Learn how to ask and talk about ages
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello listeners, I'm Brandon. |
| Mohammad: And “salaam,” I’m Mohammad. |
| Brandon: Welcome back to PersianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 15 - Asking About Someone’s Age in Persian. In this lesson you’ll learn how to count, and talk about age. |
| Mohammad: To do this, we’ll listen to a conversation that takes place in a house. It’s between Mr. Tehrani and his friend’s daughter Maryam. |
| Brandon: And since they're old acquaintances, they’ll be using informal language. |
| Mohammad: So, are you ready everyone? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Mohammad, how many grades are there in Iran’s educational system, before university? |
| Mohammad: There are twelve grades, including five years of elementary school, three years of middle school, three years of high school, and one year of college. |
| Brandon: Oh, so you have college in Iran! |
| Mohammad: Well, it’s similar to college. It’s called “pishdaaneshgaahi” meaning “before university,” and prepares students for higher education. |
| Brandon: Does that mean you can’t enter university, if you don’t go to college? |
| Mohammad: Yes, we have to complete all twelve years in order to be able to enter university. |
| Brandon: Okay. What other interesting facts can you tell us about numbers and education in Iran? |
| Mohammad: Well, the most interesting number is… the Number 20! That’s considered the best score or grade that students can get in their school subjects in Iran—it’s equal to an A+. |
| Brandon: And is there any special name for the top students who get this score? |
| Mohammad: They're called “shagerde avval” meaning “first student” in Persian. |
| Brandon: How interesting, thanks for sharing that with us! |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The phrases we’ll check out in this lesson are all questions that can be answered by numbers. What’s the first one, Mohammad? |
| Mohammad: “chand saalat ast?,” meaning “How old are you?” |
| Brandon: It’s a phrase to ask people’s age. Can we break it down? |
| Mohammad: “chand” means “How many?” and “saal” means “year.” |
| Brandon: As we learned, “et” or “at,” was a possessive pronoun meaning “of you.” |
| Mohammad: Yes, which shows who the years belong to. |
| Brandon: And “ast” was the verb meaning “is.” |
| Mohammad: That’s right. “ast” can be changed to “e” in the spoken language. |
| Brandon: So, does it literally mean “How many years of you there is?” |
| Mohammad: Yes, I guess that’s how it becomes in English when you look at it word-for-word. |
| Brandon: Can we ask this question for someone other than “you,” for example “her”? |
| Mohammad: In that case we need to change the possessive “at” to “ash.” |
| Brandon: I understand. Okay, one more time please, listeners please repeat. |
| Mohammad: “chand saalat ast?” (slowly) “chand saalat ast?” |
| Brandon: Our next phrase is …? |
| Mohammad: “kelaase chandom?” meaning “Which grade?” |
| Brandon: It again has “chand” in it, which means “How many?” |
| Mohammad: That’s right. And “kelaas” means “grade” or “class.” |
| Brandon: What’s the “om” after “chand”? |
| Mohammad: It’s a suffix that turns cardinal numbers into ordinal ones. |
| Brandon: Oh, I see. So just like in English we use ordinal numbers to say our grade, for example "third grade"! |
| Mohammad: Right. And the same goes for asking about the grade. Since we ask it with the word “chand,” “Om” is added to the end of it. |
| Brandon: That’s really interesting. Then one more time please. Listeners please repeat. |
| Mohammad: “kelaase chandom?” (slowly) “kelaase chandom?” You may also add the verb “are” and say “kelaase chandomi?” |
| Brandon: And finally, our last phrase is…? |
| Mohammad: “chand taa” meaning “How many?” |
| Brandon: Again “chand”! And this time the whole phrase means “How many?” |
| Mohammad: Yes. That’s because the word “taa” is not that effective. It’s a classifier meaning “many” that can be added to numbers of anything. But it can be also removed! |
| Brandon: So, it doesn’t really affect the phrase, right? |
| Mohammad: That’s right. “chand” is enough to complete the meaning of the question “How many?” |
| Brandon: Okay. One last time, can you please repeat it? |
| Mohammad: Yes. “chand taa?” (slowly) “chand taa?” |
