Speak / Lesson 49
How to Talk About Daily Routines
In Lesson 49, we learn to talk about simple daily routines. These include things like eating breakfast, going to work, having meals, and resting.
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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 49 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!
Matt: In this lesson, we continue our study of every day conversational Persian- what we’re calling kitchen Persian.
Leyla: Exactly- we’re learning vocabulary and phrases that you can use in every day conversation, just as always. In this lesson in particular, we’ll go over talking about daily routines. So, we’ll go over how to talk about when you wake up, what your morning routine is, and what you do when you come home from work. So let’s get right into it- 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 first, in this lesson, let’s talk about the workweek. In most western countries, the work week is from Monday, doshanbe, through Friday, jome, so doshanbe ta jomeh.
Matt: doshanbe ta jomeh
Leyla: In Iran, as we’ve covered before, the workweek is actually Saturday, shanbe, through Thursday, panjshanbe. Shanbe ta panjshanbe.
Matt: shanbe ta panjshanbe
Leyla: and Friday is off. So shanbeh ta panjshanbe, jom’e tateeleh. Do you remember what ‘jom’e tateeleh means Matt?
Matt: It means Fridays are off.
Leyla: Exactly. Jomeh tateeleh.
Matt: jomeh tateeleh.
Leyla: So, the work week is generally called ‘vasateh hafteh’.
Matt: vasateh hafteh.
Leyla: Which means the middle of the week. Hafteh is a week and vasateh means the middle of. Vasateh hafteh
Matt: Vasateh hafteh.
Leyla: Weekend is called akhareh hafteh.
Leyla: So we’ve covered a lot of grammar in previous lessons, and one thing we’ve learned is word conjugations. Right now, let’s go over the very ‘to work’ and go over verb endings. Hopefully this will be very familiar to you at this point. So, first of all the infinitive of to work is kar kardan
Matt: kar kardan
Leyla: So since we’re talking about the work week, let’s go over the conjugations of working. So how would you say ‘I work’?
Matt: Kar meekonam
Leyla: Exactly. Kar meekonam, I work. Next, how to do you say ‘you work,’ informal?
Matt: kar meekonee
Leyla: great, kar meekonee. Next how to you say he or she works?
Matt: kar meekoneh
Leyla: right, great, kar meekoneh. Next, how do we say
Leyla: So now going back to what we covered in the beginning of the lesson, we can say vasateh hafteh kar meekonam. What does this mean Matt?
Matt: It means in the middle of the week, I work.
Leyla: Great, vasateh hafteh kar meekonam
Matt: Vasateh hafteh kar meekonam.
Leyla: So again kar meekonam is the present tense of I work. Now we’re going to use this same tense to talk about what we do in the middle of the week what we do in the middle of the week. So one thing I do every morning when I wake up is sobhaneh meekohram.
Matt: sobhaneh meekohram.
Leyla: Matt, you should perhaps recognize this verb- do you know what it means?
Matt: It means I eat breakfast.
Leyla: Exactly sobhaneh khordan is eating breakfast. So sobhaneh meekhoram, I eat breakfast. Sobhaneh meekhoram
Matt: Sobhaneh meekhoram.
Leyla: Go over tenses of eating breakfast. To shobhaneh meekohree
Matt: To shobhaneh meekohree
Leyla: oo sobhaneh meekohreh.
Matt: oo sobhaneh meekohreh.
Leyla: Ma sobhaneh meekhooreem
Matt: Ma sobhaneh meekhooreem
Leyla: Shoma sobhaneh meekohreen
Matt: Shoma sobhaneh meekohreen
Leyla: Oona sobhaneh meekhoran
Matt: Oona sobhaneh meekhoran
Leyla: So now let’s get a bit more specific, and specify what time this happens. So for me, I eat breakfast somewhere around 7. So saateh haft sobhaneh meekohram.
Leyla: So now, Matt, I’ll ask you ‘saateh chand sobhaneh meekhoree?’
Matt: ‘Saateh hasht sobhaneh meekohram.’
Leyla: So I’ll say ‘man saateh haft sobhaneh meekhoram.
Matt: va man saateh hasht sobhaneh meekohram.
Leyla: So in this example, I said ‘man saateh haft sobhaneh meekohram. In there, I was emphasizing me, I eat breakfast at seven. As we remember from previous lessons, I don’t have to say the ‘me’, I included it for emphasis.
Leyla: So let’s go over more times, do you remember what haft o neem means Matt?
Matt: It means seven thirty
Leyla: So saateh haft o neem sobhaneh meekohram. What does this mean?
Matt: I eat breakfast at seven thirty.
Leyla: So that’s eating breakfast, sobhaneh khordan.
