Speak / Lesson 10
Review of Unit 1!
This is the last lesson in ‘Unit 1′ of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation. In this lesson, we review all the materials learned before, and learn some extra vocabulary that will help you to communicate effectively in the Persian language! Congratulations on reaching the end of ‘Unit 1′!
The bonus materials of this lesson include exercises in which you can review your knowledge of what we've learned so far.

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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: Welcome to the tenth episode of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation! In this episode we're going to go over all the words and vocabulary we've learned so far so that you can test your grasp on the language.
Matt: As you know, you can download the bonus material from our website at www.chaiandconversation.com with chai spelled chai. This week's bonus pdf will be filled with fun exercises you can complete to test your knowledge of the vocabulary we have learned so far. In addition, as always, the enhanced podcasts provides visual flashcards that spell the words we're learning phonetically in English so that you can follow along as you learn.
Leyla: But for now, are you ready to begin the lesson Matt?
Matt: Baleh! Farsi yaad begeereem ba Chai and Conversation!
LESSON 10:
Leyla: So in the past several weeks, you've learned so much new vocabulary and new phrases in the Persian language. Hopefully, you have listened to the lessons enough times to become confident with the vocabulary we've learned. Today, we are going to go through all the vocabulary with a few different activities. This lesson is all about building even more confidence so that you can more easily use the vocabulary we've learned in simple conversations in Persian.
Matt, I hope that you remember all this vocabulary!
Matt: Me too
Leyla: I'm sure you will. Ok, let's go through it right now
In the first program, we covered greetings and asking people how they are.
We've got some activities plans to help to you review all the language we've learned so far on Chai and Conversation.
Hazeree Matt? Are you ready?
Hazeram! Let's Learn Perisan with Chai and Conversation
Today's program is all about making you more confident, and we've planned some activites to make you more confident with the vocabulary.
To begin with, in the first program, we covered greetings and how to ask people how they are. So, Matt, how do we ask 'how are you?' Give the listeners a second to come up with their own answers before providing yours Matt. So, 'how are you' would beÉ
Matt: Chetori?
Leyla: Great, and now that we've learned a bit more about the Persian language, I can explain that this is a very informal way of asking how someone is doing, and it uses the informal you. To ask someone how they are doing in the formal sense, you would say 'haleh shoma chetore?
MatT: Haleh shoma chetoreh?
Leyla: This is generally a review program, but I will fill in some gaps like that as necessary. So again, haleh shoma chetore?
Matt: Haleh shoma chetoreH/
Leyla: Great, and how do you say 'very well!'
Matt: Khayli khoobam
Leyla: And what if you're not doing very well and you want ot say 'I'm not well'
Matt: Khoob neestam.
Leyla: And if you want to say you're not bad
Matt: Bad neestam.
Leyla: So in that first program you talked about how to say how you're doing. Then we went on to learn greetings throughout the day. Do you remember the way you say 'good morning'
Matt: Sobh bekhayr
Leyla: Exactly, so then we used this word 'bekhayr' to greet people throughout the day. There were words for good day 'rooz bekhayr', good afternoon 'asr bekhayr', and then do you remember the word for night, to say 'good night'?
Matt: Shab bekhayr
Leyla: Exaclty perfect. Then in program three, we learned how to ask people where they are from, and like most questions in the Persian language, there are two ways to do this. What is the informal versoin of 'where are you from?'
Matt: Ahle koja hastee?
Leyla: ahle koja haste, exactly, and what would be the formal version of asking this?
Matt: Ahle koja hasteed?
Leyla: Great, simple enough. Then we learned how to answer where you are from. How would you say 'I am from Iran
Matt: Man az Iran hastam.
Leyla: Then we learned how to say 'I live inÉ,' how would you say 'I live in Austin'.
Matt: Dar Austin zendegee meekonam
Leyla: So putting this together, you would say 'I am from Iran, but I live in Austin.' Can you put that together Matt
Matt: Man az Iran hastam, vali dar Austin zendegee meekonam.
Leyla: Exactly, 'Man az Iran hastam, vali dar Austin zendegee meekonam' and vali was the word for but. Now I want to note that as we're going through this, we're only covering a bit from each lesson. There's so much more in each individual lesson, but you can go through each individually and review them on your own. This review session will give a good indication of which lessons you should probably go back and go over. Also, be sure to use the notes and extra podcasts we make available on the website to help you.
