Learn about Persian honorifics
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| Michael: Does Persian have honorifics? |
| Negar: And how do you speak politely in Persian? |
| Michael: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen Lee goes to get a quick snack from a nearby food stand. She is greeted by the food stand clerk, Bahram Borna. She replies: |
| "Good morning Mr. Borna. How are you?" |
| Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: "Good morning Mr. Borna. How are you?" |
| Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| Michael: "I'm fine ma'am, thank you. How about you?" |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be learning how to speak politely in Persian and, specifically, how to use honorifics. We will be focusing mainly on honorifics that take the form of titles that are used to convey respect for a person's rank or position. Other honorifics we will look at are used to denote a person's professional qualifications. Some honorifics are encoded into the grammar of the language itself, and we will have a brief look at some of these as well. Let's start by looking at how titles are used in Persian. |
| If you ever travel to Iran, you will find that titles are ubiquitous. They are used everywhere and in almost all situations. In fact, they are used so much that they can even replace names. For instance, if you happen to forget someone's name, it is perfectly acceptable to use their title instead. |
| Titles for men and women are different, so let's start by looking at titles for men and then at titles for women. |
| The most common title for men in Persian is |
| Negar: (aaqaa) |
| آقا |
| Michael: This is similar to the title "Sir" or "Mr." in English. If you are reasonably familiar with the person and you know their first name, you can use this title with their first name. Let's imagine that we are talking to someone named |
| Negar: (aarmin-e hoseyni) |
| آرمین حسینی |
| Michael: and that this is someone we have met a few times before. Now, let's address him by using the title and his first name. |
| Negar: (aaqaa aarmin) |
| آقا آرمین |
| Michael: We can use the title in this way because it's not a very formal way of addressing someone, and we already know this person. However, in the early days of our acquaintance with Armin, we would have wanted to be a bit more formal and would have used the same title, but with their surname instead |
| Negar: (aaqaa-ye hoseyni) |
| آقای حسینی |
| Michael: You probably noticed that there was an extra syllable thrown in there. This is the suffix |
| Negar: (-ye) |
| ی |
| Michael: which must be added to the title when using a person's surname, or their professional title, or both. If the person you are addressing is a doctor, for instance, you would say: |
| Negar: (aaqaa-ye doktor hoseyni) |
| آقای دکتر حسینی |
| Michael: There is another title in Persian which can also mean "Mr," and it sounds like this: |
| Negar: (khaan) |
| خان |
| Michael: This title was traditionally used to refer to the leader of a tribe, but, in modern Persian, it can mean more or less the same as "Mr" does in English. It's important to remember that one can only use it with first names though and never with a last name. Here is an example of it being used with Armin's name: |
| Negar: (aarmin khaan) |
| آرمین خان |
| Michael: The next title for men that we are going to look at sounds really fancy when translated into English, but is used more casually in Iran. This title is more respectful than |
| Negar: (aaqaa). |
| آقا. |
| Michael: The title we are talking about is |
| Negar: (jenaab), |
| جناب |
| Michael: which translates to "excellency." As you can see, it does sound very fancy, but, as mentioned previously, is used more casually in Iran. It is sometimes used in formal letters in conjunction with other titles, like this: |
| Negar: (jenaab-e aaqaa-ye doktor hoseyni) |
| جناب آقای دکتر حسینی |
| Michael: Now that we've learned a few titles for men, let's look at titles that can be used for women in Persian. It's important to note that, in Iran, women very rarely take on their husbands' last names. They keep their maiden names. Sometimes, it is acceptable to use a woman's husband's last name when talking to her if you do not yet know her last name. For the purposes of this lesson, let's imagine that the woman we are talking to is married to our friend Armin. Her name is |
| Negar: (aafarin-e haatami) |
| آفرین حاتمی |
| Michael: and she is a qualified engineer. In Persian, the most common title for women is |
| Negar: (khaanom) |
| خانم |
| Michael: It has a broader application than any English title, and can be used to mean "lady, wife, ma'am, Mrs, Ms, and Miss." You can use this title with her first name, |
| Negar: (aafarin khaanom) |
| آفرین خانم |
| Michael: or you can use it with her last name, but then you must add the suffix |
| Negar: (-e) |
| -ِ |
| Michael: It would then sound like this: |
| Negar: (khaanom-e haatami) |
| خانم حاتمی |
| Michael: One can also use it with her professional title: |
| Negar: (khaanom mohandes) |
| خانم مهندس |
| Michael: As you will probably have guessed, the word |
| Negar: (mohandes) |
| مهندس |
| Michael: translates to "engineer" in English. If we use the generic title together with her professional title and her last name, we will have |
| Negar: (khaanom-e mohandes haatami) |
| خانم مهندس حاتمی |
| Michael: The title |
| Negar: (khaanom) |
| خانم |
