Learn how to use comparative and superlative adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to PersianPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1, Lesson 7 - Don't Be Late in Iran! John here. |
| Mehrnaz: سلام (salaam), I'm Mehrnaz. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about comparative and superlative adjectives. The conversation takes place at a university campus. |
| Mehrnaz: It's between Farhad and Shirin Hedayat. |
| John: The speakers are a teacher and student; therefore, they’ll speak both formal and informal Persian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| فرهاد: شما تا حالا در این سالن کنفرانس بوده‌اید؟ |
| شیرین هدایت: این کنفرانس هر سال تو (در) همین سالن سالنه (سالن است). |
| فرهاد: من نمی دونم (نمی دانم) چطور به اونجا (آنجا) برسم. |
| شیرین هدایت: می خوای (می خواهی) از دانشگاه به اونجا (آنجا) بری (بروی)؟ |
| فرهاد: به احتمال زیاد. |
| شیرین هدایت: اتوبوس راحت‌ترین ولی طولانی‌ترینه (طولانی‌ترین است). |
| فرهاد: اتوبوسا (اتوبوس‌ها) معمولاً سر وقت نیستن (نیستند). من ریسک نمی‌کنم. |
| شیرین هدایت: می تونی (می توانی) با تاکسی بری (بروی). |
| فرهاد: ولی به ترافیک بستگی داره (دارد). |
| شیرین هدایت: من همیشه با مترو می‌رم (می‌‌روم). ولی خوب، معمولاً یک ساعت زودتر راه می‌افتم. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| فرهاد: شما تا حالا تو این سالن کنفرانس بودین (بوده این/بوده اید)؟ |
| شیرین هدایت: این کنفرانس هر سال تو (در) همین سالن سالنه (سالن است). |
| فرهاد: من نمی دونم (نمی دانم) چطور به اونجا (آنجا) برسم. |
| شیرین هدایت: می خوای (می خواهی) از دانشگاه به اونجا (آنجا) بری (بروی)؟ |
| فرهاد: به احتمال زیاد. |
| شیرین هدایت: اتوبوس راحت ترین ولی طولانی ترین است. |
| فرهاد: اتوبوسا (اتوبوس ها) معمولا سر وقت نیستن (نیستند). من ریسک نمی کنم. |
| شیرین هدایت: می تونی (می توانی) با تاکسی بری (بروی). |
| فرهاد: ولی به ترافیک بستگی داره (دارد). |
| شیرین هدایت: من همیشه با مترو می رم (می روم). ولی خوب. معمولا یک ساعت زودتر راه می افتم. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Farhad: Have you ever been to this conference hall? |
| Shirin Hedayat: This conference is in this same hall every year. |
| Farhad: I don't know how to get there. |
| Shirin Hedayat: Do you want to go there from the university? |
| Farhad: Most likely. |
| Shirin Hedayat: The bus is the easiest, though the longest. |
| Farhad: Buses aren't usually on time. I won't risk it. |
| Shirin Hedayat: You can take a taxi. |
| Farhad: But it depends on the traffic though. |
| Shirin Hedayat: I always take the subway. But, I usually set out one hour earlier. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: Farhad seems very worried about being on time for the conference. |
| Mehrnaz: Yeah, there was a lot of discussion about how to make sure they arrive on time. |
| John: Is punctuality important in Iran? |
| Mehrnaz: Well, first things first. Do you know how to say “be on time” in Persian? |
| John: No, I don’t. Please tell us, Mehrnaz! |
| Mehrnaz: سر وقت بودن. To answer your question, Iranians used to be quite relaxed about being on time. |
| John: But that’s changed? |
| Mehrnaz: Yes, it has. Now, companies demand punctuality from their employees. |
| John: What’s the public transport like? It’s good enough to make sure people are on time? |
| Mehrnaz: In the big cities, it has improved greatly, so yes, people can get to work on time. |
| John: Do people commute far? |
| Mehrnaz: Well, about eight million people live in Tehran, and about three to four million commute to work. |
| John: Wow, with so many people, you need good public transportation! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mehrnaz: کنفرانس [natural native speed] |
| John: conference |
| Mehrnaz: کنفرانس [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: کنفرانس [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: سالن [natural native speed] |
| John: hall |
| Mehrnaz: سالن [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: سالن [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: رسیدن [natural native speed] |
| John: to get, to reach |
| Mehrnaz: رسیدن [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: رسیدن [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: بستگی داشتن [natural native speed] |
| John: to depend on |
| Mehrnaz: بستگی داشتن [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: بستگی داشتن [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: سر وقت [natural native speed] |
| John: on time |
| Mehrnaz: سر وقت [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: سر وقت [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: طولانی [natural native speed] |
| John: long |
| Mehrnaz: طولانی [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: طولانی [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: سریع [natural native speed] |