Then we also went over the words for family members. So Matt, we're going to go over a few family members. Give the listeners a moment to come up with their answers before giving yours.
First one Brother
baradar
Sister
khahar
Mother
madar
Number four son
pesar
Number five, husband
shohar
and number six, sister
khahar
Khayli khoob. Now, we included a word on our extra bonus material on the pdf guides that is nice to know that means 'spouse' and that is 'hamsar'
Matt: Hamsar
Leyla: The literal meaning of this word is something along the lines of equal head, so it means 'my equal' or 'my other'. It can be used for either husband or wife. Moving on, we learned how to say 'I have' Do you remember the word for this Matt, I have
Matt: Daram
Leyla: So 'ye khahar daram' would be I have a sister. How would you ask, 'do you have a son'
Matt: Pesar daree?
Leyla: Daree means you have, so 'do you have a son'
Matt: Pesar daree
Leyla: Now we're going to go through the numbers. We're going to listen to Matt repeating the numbers set to rhythm from our sixth lesson.
_____
Now if you could repeat along with me now Matt,
Yek
Do
Se
Chahar
Panj
Sheesh
Haft
Hasht
Noh
Dah
We'll be covering larger numbers very soon.
We went on to learn about jobs. We already learned the word for 'I am'
Matt: Hastam
Leyla: So how would we say 'I am a teacher' Matt
Matt: Moalem hastam
Leyla: And can you explain 'man moalem hastam' versus 'moalem hastam'
Matt: The 'man' is understood in 'moalem hastam' so you could say 'man moalem hastam' to emphasize the 'I', but you don't need it in the sentence for it to be understood.
Leyla: Exactly. Also, it's important to note that 'a' as in 'I am a teacher' is also understood, so you don't need to add that in there either. You just say 'I am teacher.' And what is the word for work
Matt: Kar
Leyla: So 'man dar karkhooneh kar meekonam' to say 'I work in a factory.' And we ended that lesson by learning how to say 'I like my job' or , in Persian
Matt: Karamo doost daram
Leyla: And what if you don't like your work
Matt: Karamo doost nadaram.
Leyla: Then in the next lesson we learned out to say what you like to do. So let's try saying 'I like to learn persian
Matt: Doost daram Farsi yaad begeeram.
Leyla: Or, I like chocolate
Matt: Chokoolat doost daram
Leyla: Ok, it's time for some dialogues, to see exactly how much you've learned so far. See if you can understand this conversation. there might be a couple challenging words in there, but you should be able to understand most of it. So in this dialogue, I am going to be a woman named Arezoo
Matt: I am going to be named Andy
Leyla: And my mom will be joining us via telephone, and she will be playing Mrs. Tehrani. Matt is going to begin
M: Salam sobh bekhair, chetori?
L: salam khoobam merci, chetori?
M: Khayli khoobam, merci. Man Andy hastam.
L: Esme man Arezoo hast. Eeshoon madare manand.
Farzaneh: Salam, man khanoome tehrani hastam.
M: Salam, haleh shoma chetore?
Farzaneh: Khoobam merci.
L: Bache daree?
M: Bale, yek pesar daram, esmesh hast Cyrus, va do dokhtar daram, esmesh hast Seema.
L: Ahle eenja hastee?
M; Na, man az Iran hastam, vali dar Paris zendegee meekonam.
L: Man va madaram az Iran hasteem, va dar Shiraz zendegee meekoneem.
M: Khob, khoshvakhtam, t'a baad.
L: Baleh, T'aa baad
Farzaneh: Khodahafez!
Leyla: So if you'd like you can rewind and listen to the conversation again. But now we're going to ask you a few questions about the dialogue. So we met Arezoo and her mother, Mrs. Tehrani, and we met Andy. Do you remember how many children Andy had?
Matt: He had two, a daughter and a son
Leyla: And do you remember their names?
Matt: Yes, a daughter named Seema, and a son named Cyrus
Leyla: That's very common in Iranian children's names, by the wayÉ either the names will rhyme, such as Hamid Majid Fared, or they will begin with the same letter or same sound like Cyrus and Seema. So you remember where Andy is from?
