Speak / Lesson 48
How To Discuss Travel
In this lesson, we learn the Persian words for different types of transportation, including airplanes, cars, bicycles, and motorcyles.

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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 47 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!
Matt: We’re so glad to have you with us!
Leyla: As you know, we’re in our power series of ‘Chai and Converastion, and in this series, we’re learning vocabulary that will help you in practical everyday conversations.
Matt: Today, we’re going to cover a particular travel topic, and that is travel with Airplanes.
Leyla: If you are on our mailing list, you know that my mother worked for Southwest Airlines, and before that Iran Air in IRan, and so airplanes are a particularly favorite topic of mine.
Matt: And if you’ve been listening to the program, you should definitely know that all of our previous learning materials and bonus materials are available on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with CHAI spelled CHAI
Leyla: But enough of that for now, Matt, are you ready to being the lesson?
Matt: Ready!
Leyla: Great, then let’s begin to learn Persian with Chai and Conversation.
So just as we did last time, we’re going to begin this lesson with a dialogue between me and Matt.
farda meeram peesheh khanevadam dar dallas.
ba masheen meeree?
na, ba havapayma.
parvazet saateh chandeh?
saat noh e sobh.
kay meeresee dallas?
saateh dah
chetor meeree foroodgah?
ba otoboos meeram foroodgah,
khob, beh salamati.
ok, let’s go over the vocabulary learned in this dialogue.
farda meeram soragheh khanevadam dar dallas. so first, the word peesheh probably jumps out at you.
havapayma, airplane
parvaz means flight. so parvazet saateh chandeh
foroodgah is the word for airport.
reseedan is the verb meaning to arrive. chejooree meeresee foroodgah. how will you arrive at the airport. you can use this word in many different contexts.
kay meeresee, when will you get here.
farda meeresam, I’ll get there tomorrow.
zood meeresam, I’ll get there quickly.
nemeeresam, I won’t get there.
ba otoboos meeram foroodgah
so let’s go over modes of transportation here since we learned two just now.
masheen, is car
another word for car is khodro. you won’t hear that as often
docharkheh
secharkheh
motorcyclet
metro
heleecoopter
ghayegh
to end the conversation, it was ‘beh salamati’. This is used when drinking cheers, and basically means to your health. So in other words, good luck to you.
You could also say ‘safar khosh’, or have a good trip.
So let’s go over a few of the words we learned in this lesson to review. The word for Airplane is
havapayma
the word for