The Focus of this Lesson is Greetings.
من خوبم. تو خوبی؟
man khoobam. to khoobi?
"I'm fine, how about you?"

In Persian, there are different ways of saying "How are you?" In informal speech, for example, when you are talking to your friends, چطوری؟ (chetori?) is used as "How are you?" and حالت چطوره؟ (haalet chetore?) means "How are you feeling?" خوبی؟ (khoobi?) is also used when you simply want to say "Are you fine?" These are all in singular forms.

Informal and Formal, Singular and Plural

In order to make these questions sound formal, the plural forms are used instead. In the plural forms, the i sounds at the end of the words become id. چطوری؟ (chetori?) will become چطورید؟, (chetorid?) and خوبی؟ (khoobi?) will be خوبید؟ (khoobid?). But the most formal way of all is حالتان چطور است؟ (haaletaan chetor ast?) , meaning, "How are you feeling?," which is the plural of حالت چطوره؟ (haalet chetore?).

For example:

سلام آقا، حالتان چطور است؟
سَلام آقا، حالِتان چِطُور است؟
salaam aaghaa, haaletaan chetor ast?
"Hello sir, how are you feeling?"

من خوبم، شما چطورید؟
مَن خوبَم، شُما چِطُورید؟
man khooban, shomaa chetorid?
"I'm fine, how about you (plural)?"

Examples from this dialogue:

چطوری؟ خوبی؟
چِطُوری؟ خوبی؟
chetori? khoobi?
"How are you? Are you fine?"

من خوبم. تو خوبی؟
مَن خوبَم. تُو خوبی؟
man khoobam, to khoobe?
"I'm fine, how about you? (are you fine too?)"

Sample Sentences

سلام، حالت خوبه؟
سَلام، حالِت خوبِه؟
salaam, haalet khoobe?
"Hello, are you feeling good?"

حال شما چطور است؟
حال ِ شُما چِطُور است؟
haal-e shomaa chetor ast?
"How are you (plural) feeling?"

Language Expansion

In response to the above questions, we usually answer by saying, "I'm fine" (من خوبم - man khoobam.). This is used for both formal and informal situations, and it's often followed by a short thanks: mamnoon / motshakker / mersi.

سلام
Salam is a salutation meaning "hello" in Persian that can be used at any time of the day, anywhere and by anyone. It's usually the first thing people say to each other when they meet, over the phone, or even in letters and messages.


خدا حافظ
Khodahafez means "goodbye" or "farewell." It consists of two parts: Khoda, meaning "God," and hafez, which means "protector." This literally means, "May God protect you" when we say "goodbye" to someone.


دیدن (می بینمت)
Mibinamet means "see you" in Persian. It's not used that often, but sometimes people say it when saying goodbye to show that they are going to meet again soon. It is a form of the verb didan, meaning "to see," which is the present or future tense; in Persian (mi), the subject pronoun "I," or (am) in Persian, and the object "you," or (Et) in Persian, in itself.

Greetings in Persian

The word salam ("Hello") comes from salamati, which means "health" in Persian. There is also a well-known saying that goes, Salam Salamati Miare, meaning, "Salam brings health." Grandmothers often tell this to their grandchildren.

In a popular poem by Hafez that's heard a lot on radio and TV, he wrote, Salami cho booye khoshe Ashenayi, which means, "A hello is like the good scent of an acquaintance." It shows how salam is the symbol of friendship. In other words, salam in Iran is the beginning and the most important part of a conversation since it starts everything!