Matt: Well, he said 'man az iran hastam, vali dar Paris zendegee meekonam. So he's from Iran but he lives in Paris.
Leyla: And then Arezoo answered 'man va madaram az Iran hasteem, va dar Shiraz zendegee meekoneem.' So she and her mother and from Iran, and they live in Shiraz, a city in Iran.
Now let's do another roll playing covering some different vocabulary. Matt and I are going to be playing the rolls of Dariush and Aana, two students meeting at the University of Texas in Austin:
Dariush: Salam, rooz bekhayr, chetori?
Aana: Salam, khoobam, merci.
Dariush: Esme to cheeye?
Aaan: Esme man aana hast. Az Mexic hastam, az Monterrey
Dariush: Vali Farsi sobat meekonee
Aana: Baleh, Farsi baladam.
Dariush: Man Dariush hastam. Dar Austin zendegee meekonam, vali az Iran hastam.
Aana: Khahar baradar daree?
Dariush: Baleh, yek khahar daram, va yek baradar daram. Esme khaharam Donna hast, va esme baradaram Daron hast. To chetor? Khahar baradar daree?
Aana: Baleh, do khahar, Eliana va Itzel.
Dariush: Shagerd haste?
Aana: Baleh, dar Daneshgayeh Texas dars meekonam, vali dar restaurant ham kar meekonam.
Dariush: Khayli khoobeh. Man ham dar daneshgayeh Texas shagerd hastam, vali beekaram. Mooseeghee doost daree?
Aana: Bale, mooseeghee doost daram.
Dariush: Man ham mooseeghee doost daram. Khob, khoshvakhtam, beh omeedeh deedar!
Aana: Baleh, beh hamcheneen!
Leyla: Great, another conversation, and there were a few new phrases in there as well. So, first, Aana is not from Spain. Here's what she adi 'Az mexic hastam, az onterrey.' And then Dariush said to her
Matt: Vali Farsi sobat meekonee
Leyla: What does this mean?
Matt: But you speak Farsi
leyla: Exactly, so farsi sobat meekonee?
Matt: Farsi sobat meekonee?
Leyla: Which means 'do you speak Farsi?' So then Aana answered, 'baleh, farsi baladam
Matt: Bale, farsi baladam
Leyla: Which means, yes, I speak Farsi. She later asked him 'khahar baradar daree?' This simply means you have brothers and sisters? Khahar baradar daree?
Matt: Khahar baradar daree?
Leyla: And then how did Dariush reply, can you read it to us again Matt:
Dariush: Baleh, yek khahar daram, va yek baradar daram. Esme khaharam Donna hast, va esme baradaram Daron hast.
Leyla: And what does this mean?
Matt: He said 'yes, I have a sister, and I have a brother. My sisters name is donna and y brothers name is Daron.
Leyla: then dariush asked 'shagerd hastee?' and this simply means 'are you a student?' to which she replied 'baleh dar daneghayeh texas dars meekhoonam, vali dar restaurant ham kar meekonam.' Dars meekonam means 'I study' so what does this full sentence mean? Is she a student?
Matt: Yes, she studies at the Univeristy of Texas, but she also works at a restaurant.
Leyla: Great. And Austin being the live music capital of the world, Dariush goes ahead and asks her 'mooseeghee doost daree?' what does this mean?
Matt: Do you like music
Leyla: Exactly, to which she replies 'baleh mooseeghee doost daram. Now, in the end, he signs off by saying 'beh omeedeh deedar' to which she replies 'baleh, beh hamcheeneen'. This means 'I also' so I hope to see you again as well!
Matt: Hopefully this review session hoped you to consolidate all the vocabulary you've been learning so far in these lessons.
Leyla: This concludes our unit one for Chai and Conversation. We commend you on sticking with the learning process for so long! We're going to continue producing these lessons as long as we receive demand for them. So please continue to send us feedback, and continue purchasing the bonus materials, as this helps us with the cost of development and distribution.
Matt: Also, please continue to help spread the word of Chai and Conversation by recommending the podcasts to friends and family that you think would be interested.
Leyla: You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or access it through our website, www.chaiandconversation.com
Matt: We will see you in unit two of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation. T'a beh zoodee from Matt!
Leyla: Beh omeedeh deedar, from Leyla!