anything else that you wanted to point out before we listen to the full thing again together? 

Vijay: No, I think that's pretty much it. You know, we just have another conversation where we have people taking leave of each other, and that's a good warm-up for our last lesson, where people are also taking leave, but in a much more specific situation. This is a more generic situation of saying goodbye. 

Leyla: Okay, perfect. And the next lesson is actually the last in this unit. And next lesson, we will also reveal what we will be doing in our next unit, which is going to be very exciting. And so, let's go ahead and listen to this goodbye conversation, which again, is very important in Iranian culture. The long, long goodbye. Here we go.

mehmān 1: vāgh'an zahmat kesheedeen. deegé bāyad raf'é zahmat koneem 

meezbān: ekhteeyār dāreen mā eenghadr az shomā mohabat deedeem ké een-ā hesāb neest shomā zahmat kesheedeen tashreef ovordeen 

mehmān 2: een harf-ā chee-yé? hesābee hamé cheez-rā bé ham reekhteem had aghal kāsh meezāshteen komaketoon koneem 

meezbān: alān ākharé shab-é behtareen kār een-é ké bā ehteeyāt rānandegee koneed va bereseen khooné 

Leyla: Wonderful. Okay, thank you everyone for listening to this lesson with us. The giving thanks at a goodbye. And until next time, khodāhāfez from Leyla. 

Vijay: And bé omeedé deedār from Vijay.