Speak / Lesson 2
How to Greet People at Different Times of Day, Say Goodbye, and Introduce Yourself
In this lesson, we build on the last one and learn how to greet people during different times of the day. We also look at several forms of the word ‘goodbye,’ and how to introduce yourself in the Persian language.
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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 |
Matt: Welcome back to Chai and Conversation!
Leyla: Chai and Conversation brings you weekly lessons of conversational Persian all the way from Austin, Texas! Our program is unique in that it is the first and only podcast created specifically for people wanting to learn conversational Persian!
Matt: And I can say from experience that it is extremely difficult to find sources for learning conversational Persian for a casual learner.
Leyla: We are aiming to put an end to this by creating the most effective and most comprehensive resources available in the world!
Matt: It's quite a goal, but the need is out there, and you can help us with your continued support and feedback. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and log into our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with “chai” spelled “C-H-A-I” for more information!
Leyla: We will talk more about this after the lesson.
Matt: Also, we wanna let you know that we won't be spending any time during the lesson going over previously learned material.
Leyla: You can do that on your own. Instead, we'll build on materials learned in past lessons, so if you're new to Chai and Conversation, make sure you listen to Lesson 1 before listening to this one. Enough of that for now; Matt, are you ready to begin the lesson?
Matt: Ready!
Leyla: Great, let's begin to Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!
The first thing we learned in Lesson 1 was how to say ‘hello’. Do you remember what the word for ‘hello’ was, Matt?
Matt: salām.
Leyla: Great, so we're going to build on that today by learning some more ways to greet people throughout the day. The first word you could use to greet someone in the morning would be to say 'good morning'. In Persian, this is “sobh bekhayr.”
Matt: sobh nekhayr.
Leyla: Watch that second word; it's “sobh bekhayr.”
Matt: sobh bekhayr.
Leyla: Exactly. “bekhayr” means ‘to be good’ or ‘to be well’, and the word for morning is “sobh.” Again, put together, that's “sobh bekhayr.”
Matt: sobh bekhayr.
Leyla: Note that we have that "kh" sound again, and this time, it's in the middle of the word! Can you repeat that word one more time, Matt? bekhayr.
Matt: bekhayr.
Leyla: sobh bekhayr.
Matt: sobh bekhayr.
Leyla: You can say “sobh bekhayr” until about noon time or lunch time, and at that point, it would become more appropriate to say ‘good day’, or “rooz bekhayr.”
Matt: rooz bekhayr.
Leyla: As you can probably guess, the word for day is “rooz,” so again, it's “rooz bekhayr.”
Matt: rooz bekhay.
Leyla: rooz bekhayr.
Matt: rooz bekhayr.
Leyla: As you move along further into the day, you can begin to say ‘good afternoon’. 'Good afternoon' in Persian is “asr bekhayr.”
Matt: asr bekhayr.
Leyla: This is one of the more trickier words we've learned so far with the rolled R coming at the end of the word, so watch out for the pronunciation of that word! asr.
Matt: asr.
Leyla: asr bekhayr.
Matt: asr bekhayr.
Leyla: asr bekhayr.
Matt: asr bekhayr.
Leyla: Great, so now, let's try repeating these three greetings we've learned so far! ‘Good morning’ is sobh bekhayr.
Matt: sobh bekhayr.
Leyla: 'Good day' is rooz bekhayr.
Matt: rooz bekhayr.
Leyla: 'Good afternoon' is asr bekhayr.
Matt: asr bekhayr.
Leyla: Great! We're going to try that one more time, and this time, I'll say the word, you repeat the word, and then Matt will repeat it one more time so you can check your pronunciation with his. sobh bekhayr.
Matt: sobh bekhayr.
Leyla: rooz bekhayr.
Matt: rooz bekhayr.
Leyla: And finally, asr bekhayr.
Matt: asr bekhayr.
Leyla: As we move along further into the evening, we begin to say ‘good night’, which, as in English, is used as a farewell, not as a greeting. The word for ‘night’ in Persian is “shab,” so, Matt, can you figure out how to combine it with what we previously learned to form ‘good night'?
Matt: shab bekhayr?
Leyla: Exactly, so the word for ‘night’, “shab,” and the word for ‘to be good’, “bekhayr,” forms “shab bekhayr.”
Matt: shab bekhayr.
Leyla: shab bekhayr.
Matt: shab bekhayr.
Leyla: Now, we've learned a few ways to say ‘hello’ and a way to say ‘good night’, and let's learn a few more ways to say ‘goodbye’ in Persian! The most common way to say ‘goodbye’ in Persian is “khodāhāfez.”
Matt: khodāhāfez.
Leyla: Again, that's “khodāhāfez.”
Matt: khodāhāfez.
Leyla: You'll often hear this word shortened in casual conversation to simply “khodāfez,” but for the purposes of this program, we're going to learn the longer version, which is “khodāhāfez.”
Matt: khodāhāfez.
Leyla: In Persian, as in English, there are many ways to say ‘goodbye’. Let's learn a few of these. One way of bidding someone farewell is to casually say “fe’lan.”
Matt: fe’lan.
Leyla: “fe’lan” means something along the lines of 'for now', so ‘goodbye for now’. Again, “fe’lan.”
Matt: fe’lan.
Leyla: In case you can't catch it over the podcast, it's “fe’lan” with an F: “fe’lan.”
Matt: fe’lan.
Leyla: Another very common phrase for ‘goodbye’ is a slightly longer phrase than those we've learned before, but it is used often, so let's try it out. “bé omeedé deedār.”
