Learn how to tell time in Persian
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| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Persian? |
| Negar: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, during a school break, Sasha Lee asks her classmate Afsane Afshar about the time. They don't want to be late for their next class. Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: ساعت چنده؟ (saa'at chande?) |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: |
| ساعت چنده؟ |
| (saa'at chande?) |
| Afsane Afshar: |
| ساعت سه و ربعه. |
| (saa'at se-o rob'e.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: |
| ساعت چنده؟ |
| (saa'at chande?) |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| Afsane Afshar: |
| ساعت سه و ربعه. |
| (saa'at se-o rob'e.) |
| Michael: "It's quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: Asking the time is one of the most fundamental things to learn in Persian. In this lesson, you will learn how to ask for the time and answer questions about it. Before you can ask for the time, though, you need to learn the Persian numbers. In addition, you should also learn the basic vocab related to time—such as hours, minutes and seconds. In this lesson, we will cover all of those words and you can get some practice saying them! |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let us take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee says "What time is it?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Sasha Lee: |
| ساعت چنده؟ |
| (saa'at chande?) |
| This is the most basic and most common way to ask about the time. The word |
| Negar: ساعت (saa'at) |
| Michael: means "hour," and |
| Negar: چند (chand) |
| Michael: means "How much?" The verb at the end is |
| Negar: ه (e) |
| Michael: which means "is" in English. However, this is actually the colloquial form of the verb. The full verb is |
| Negar: است (ast) |
| Michael: If you want to be more polite when asking the time, you can also modify the question by adding "Excuse me" in front of it: |
| Negar: |
| ببخشید، ساعت چند است؟ |
| (bebakhshid, saa'at chand ast?) |
| Michael: "Excuse me, what time is it?" To say this sentence in its colloquial form, you only need to change the ending, like this: |
| Negar: |
| ببخشید، ساعت چنده؟ |
| (bebakhshid, saa'at chande?) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let us take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Afsane Afshar says "It's a quarter past three?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Afsane Afshar: |
| ساعت سه و ربعه. |
| (saa'at se-o rob'e.) |
| Michael: To answer a question about the time in Persian, you have to learn this formula: |
| First, say the word for "hour" or "clock" |
| Negar: [NORMAL] ساعت (saa'at) [SLOWLY] ساعت (saa'at) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: followed by the number of the hour. In the dialogue, we have |
| Negar: سه (se) |
| Michael: "three." Next, say the word for "and" |
| Negar: و (o) |
| Michael: Note that this is the informal "and." The formal "and" is |
| Negar: و (va) |
| Michael: After that, say the number of "minutes" |
| Negar: [NORMAL] دقیقه (daqiqe) [SLOWLY] دقیقه (daqiqe) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: In the second dialogue line, we have |
| Negar: ربع (rob') |
| Michael: which means "quarter." If you also want to give the seconds after the number of minutes, add another |
| Negar: و (o) |
| Michael: plus the number of seconds, and the word for "second," |
| Negar: [NORMAL] ثانیه (saanie) [SLOWLY] ثانیه (saanie) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: As we mentioned before, we put the verb "is" right at the end. |
| It may sound a bit complicated, but it really is not! Most of the time, you will only say the hour, or the hour and minutes. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: We can try a few sentences out now. Repeat after the native speaker. |
| Imagine you are in Iran and want to ask someone the time. |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ببخشید، ساعت چنده؟ |
| (bebakhshid, saa'at chande?) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ببخشید، ساعت چنده؟ |
| (bebakhshid, saa'at chande?) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: "Excuse me, what time is it?" |
| If you want to tell the time to the exact hour, you say |
| Negar: ساعت (saa'ate) |
| Michael: and the number, followed by "it is" |
| Negar: است (ast) |
| Michael: That is all! So, "It is 2 o'clock" will be: |
| Negar: [NORMAL] ساعت دو است (saa'at do ast.) [SLOWLY] ساعت دو است (saa'at do ast.) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: and "It is 7 o'clock" will be |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت هفت است. |
| (saa'at haft ast.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت هفت است. |
| (saa'at haft ast.) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: What about if the time is half past the hour? "Half" in Persian is |
| Negar: [NORMAL] نیم (nim) [SLOWLY] نیم (nim) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: So "half past nine" will be: |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت نه و نیمه. |
| (saa'at noh-o nime) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت نه و نیمه. |
| (saa'at noh-o nime) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: The literal translation is "It is nine and a half." It is quite common to shorten it, too, so you could just say |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| نه و نیم. |
| (noh o nim.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| نه و نیم. |
| (noh o nim.) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: "Nine thirty." We already learned how to say "quarter past" in Afsane Afshar's line. |
| Do you remember what's the word for "quarter" in Persian? |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar: [NORMAL] ربع (rob') [SLOWLY] ربع (rob') |
| Michael: Now, let's hear how to say a quarter to the hour, it sounds like this: |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت یک ربع به هشته. |
| (saa'at yek rob' be hashte.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت یک ربع به هشته. |
| (saa'at yek rob' be hashte.) |
| Michael: Here |
| Negar: یک (yek) |
| Michael: means "one" or "a." |
| Then, we have the adposition after "quarter" |
| Negar: به (be) |
| Michael: which means "to," and after that comes the number of the hour |
| Negar: هشت (hasht) |
| Michael: meaning "eight." |
| Michael: All together that means "it is quarter to eight." Literally, we are saying "hour a quarter to eight is." |
| How are you doing so far? I'm sure you are doing great! Do you remember how to ask: "Excuse me, what time is it?" |
| Negar: |
| ببخشید، ساعت چنده؟ |
| (bebakhshid, saa'at chande?) |
| Michael: Now, let us practice a couple more answers. |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت دو و ده دقیقه است. |
| (saa'at do-o dah daqiqe ast.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت دو و ده دقیقه است. |
| (saa'at do-o dah daqiqe ast.) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: That means "it is two ten." The literal translation is "hour two and ten minutes is." We used the word for minutes |
| Negar: دقیقه (daqiqe) |
| Michael: because we are giving an exact time. |
| Here is one more: |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت شش و چهل و پنج دقیقه است. |
| (saa'at shesh-o chehel-o panj daqiqe ast.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت شش و چهل و پنج دقیقه است. |
| (saa'at shesh-o chehel-o panj daqiqe ast.) |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Michael: that means "it is six forty-five." |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: In Persian, the twelve-hour format is typically used for telling the time. The twenty-four-hour format is only used in formal situations, such as TV programs or the news. |
| The formal 24-hour time format sounds something like this: |
| Negar: [NORMAL] |
| ساعت هجده است. |
| (saa'at hejdah ast.) |
| [SLOWLY] |
| ساعت هجده است. |
| (saa'at hejdah ast.) |
| Michael: This means "it is 18 o'clock"—as I am sure you guessed, the equivalent of six PM. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Negar: خداحافظ (khodaahaafez) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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