Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Brandon: Hello everyone, this is Brandon.
Mohammad: And I’m Mohammad. “Salam.”
Brandon: Welcome back to PersianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 23 - See the Sights in Iran! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask opinions.
Mohammad We’ll listen to a conversation that takes place in a house. It’s between Zahra and Vahid.
Brandon: They're friends, so they use informal language.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Brandon: So Mohammad, are amusement parks, parks, and cinemas popular spots in Iran for holidays?
Mohammad: Yes, they're the most common activities, and most people like them.
Brandon: What are some other good places to visit in your spare time in Iran?
Mohammad: Restaurants, cultural centers, libraries, museums, and also sports centers are great. And they’re fun for people of all ages.
Brandon: How about shopping centers?
Mohammad: They're also very popular.
Brandon: So there are actually a few good holiday spots in Iran.
Mohammad: Yes. With the development of large entertainment complexes, which have all the fun things in one place, holidays are not boring anymore!
Brandon: That's great.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. As the first keyword of this lesson, let’s learn how to say “holiday” in Persian.
Mohammad: We say “ta’tili,” which is a noun.
Brandon: Hmm, the word that we had in the previous lessons was similar, wasn’t it?
Mohammad: Perhaps it was the word “ta’til,” which doesn't have the final “i.” When we drop the “i,” it becomes the adjective of the same word in this case.
Brandon: The adjective of “holiday” is …?
Mohammad: “off”, as in “day off”.
Brandon: So, if you want to say “Friday is a holiday”, which one do you use?
Mohammad: Usually we say “Friday is off” instead, which is “Jom’e ta’til ast.”
Brandon: Are there any other similar words?
Mohammad: You may hear “Ta’tilaat” which is the plural form and means “holidays” or “vacation.”
Brandon: So, once again it is …?
Mohammad: “ta’tili” (pause), “ta’tili” (pause).
Brandon: Great! Now what’s our next word?
Mohammad: “nazar.” It means “opinion.”
Brandon: Okay. What can you say about this word?
Mohammad: I can say that it has so many other meanings as well!
Brandon: Really? And what are they?
Mohammad: For example it can mean “view” as in “point of view”, or “sight” or “glance”.
Brandon: Oh, can you say “one glance” with this word?
Mohammad: Yes, it’s “Yek nazar.”
Brandon: Does it have another meaning too?
Mohammad: Yes. For example, on Persian websites, instead of the word “comment” we say “nazar” or “nazaraat,” which is the plural form.
Brandon: I see. In that case, let’s repeat it once more listeners!
Mohammad: “nazar” (pause) “nazar.”
Brandon: Let’s continue to our last phrase.
Mohammad: It’s “raaje’be,” meaning “about.”
Brandon: Does this one have many meanings too?
Mohammad: No, but it can be translated into many similar versions of the same thing.
Brandon: Which would be…?
Mohammad: For example, it can mean “regarding,” “concerning,” or “related to.”
Brandon: Oh, that’s what you meant by many versions. They are actually similar. What does it literally mean?
Mohammad: It means something like “in reference to.”
Brandon: And are there any other Persian words that mean the same as “about”?
Mohammad: Yes. There’s the word “darbaareye.”
Brandon: So once again, can we repeat it?
Mohammad: “raaje’be” (pause), “raaje’be.
Brandon: Thanks. Now let’s move on to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask opinions. What’s the easiest and shortest way to ask someone’s opinion about something?
Mohammad: Like we had in the dialogue, it’s “chetore,” meaning “How about...?” or “How is…?”
Brandon: In English, we say “How about?” first, and then follow it with whatever we want to know about someone’s opinion. How about Persian?
Mohammad: Well, in Persian it’s exactly the opposite. It means that we say the key word first, and then add “chetore?” For example, “shahr-e baazi chetore?” means “How about the amusement park?”
Brandon: Ok, and what was the other way to ask someone’s opinion?
Mohammad: It’s “nazaret raaje’be…chiye?”
Brandon: Or the same as "What’s your opinion about...?" Let’s break it down.
Mohammad: Of course. “nazaret” means “your opinion,” and “raaje’be” means “about,” then we put the keyword, and…
Brandon: I know the next one! It’s “chiye,” which means “What is?”.
Mohammad: That's right! Now there's another even more simple way to ask someone what they think about a particular matter, and it works better with “Yes” or “No” answers.
Brandon: And that would be?
Mohammad: By saying the original sentence in a questioning tone.
Brandon: Just as simple as that?
Mohammad: Just that simple. Or additionally, you can change the verb into conditional form.
Brandon: Oh, I know! Is it where the prefix “mi” turns into the prefix “be”?
Mohammad: Yes, that's the one! By changing the prefix, the verb becomes conditional.
Brandon: We had the example in the dialogue, didn’t we?
Mohammad: Yes, for example we can say “paark mirim?,” meaning “We go to the park?”, or Paark berim? meaning “If we go to the park?” Both of them are right.
Brandon: And both mean “What do you think about going to the park?,” right? But there's no “if” in the conditional form.
Mohammad: You’re right. There isn’t any “if”, but it can be interpreted just from the form of the verb.
Brandon: Okay. Now let’s see how can we answer these questions, and give our opinion!
Mohammad: To answer these questions, you can use adjectives.
Brandon: What kind of adjectives do we use?
Mohammad: Adjectives that are commonly known to be either positive or negative. For example “taarik” or “dark” is known as negative, and “roshan” or “light” is a positive adjective.
Brandon: And which ones do we use for our opinions?
Mohammad: Well, if we agree with something, we have to use positive adjectives, like “khoob” meaning “good,” or “tamiz” meaning “clean.”
Brandon: You mean if we say “It’s clean,” it means that it’s okay for us?
Mohammad: That’s right. We can say “tamize” or “khoobe.”
Brandon: And if we disagree with something?
Mohammad: We use the negative adjectives, like for example “sholooghe” or “taarike,” which mean “It’s crowded” or “It’s dark,” respectively.
Brandon: I understand. But this isn’t absolute, right? I mean for some people, “dark” may be a positive adjective.
Mohammad: You’re right. It actually depends a lot on the tone you use. If you say “Taarike” or “It’s dark” with a happy tone, it means that you like it, and you agree with the whole idea.
Brandon: So listeners, what do you think?
Mohammad: By the way, “what do you think” is “nazaretoon chiye?” in Persian.
Brandon: Please leave us a comment with your opinion of this lesson!

Outro

Brandon: And that’s all for now. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.
Mohammad: Goodbye everyone.

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