Learn some common prefixes in Persian
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| Michael: What are some prefixes in Persian? |
| Negar: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha Lee is studying for a language exam together with her classmate, Afsane Afshar. She sees an unknown word, and asks, |
| "What does "naadorost" mean?" |
| Sasha Lee: ("naadorost" be che ma'niye?) |
| "نادرست" به چه معنیه؟ |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: ("naadorost" be che ma'niye?) |
| "نادرست" به چه معنیه؟ |
| Afsane Afshar: (in ya'ni "eshtebaah.") |
| این یعنی "اشتباه." |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: ("naadorost" be che ma'niye?) |
| "نادرست" به چه معنیه؟ |
| Michael: "What does "naadorost" mean?" |
| Afsane Afshar: (in ya'ni "eshtebaah.") |
| این یعنی "اشتباه." |
| Michael: "It means 'incorrect.'" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be talking about some prefixes in Persian and why they are important to know. Let's start by talking about their importance. |
| In the Persian language, there are relatively few independent stems or words that stand on their own. Instead, it relies heavily on other methods for the creation of words, including the use of affixes such as prefixes and suffixes to form new words out of pre-existing ones. This is why, if you want to learn Persian, getting to know some of the prefixes is very important. |
| In Persian, the word for "prefix" is |
| Negar: (pishvand) |
| پیشوند |
| Michael: But what is a prefix exactly? Well, an example of a prefix in English is the morpheme "un" in the word "undo." As you can see, this little unit of language can't be broken down any further. That is what makes it a morpheme. A morpheme is one of the smallest units of language and is not actually a word. This particular morpheme is attached to the front of a word, and that is what makes it a prefix. Prefixes are morphemes that we attach to the beginning of a word in order to alter its meaning. |
| In Persian, prefixes are used a lot, as I've mentioned, so let's have a look at some examples. The first Persian prefix we will be looking at is one you've already heard in the dialogue for this lesson. Let's listen to that again. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Do you remember how Sasha Lee says "What does "naadorost" mean?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Sasha Lee: ("naadorost" be che ma'niye?) |
| "نادرست" به چه معنیه؟ |
| Michael: You might recall from before that Afsane replied to this question by saying that it means "incorrect." In English, the stem of this word is "correct," and the Persian word for "correct" is |
| Negar: (dorost) |
| درست |
| Michael: The English prefix is "in," which is a prefix that is used to negate the meaning of the word it is attached to. The equivalent prefix in Persian is |
| Negar: (naa) |
| نا |
| Michael: and the simplest translation of this would be the word "not." It can also be attached to the front of a word, like |
| Negar: (monazzam) |
| منظّم |
| Michael: which means "tidy." With the prefix attached, it means "untidy," of course. This is what it sounds like in Persian: |
| Negar: (naamonazzam) |
| نامنظّم |
| Michael: Now that we've discussed a prefix that imparts a negative meaning to the words it is attached to, let's look at one that conveys something positive. This one means "with" or "having." And here it is: |
| Negar: (baa) |
| با |
| Michael: It is a useful prefix when it comes to converting nouns into adjectives. For instance, by using this prefix, we can take the Persian word for "knowledge" or "literacy" and change it to the adjective, "knowledgeable" or "literate." Here is the Persian word for "knowledge:" |
| Negar: (savaad) |
| سواد |
| Michael: and, after we add the prefix, it becomes the word "knowledgeable:" |
| Negar: (baasavaad) |
| باسواد |
| Michael: As you can see, the prefix makes it into an adjective meaning "with knowledge" or "having knowledge." Let's try another example with the same prefix. This time, we will take the Persian word for "politeness," which is |
| Negar: (adab) |
| ادب |
| Michael: and add the prefix to form the Persian word for "polite," which is |
| Negar: (baa-adab), |
| باادب |
| Michael: a very useful prefix indeed. An equally useful prefix, which happens to mean the opposite of this one, is |
| Negar: (bi) |
| بی |
| Michael: It means "without" and, like its semantic opposite, it can also convert nouns into adjectives. Listen to how it changes the word for "wisdom" or |
| Negar: (kherad) |
| خرد |
| Michael: to a word meaning "without wisdom" or "stupid," which is |
| Negar: (bikherad) |
| بیخرد |
| Michael: Let's try it with another word. This time we will take the word for "work," which is |
| Negar: (kaar) |
| کار |
| Michael: and use the same prefix to convert it into the word for "unemployed," which is |
| Negar: (bikaar) |
| بیکار |