| Michael: is a very common one for women, as has been mentioned, but in some situations, such as at a formal workplace, you might want to be even more formal. In that case, a better option is to use |
| Negar: (sarkaar khaanom) |
| سرکار خانم |
| Michael: It can also be used with the last name like this: |
| Negar: (sarkaar khaanom-e haatami) |
| سرکار خانم حاتمی |
| Michael: Another respectful title for women is |
| Negar: (baanoo) |
| بانو |
| Michael: It can be used to mean "lady." Please note that this title is typically used when talking to a previously married woman, but it is most often used to address educated women of higher social standing. The title can be used on its own, or with a woman's first name, or her first and last names: |
| Negar: (baanoo aafarin-e haatami) |
| بانو آفرین حاتمی |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee asked "Good morning Mr. Borna. How are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: In the first part of her greeting, Karen is using the standard form for saying "Good morning," |
| Negar: (sobh bekheyr) |
| صبح بخیر. |
| Then, she said: |
| Negar: (aaqaa-ye bornaa) |
| آقای برنا |
| Michael: "Mr. Borna" to make this conversation more formal and more polite. In the second part of her greeting, she is also using a slightly formal way of speaking. |
| Negar: (haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: The informal way would have been to simply ask: |
| Negar: (chetori?) |
| چطوری؟ |
| Michael: Both of these sentences have the same meaning, "How are you?", but remember using the second one in a conversation with older people or people with higher rank could be considered impolite. So, it is safe if you always use |
| Negar: (haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: The part that makes this formal is |
| Negar: (shomaa) |
| شما |
| Michael: which is a second person plural pronoun meaning "you." Please note that we use plural pronouns to make a conversation more formal and to show respect in the Persian language. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Bahram Borna says, "I'm fine ma'am, thank you. How about you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| Michael: In this reply, the food stand clerk is using the polite, formal word to address his female customer, which is |
| Negar: (sarkaar khaanom). |
| سرکار خانم |
| Michael: You might also have noticed that, just as Karen did, they used the word |
| Negar: (shomaa) |
| شما |
| Michael: which also adds to the formality of the reply. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that using honorifics, such as titles and professional titles in Persian, is very important because they indicate respect and formality. They are so prevalent that they are used more commonly than actual names. Thus far, we have talked mostly about titles that are similar to the English "Mr." and "Ms.," and have only touched briefly on professional titles, so let's take that a little further. We mentioned that "doctor" is |
| Negar: (doktor) |
| دکتر |
| Michael: and "engineer" is |
| Negar: (mohandes). |
| مهندس |
| Michael: These two professional titles could always be used with someone who is qualified in these fields, and they can be used for both men and women. There is a third professional title that is a bit more broadly applicable than these two. It is |
| Negar: (ostaad) |
| استاد |
| Michael: which means "professor," but can also be used when someone is a master of a particular skill or trade, such as a singer or an artist. This title often is used before the last name: |
| Negar: (ostaad hosseyni) |
| استاد حسینی |
| Practice |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee says, "Good morning Mr. Borna. How are you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Negar as Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Negar as Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Negar as Karen Lee: (sobh bekheyr aaqaa-ye bornaa. haal-e shomaa chetore?) |
| صبح بخیر آقای برنا. حال شما چطوره؟ |
| Michael: And do you remember how Bahram Borna says "I'm fine ma'am, thank you. How about you?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Negar as Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Negar as Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Negar as Bahram Borna: (man khoobam sarkaar khaanom, moteshakkeram. shomaa chetor hastid?) |
| من خوبم سرکار خانم، متشکرم. شما چطور هستید؟ |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: Another common kind of title in Persian is the religious title. Men who have done the pilgrimage to Mecca will take the title |
| Negar: (haaji) |
| حاجی |
| Michael: with their names or last names. This can also be shortened to |
| Negar: (haaj). |
| حاج |
| Michael: Women who have done the pilgrimage will have the title |
| Negar: (اhaaj khaanom) |
| حاج خانم |
| Michael: appended to their names. Then, there is the title |
| Negar: (seyed) |
| سید |
| Michael: which is for men who are said to be descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. The same is said of women who have the title |
| Negar: (seyede) |
| سیده |
| Michael: attached to their names. |
| Just so you know, there are some women who might not like being referred to as |
| Negar: (haaj khaanom) |
| حاج خانم |
| Michael: because it can make them feel old. Be careful when using this title. |
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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