Matt: There are many other routines associated with going to work in the middle of the week. Let’s go over a few of these.
Leyla: So let’s go over the routine of leaving the house. So to say ‘I leave the house’, you say ‘az khooneh meeram beeroon’.
Matt: Az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Leyla: So I could say ‘saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon’
Matt: Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Leyla: What does that mean Matt?
Matt: It means I leave the house at eight.
Leyla: To say what time do you leave the house, I would say ‘saateh chand az khooneh meeree beeroon?
Saateh chand az khooneh meeree beeroon?
Matt: Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Leyla: So, saateh haft sobhaneh meekhoram
Matt: Saateh haft sobhaneh meekhoram.
Leyla: Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon
Matt: Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Leyla: And next, saateh noh meeresam edareh. Edareh is the word for office, so what could this mean Matt- saateh noh meeresam edareh.
Matt: It means, I get to the office at nine.
Leyla: Exactly, saateh noh meeresam edareh
Matt: Saateh noh meeresam edareh.
Leyla: So let’s go over my whole routine again up to the this point.
Saateh haft sobhaneh meekhoram
Saateh haft sobhaneh meekhoram.
Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon
Saateh hasht az khooneh meeram beeroon.
And saateh noh meeresam edareh
Saateh noh meeresam edareh.
Leyla: So now, I’m going to ask you about your morning routine Matt.
Sa’ateh chand sobhaneh meekhoree?
Matt: hasht sobhaneh meekhoram
Leyla: Saateh chand az khooneh meeree beeroon?
Matt: Saateh noh o neem az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Leyla: Va saateh chand meeresee daneshgah
Matt: Saateh dah meeresam daneshgah.
Leyla: Great, so Matt is in school right now- he doesn’t go to the office, he goes to the university, so we asked ‘what time do you get to the university?
Great, so let’s go over a few more day routines. Let’s go over nahar khordan, or eating lunch. Nahar khordan
Matt: nahar khordan.
Leyla: meekohram means I eat. Meekhoram
Meekhoram.
Leyla: So, man saateh yek nahar meekohram
Sa’ateh yek nahar meekhoram
Matt, sa’ateh chand nahar meekohree?
Man ham sa’ateh yek nahar meekhoram.
Leyla: Ok great, so Matt also eats lunch at one. Saateh yek nahar meekhoram.
Matt: Sa’ateh yek nahar meekohram.
Leyla: Next, I’ll ask Matt
Matt: Sa’ateh chand bar meegardee khooneh? Bar gashtan is the infinitive of to return. So sa’ateh chand bar meegardee khooneh, what time do you return home. Sa’ateh chand bar meegardee khooneh?
Matt: Sa’ateh chand bar meegardee khooneh?
Leyla: bar meegardee is you return, how do I say ‘I return?’
Matt: bar meegardam
Leyla: So, man Sa’ateh panj bar meegardam khooneh
Matt: Sa’ateh panj bar meegardam khooneh.
Leyla: And when I get home, there are a few things I can do:
Khastegee dar meekonam- I rest. Khastegee dar meekonam.
Matt: Khastegee dar meekonam.
Leyla: And sa’ateh hasht sham meekhoram.
Matt: Sa’ateh hasht sham meekohram.
Leyla: I eat dinner at eight. Matt, sa’ateh chand sham meekhoree?
Matt: Sa’ateh sheesh sham meekhoram.
Leyla: Great, so Matt eats dinner at six.
Let’s go through my whole day:
Sa’ateh hasht o neem sobhaneh meekohram.
Sa’ateh noh az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Mamoolan. Sa’ateh noh o neem meeresam sareh kar.
Kam o beesh sa’ateh yek nahar meekhoram.
Taghreeban sa’ateh sheesh bar meegardam khooneh.
Leyla: So I threw in a couple of extra words in there to make things exciting. I’ll go over these words, and then say the dialogue again, and hopefully you’ll be able to understand the whole thing. The word mamoolan means usually. Mamoolan
Matt: Mamoolan
Leyla: Kam o beesh means more or less. Kam o beesh
Matt: kam o beesh.
Leyla: And taghreeban means about. Taghreeban
Matt: taghreeban.
Leyla: So I’m going to go over the dialogue one last time and we’ll end the lesson there. We won’t go over the dialogue afterwards, as you should be able to get it, but it’s all written out for you in the PDF Guide along with a translation just in case you need a bit of extra help.
Sa’ateh hasht o neem sobhaneh meekohram.
Sa’ateh noh az khooneh meeram beeroon.
Mamoolan. Sa’ateh noh o neem meeresam sareh kar.
Kam o beesh sa’ateh yek nahar meekhoram.
Taghreeban sa’ateh sheesh bar meegardam khooneh.