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 everyday conversational Persian.
Leyla: Exactly- we’re learning vocabulary and phrases that you can use in everyday 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, doshanbé, through Friday, jom'é, so doshanbé tā jom'é.
Matt: doshanbé tā jom'é.
Leyla: In Iran, as we’ve covered before, the workweek is actually Saturday, shanbé, through Thursday, panjshanbé. shanbé tā panjshanbé.
Matt: shanbé tā panjshanbé.
Leyla: And Friday is off. So shanbé tā panjshanbé, jom'é ta'teel-é. Do you remember what “jom'é ta'teel-é” means, Matt?
Matt: It means ‘Fridays are off’.
Leyla: That's right, so jom'é ta'teel-é.
Matt: jom'é ta'teel-é.
Leyla: So, the work week is generally called “vasaté hafté.”
Matt: vasaté hafté.
Leyla: Which means ‘the middle of the week’. “hafté” is a week, and “vasaté” means ‘the middle of’. vasaté hafté.
Matt: vasaté hafté.
Leyla: 'Weekend' is called ākharé hafté.
Matt: ākharé hafté.
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 verb ‘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 kār kardan.
Matt: kār 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: kār meekonam.
Leyla: Great, exactly. kār meekonam, ‘I work’ in the present tense. Next, Matt, how would you say ‘you work' in the informal sense?
Matt: kār meekonee.
Leyla: Exactly, kār meekonee. Next, how do you say ‘he or she works’?
Matt: kār meekoné.
Leyla: Exactly, kār meekoné. Next, how do we say ‘we work’?
Matt: kār meekoneem.
Leyla: Great! Now, how about ‘you (formal) work’?
Matt: kār meekoneen.
Leyla: Great, and lastly, ‘they work’!
Matt: kār meekonan.
Leyla: Exactly, kār meekonan, perfect! So now we're going back to what we covered in the beginning of the lesson. We can say vasaté hafté kār meekonam. What does this mean Matt?
Matt: It means ‘in the middle of the week, I work’.
Leyla: Exactly, vasaté hafté kār meekonam.
Matt: vasaté hafté kār meekonam.
Leyla: So again, kār meekonam is the present tense of ‘I work’. Now we’re going to use the same tense to talk about what we do in the middle of the week besides working. So one thing I do every morning when I wake up is sobhāné meekohram. Matt, you should perhaps recognize this verb - do you know what this means?
Matt: It means ‘I eat breakfast’.
Leyla: Exactly, so sobhāné, ‘breakfast’, meekhoram, ‘I eat’. So ‘I eat breakfast’, sobhāné meekhoram.
Matt: sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: Next, let's go over the other tenses of eating breakfast just as we did with working. So ‘you eat breakfast’, tō sobhāné meekhoree.
Matt: tō sobhāné meekhoree.
Leyla: And, Matt, I'm gonna let you figure out the rest of ‘em. What is ’he or she eats breakfast'?
Matt: oo sobhāné meekhoré.
Leyla: Great, and what about ‘we eat breakfast’?
Matt: mā sobhāné meekhoreem.
Leyla: Great, and what about ‘you (formal) eat breakfast’?
Matt: shomā sobhāné meekhoreen.
Leyla: Great, and finally, what about ‘they eat breakfast'?
Matt: oonā sobhāné meekhoran.
Leyla: And the emphasis is on oonā. oonā sobhāné meekhoran.
Matt: oonā sobhāné meekhoran.
Leyla: Great, and now let’s get a bit more specific and specify what time this happens. So for me, I eat breakfast somewhere around 7:00. So sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Matt: sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: So now, Matt, I’ll ask you: sā’até chand sobhāné meekhoree?
Matt: sā’até hasht sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: Great, so Matt eats breakfast at around eight. So I’ll say, “man sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.”
Matt: man sā’até hasht sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: Perfect, so in this example, I said, “man sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram,” and in there, I was emphasizing ‘me, I eat breakfast at seven’. As you remember from previous lessons, I don’t have to say ‘me’; I just included it for emphasis. So man sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Let’s go over more times. Do you remember, Matt, what “haft ō neem” means?
Matt: It means ‘seven thirty’.
Leyla: Perfect, so sā’até haft ō neem sobhāné meekhoram. What does this mean?
Matt: ‘I eat breakfast at seven thirty’.
Leyla: Exactly, so that’s eating breakfast, sobhāné khordan. There are many other routines associated with going to work in the middle of the week. Let’s go over a few of these. So let’s go over the routine of leaving the house. So to say ‘I leave the house’, you say “az khooné meeram beeroon.”
Matt: az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: Perfect, so I could say “sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.”
Matt: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: And what does that mean Matt?
Matt: It means ‘I leave the house at eight’.