Matt: bé omeedé dedār.
Leyla: That's perfect, except watch for that last word: “deedār” is ‘to see’. Let's try that! “deedār.”
Matt: deedār.
Leyla: In the whole phrase, it's “bé omeedé deedār.”
Matt: bé omeedé dedā.
Leyla: deedār.
Matt: deedār.
Leyla: bé omeedé deedār.
Matt: bé omeedé deedā.
Leyla: Let's try that again! One more time, it's “bé omeedé deedār.”
Matt: bé omeedé deedār.
Leyla: Perfect! The word “omeed” means ‘hope’, and “deedār," again, is 'to see you', so this phrase means something along the lines of 'hope to see you again!'. Now, let's repeat these few phrases that we've learned so far: khodāhāfez.
Matt: khodāhāfez.
Leyla: fe’lan.
Matt: fe’lān.
Leyla: Try to watch that second “a,” “fe’lan.”
Matt: fe’lan.
Leyla: Perfect, and the slightly tricky one, “bé omeedé deedār.”
Matt: bé omeedé deedār.
Leyla: Perfect! Now, you can always combine the second two phrases we learned with “khodāhāfez” to make an even more complete farewell! For instance, you could say 'khodāhāfez, fe’lan."
Matt: khodāhāfez, fe’lan.
Leyla: This literally means ‘goodbye for now’. You could also say “khodāhāfez, bé omeedé deedār.”
Matt: khodāhāfez, bé omeedé deedār.
Leyla: This would mean ‘goodbye and hope to see you again’. Let's learn two last common ways to say ‘goodbye’! You could say 'until later', which is “tā ba’d.”
Matt: tā ba’d.
Leyla: The second word of this phrase is a slightly longer version of “bad.” It's “ba’d.”
Matt: ba’d.
Leyla: “ba’d” means ‘later’, and notice that this is different than the word for 'bad' because it has a pause in the middle of the word! Listen carefully: ba’d.
Matt: ba’d.
Leyla: Perfect, you could translate this into just a longer form of “a”: tā ba'd.
Matt: tā ba’d.
Leyla: Perfect! “tā” in the phrase “tā ba’d” means ‘until’. You can use this word with the word for ‘tomorrow’, which is “fardā,” to say ‘until tomorrow,’ or, in Persian, “tā fardā.”
Matt: tā fardā.
Leyla: ‘Until later’ is tā ba’d…
Matt: tā ba’d.
Leyla: And ‘until tomorrow’ is tā fardā.
Matt: tā fardā.
Leyla: tā ba’d.
Matt: tā ba’d.
Leyla: And tā fardā.
Matt: tā fardā.
Leyla: Or, as we previously did, combined with goodbye, “khodāhāfez, tā ba’d.”
Matt: khodāhāfez, tā ba’d.
Leyla: To mean ‘goodbye, until later’ or “khodāhāfez, tā fardā.”
Matt: khodāhāfez, tā fardā.
Leyla: Which is ‘goodbye until tomorrow', so we learned ‘goodbye,’ “khodāfez,” ‘for now’, “fe’lan,” ‘in hopes of seeing you again,’ “bé omeedé deedār,” ‘until later,’ “tā ba’d,” and ‘until tomorrow,’ “tā fardā.” Let's repeat all these together one last time before we move on. I'm going to say the word, you repeat it, and Matt will repeat it after you. khodāhāfez.
Matt: khodāhāfez.
Leyla: fe’lan.
Matt: fe’lan.
Leyla: bé omeedé deedār.
Matt: bé omeedé deedār.
Leyla: tā ba’d.
Matt: tā ba’d.
Leyla: tā fardā.
Matt: tā fardā.
Leyla: Now, we're going to learn one final thing before we wrap up this lesson, and that is how to say your name in Persian. The phrase for 'my name is Leyla' in Persian would be “esmé man leylā hast.” Listen to this carefully one more time: esmé man leylā hast. Matt, could you repeat that phrase using your own name? I would say, “esmé man leylā hast,” and Matt would say…
Matt: esmé man matt hast.
Leyla: Exactly, so again, I would say, “esmé man leylā hast,” and Matt would say…
Matt: esmé man matt hast.
Leyla: You may recognize that word “man” from that last lesson. This means 'me', and “esm” is the Persian word for ‘name’, so I'm going to repeat the phrase one more time, and then you repeat it using your own name! “esmé man leylā hast.”
Great, and hopefully you replaced the word “leylā” with your own name! Now, after you meet someone and you want to say something along the lines of 'pleased to meet you' or 'it's a pleasure', you say “khoshvaghtam.”
Matt: khoshvaghtam.
Leyla: Exactly, “khoshvaghtam.”
Matt: khoshvaghtam.
Leyla: Great, so now, let's try a short conversation using all these words we've learned so far! Listen along and see if you can understand all the words!
salām, sobh bekhayr!
Matt: salām, sobh bekhayr!
Leyla: chetor-ee?
Matt: khoob-am, merci, chetor-ee?
Leyla: khoob-am, merci. esmé man leylā hast.
Matt: khoshvaghtam. esmé man matt hast.
Leyla: khoshvaghtam.
Hopefully, you understood all of that conversation. Now, we've learned only a few words in this lesson, but like we said before, that's how we wanna take it for Chai and Conversation: nice and slowly!
Matt: You should try to listen to the podcast several times during the week so that you can become really confident with the language you've learned. Until next time, khodāhāfez from Matt!
Leyla: va bé omeedé deedār from Leyla!