| Brandon: Ok, now let’s learn the numbers we need to answer these questions – let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn to count and ask about ages. Mohammad, what numbers do you use to say your age or the number of siblings you have in Persian? |
| Mohammad: We use cardinal numbers. |
| Brandon: Can you name them from one to ten? |
| Mohammad: Sure! yek (slowly), |
| Brandon: one |
| Mohammad: do (slowly), |
| Brandon: two |
| Mohammad: se (slowly), |
| Brandon: three |
| Mohammad: chehaar (slowly), |
| Brandon: four |
| Mohammad: panj (slowly), |
| Brandon: five |
| Mohammad: shesh (slowly), |
| Brandon: six |
| Mohammad: haft (slowly), |
| Brandon: seven |
| Mohammad: hasht (slowly), |
| Brandon: eight |
| Mohammad: noh (slowly), |
| Brandon: nine |
| Mohammad: dah (slowly) |
| Brandon: ten. Great. Now let’s see numbers higher than ten. |
| Mohammad: yaazdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: eleven |
| Mohammad: davaazdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: twelve |
| Mohammad: sizdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: thirteen |
| Mohammad: chehaardah (slowly), |
| Brandon: fourteen |
| Mohammad: paanzdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: fifteen |
| Mohammad: shaanzdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: sixteen |
| Mohammad: hefdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: seventeen |
| Mohammad: hejdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: eighteen |
| Mohammad: noozdah (slowly), |
| Brandon: nineteen |
| Mohammad: bist (slowly) |
| Brandon: twenty. Listeners, did you find out the rule? |
| Mohammad: They all end in “dah” meaning “ten.” |
| Brandon: That’s right. But apart from that, they don’t have any special rule. So we just have to remember them. What about the rest? Do they also not have rules? |
| Mohammad: For higher than twenty, or “bist,” we add “o” meaning “and” to digits of ten, and then we add the numbers from one to nine. For example “bist o panj” meaning “twenty-five” is “bist” plus “o” plus “panj.” |
| Brandon: Okay, can you please say them to us, Mohammad? |
| Mohammad: Sure! bist (slowly), |
| Brandon: twenty |
| Mohammad: si (slowly), |
| Brandon: thirty |
| Mohammad: chehel (slowly), |
| Brandon: forty |
| Mohammad: panjaah (slowly), |
| Brandon: fifty |
| Mohammad: shast (slowly), |
| Brandon: sixty |
| Mohammad: haftaad (slowly), |
| Brandon: seventy |
| Mohammad: hashtaad (slowly), |
| Brandon: eighty |
| Mohammad: navad (slowly), |
| Brandon: ninety |
| Mohammad: sad (slowly) |
| Brandon: hundred. Okay, now let’s move on to ordinal numbers. |
| Mohammad: These numbers show order, like “first”, “second”, “third”, and the rest. |
| Brandon: And what’s the rule for them? |
| Mohammad: They're all regular cardinal numbers, ending in the suffix “om.” |
| Brandon: Can you name a few of them? |
| Mohammad: Yes. For example, “fourth” is “chaahaar” plus “om” or “chaahaarom.” “Fifth” is “panjom,” and “sixth” is “sheshom.” |
| Brandon: Hmm, you skipped “first”, “second”, and “third”. Are they any different? |
| Mohammad: Well, they're the exceptions. They are “avval” (slowly) - first, “dovvom” (slowly) - second, and “sevvom” (slowly) - third. |
| Brandon: I see. And the rest are? |
| Mohammad: Simply the number plus “om.” |
| Brandon: What would you say about the three digit numbers, or the “hundreds”? |
| Mohammad: They're the “number” plus “sad” meaning “hundred.” For example, “seven hundred” will be “seven” or “haft” plus “sad,” which becomes “haftsad.” |
| Brandon: Are there any exceptions here too? |
| Mohammad: Yes. 200, 300, and 500 are “devist,” “sisad,” and “paansad.” |
| Brandon: So 900 is “noh” plus “sad,” am I right? |
| Mohammad: Yes, that’s right. It’s “nohsad.” |
| Brandon: In any case, first we have to master the numbers from one to ten. But just for completeness, what’s the word for 1000? |
| Mohammad: It’s “hezaar.” |
| Brandon: Okay listeners, “How old are you”?! |
| Mohammad: “chand saaletaan ast?” |
| Brandon: Can you say it in Persian yet, listeners?. |
| Mohammad: Don’t hurry though, take your time and practice. |
Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check the lesson notes and leave us a comment. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Mohammad: Take care, and “khodaahaafez.” |
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