| John: fast |
| Mehrnaz: سریع [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: سریع [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: به احتمال زیاد [natural native speed] |
| John: most likely |
| Mehrnaz: به احتمال زیاد [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: به احتمال زیاد [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Mehrnaz: مترو [natural native speed] |
| John: subway |
| Mehrnaz: مترو [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: مترو [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Mehrnaz: زود [natural native speed] |
| John: early |
| Mehrnaz: زود [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mehrnaz: زود [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mehrnaz: مترو |
| John: Meaning "subway." It sounds pretty familiar... |
| Mehrnaz: Persian has some loanwords from French, and this is one of them. |
| John: Is this the only word for subway? |
| Mehrnaz: There’s also قطار زیرزمینی. |
| John: Which one should be used? |
| Mehrnaz: It’s fine to use مترو in both written and spoken Persian. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mehrnaz: Sure. For example, you can say, متروی تهران هفت خط دارد. |
| John: ...which means "Tehran’s subway has seven lines." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Mehrnaz: سر وقت |
| John: Meaning "On time." Can you break this one down for us? |
| Mehrnaz: sar means “head,” and vaght means “time.” |
| John: We can use this to mean something is “on time.” |
| Mehrnaz: Right. In Persian, we use this at the start of the sentence. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mehrnaz: Sure. For example, you can say, من سر وقت به محل کار رسیدم. |
| John: ...which means "I arrived at work on time." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about comparative and superlative adjectives. First, we’ll look at comparative adjectives. These are adjectives that we use to compare two things. In English, they are adjectives such as “taller,” “richer,” and “more beautiful.” How do we make comparative adjectives in Persian? |
| Mehrnaz: It’s easy - you just add تر after the adjective. For example, زیباتر. |
| John: Meaning “more beautiful.” How can we use comparative adjectives in a sentence? |
| Mehrnaz: Begin with the first noun, then az, then the other noun, and finally the comparative adjective. |
| John: That little word in between the two nouns means “from.” |
| Mehrnaz: That’s right. |
| John: Let’s hear an example. |
| Mehrnaz: برادرم از پدرم قویتر است. |
| John: “My brother is stronger than my father.” Now, how about the superlative adjectives? These compare everything. In English, they’re words like “tallest,” “richest,” and “most beautiful.” |
| Mehrnaz: You add ترین after the adjective. For example, زیباترین. |
| John: “Most beautiful.” Let’s hear an example. |
| Mehrnaz: اورست بلندترین قله جهان است. |
| John: “Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world.” The lesson notes have more examples of superlative and comparative adjectives in Persian. |
| Mehrnaz: Be sure to check it out! |
| John: One adjective that I do want to draw attention to is the word “good.” |
| Mehrnaz: In Persian, this is به, but we don’t use this word. We only use the comparative, بهتر, or the superlative, بهترین. |
| John: There must be a word for “good” though? |
| Mehrnaz: Yes, for “good,” we say خوب instead. For example, خوبم |
| John: “I’m good.” |
| Mehrnaz: As you can see, it’s not just beh, but it’s khoobam. This is the short form of من خوب هستم, man khoob hastam. |
| John: Can we use the shortened form in both written and spoken Persian? |
| Mehrnaz: Yes, we can. |
| John: I asked because I’d like to talk a little bit about the differences in spoken and written Persian before we wrap up. |
| Mehrnaz: There are a lot of differences between spoken and written Persian. But beginners should know that if you speak the way you write Persian, everyone will understand you. |
| John: Then as you get more fluent, you can change your spoken Persian. |
| Mehrnaz: Right. In spoken Persian, we just shorten words and sentences. For example, we write به مدرسه برویم., but we say به مدرسه بریم. |
| John: Both mean “Let’s go to school.” |
| Mehrnaz: Sometimes, the aa sound becomes an oo sound. Like in باران and بارون. |
| John: Both mean “rain.” |
| Mehernaz: Sometimes, it’s just the different dialects or accents of the different cities of Iran. There’s no grammatical rule for why we change it. |
| John: Let’s give an example for this case. |
| Mehernaz: For example, we write the adjective "small" as کوچک, koochak, but in spoken Persian we say کوچیک, koochik. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Mehrnaz: خداحافظ (khodaahaafez). |
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