| Michael: So far, we've alternated between prefixes that convey negative and positive connotations to the words they modify, so let's change that a little and look at a prefix that carries connotations of equivalence. The prefix I am thinking of can be translated, more or less, to "with the same" or "of the same." This is what it sounds like: |
| Negar: (ham) |
| هم |
| Michael: You can use it with a word like |
| Negar: (vatan) |
| وطن |
| Michael: which means "homeland," to form the word |
| Negar: (hamvatan) |
| هموطن |
| Michael: which means "of the same homeland," "compatriot," or "fellow countryman." This same prefix can also be used with the Persian word for "head" or |
| Negar: (sar) |
| سر |
| Michael: When affixed to this word, it creates an interesting new word which you probably won't guess the meaning of. It certainly does not denote some monster with two heads. No, the new word means "of the same head" and denotes a "spouse." It sounds like this: |
| Negar: (hamsar) |
| همسر |
| Michael: I kind of like that one actually. I like thinking of me and my partner as being "of the same head." |
| And there you have it. You've now learned a few common prefixes in Persian. In a moment, we will talk some more about the functions of prefixes in Persian. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that Persian is a language with fewer than usual stem words so it relies heavily on other methods for creating words. Among these methods is the attachment of prefixes to base words. You learned that, among other things, these prefixes can be used to negate the meaning of a base word, to change a noun into an adjective and also to denote equivalence. |
| I said before that I would tell you a little more about the functions of prefixes in Persian, so let's have a look at that now. One of the things that prefixes can do in Persian is tell you what tense a verb is in. For instance, by adding the prefix |
| Negar: (mi) |
| می |
| Michael: to a verb like |
| Negar: (goftam) |
| گفتم |
| Michael: which means "I said," you can form the past continuous tense of the verb, which is |
| Negar: (migoftam) |
| میگفتم |
| Michael: and means "ّI was saying." |
| Michael: To sum up, the prefix, along with the base of the verb, can tell us the tense of the verb. You heard this at work in the example we used with the prefix |
| Negar: (mi) |
| می. |
| Michael: It was being used in conjunction with the verb base to form the past continuous tense. Take note that there is no prefix needed with the past tense base of the verb. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: Prefixes in Persian can also be useful when negating verbs. Earlier, we talked about using the prefix |
| Negar: (mi) |
| می |
| Michael: to form the past continuous tense of the Persian verb for "I said." The result was this word: |
| Negar: (migoftam) |
| میگفتم |
| Michael: —which means "I was saying." It is possible to negate this with a simple prefix and form the Persian word for "I wasn't saying." The prefix we will use in order to do this is |
| Negar: (ne), |
| نـِ |
| Michael: and the resulting word is |
| Negar: (nemigoftam) |
| نمیگفتم. |
| Michael: Simple right? There is one more prefix that we can use to negate verbs. It sounds like this: |
| Negar: (na) |
| نـَ |
| Michael: It's not always easy to know when to use which of these two prefixes. Mostly, it will depend on experience and how much you practice your Persian. That said, I can tell you that, when you want to negate an adjective, you can use the prefix |
| Negar: (naa) |
| نا |
| Michael: You might have recognized that prefix from our dialogue earlier. In the dialogue, it was used to negate the adjective "correct" and form the negative adjective "incorrect." Here is the word for "incorrect" again, just as a reminder: |
| Negar: (naadorost) |
| نادرست |
| Michael: To learn when to use |
| Negar: (ne) |
| نـِ |
| Michael: or |
| Negar: (na) |
| نـَ |
| Michael: I'm afraid you will simply have to practice and get to know the language. Which prefix is used to form the negative also depends on what dialect is being used. It's probably best to stick to |
| Negar: (na) |
| نـَ |
| Michael: when you are unsure—and remember to use |
| Negar: (ne) |
| نـِ |
| Michael: before the prefix |
| Negar: (mi) |
| می |
| Michael: as we mentioned previously. One thing I can tell you for sure is that, if you want to negate the verb "to be" or |
| Negar: (boodan), |
| بودن |
| Michael: then you can always use the prefix |
| Negar: (na) |
| نـَ |
| Michael: Here is an example: |
| Negar: (naboodam) |
| نبودم |
| Michael: This means "I was not." You can use it in a sentence like, "I was not happy yesterday," or |
| Negar: (dirooz khoshhaal naboodam.) |
| دیروز خوشحال نبودم. |
| Michael: I hope this is not true in your case, and I hope that you have found this lesson helpful! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Negar:(khodaahaafez) خداحافظ |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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