Leyla: Exactly. To say what time do you leave the house, I would say “sā’até chand az khooné meeree beeroon?”
Matt: sā’até chand az khooné meeree beeroon?
Leyla: So, Matt, sā’até chand az khooné meeree beeroon?
Matt: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: Great, so Matt leaves the house at eight. So, sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Matt: sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Matt: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: And next, “sā’até noh meeresam edāré.” edāré is the word for ‘office’, so what could this mean, Matt? sā’até noh meeresam edāré.
Matt: It means ‘I get to the office at nine’.
Leyla: Exactly, sā’até noh meeresam edāré.
Matt: sā’até noh meeresam edāré.
Leyla: So let’s go over my whole routine again up to this point. sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Matt: sā’até haft sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Matt: sā’até hasht az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: sā’até noh meeresam edāré.
Matt: sā’até noh meeresam edāré.
Leyla: So now, I’m going to ask you about your morning routine, Matt. sā’até chand sobhāné meekhoree?
Matt: sā’até hasht sobhāné meekhoram.
Leyla: sā’até chand az khooné meeree beeroon?
Matt: sā’até noh ō neem az khooné meeram beeroon.
Leyla: va sā’até chand meeresee dāneshgāh?
Matt: sā’até dah meeresam dāneshgāh.
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?', dāneshgāh. sā’até chand meeresee dāneshgāh?
Matt: sā’até chand meeresee dāneshgāh?
Leyla: Great, so let’s go over a few more day routines. Let’s go over nāhār khordan, or ‘eating lunch’. nāhār khordan.
Matt: nāhār khordan.
Leyla: And that, of course, is the infinitive of ‘to eat lunch’. meekhoram means ‘I eat’. meekhoram.
Matt: meekhoram.
Leyla: So, man sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
Matt: man sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
Leyla: Matt, sā’até chand nāhār meekhoree?
Matt: man ham sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
Leyla: Great, so Matt also eats lunch at one. sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
Matt: sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
Leyla: So next, I’ll ask Matt “sā’até chand bar meegardee khooné?” bar gashtan is the infinitive of ‘to return’, so sā’até chand bar meegardee khooné? ‘What time do you return home?’ sā’até chand bar meegardee khooné?
Matt: sā’até chand bar meegardee khooné?
Leyla: So bar meegardee is ‘you return’; how do I say ‘I return’?
Matt: bar meegardam.
Leyla: Exactly, bar meegardam. So, sā’até panj bar meegardam khooné.
Matt: sā’até panj bar meegardam khooné.
Leyla: Great, so ‘I get home at five’. And when I get home, there are a few things I can do. I can say khastegee dar meekonam, which means ‘I rest’. khastegee dar meekonam.
Matt: khastegee dar meekonam.
Leyla: khastegee is the word for ‘tiredness’, so literally, you're saying ‘I take out my tiredness’. khastegee dar meekonam.
Matt: khastegee dar meekonam.
Leyla: And sā’até hasht shām meekhoram.
Matt: sā’até hasht shām meekhoram.
Leyla: ‘I eat dinner at eight’. Matt, sā’até chand shām meekhoree?
Matt: sā’até sheesh shām meekhoram.
Leyla: So now let’s go through my whole day:
sā’até hasht ō neem sobhāné meekhoram.
sā’até noh az khooné meeram beeroon.
ma'moolan, sā’até noh ō neem meeresam saré kār.
kam ō beesh sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
taghreeban sā’até sheesh bar meegardam khooné.
So hopefully, you understood most of that, but I did throw in a couple extra words to make things a little bit more exciting. I’ll go over these words, and then say the dialogue again, and hopefully, you’ll be able to understand the whole thing. So, first, the word “ma'moolan” means ‘usually’. ma'moolan.
Matt: ma'moolan.
Leyla: Let's try saying it also ma'moolan.
Matt: ma'moolan.
Leyla: Right, so emphasis on the ma'. ma'moolan.
Matt: ma'moolan.
Leyla: "kam ō beesh" means ‘more or less’. kam ō beesh.
Matt: kam ō 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 on the PDF Guide along with a translation just in case you need a bit of extra help.
sā’até hasht ō neem sobhāné meekhoram.
sā’até noh az khooné meeram beeroon.
ma'moolan, sā’até noh ō neem meeresam saré kār.
kam ō beesh sā’até yek nāhār meekhoram.
taghreeban sā’até sheesh bar meegardam khooné.
And that brings us to the end of Lesson 49.
Matt: Thank you so much for listening!
Leyla: And as always, you can find more bonus materials and more information on our website at www.chaiandconversation.com, with “chai” spelled C-H-A-I.
Matt: And for now, bé omeedé deedār from Matt.
Leyla: And khodāhāfez from Leyla.