Learn some common Persian idioms
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Intro |
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| Antoni: What are some common Persian idioms? |
| Negar: And how are they used? |
| Antoni: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Karen Lee hears an idiom she's not familiar with. She asks Bita Baharan, |
| What does "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" mean? |
| Karen Lee: (ma'ni-ye "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" chiye?) |
| معنی "هرکه بامش بیش برفش بیشتر" چیه؟ |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: (ma'ni-ye "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" chiye?) |
| معنی "هرکه بامش بیش برفش بیشتر" چیه؟ |
| Bita Baharan: (in ya'ni harkas ke daaraayi-ye bishtari daare dardesare bishtari ham daare.) |
| این یعنی هر کس که دارایی بیشتری داره دردسر بیشتری هم داره. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: (ma'ni-ye "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" chiye?) |
| معنی "هرکه بامش بیش برفش بیشتر" چیه؟ |
| Negar/native speaker: "What does "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" mean?" |
| Bita Baharan: (in ya'ni harkas ke daaraayi-ye bishtari daare dardesare bishtari ham daare.) |
| این یعنی هر کس که دارایی بیشتری داره دردسر بیشتری هم داره. |
| Antoni: It means "a big head has a big ache." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we're going to look at a few common Persian idioms and what they mean. But let's begin with the word "idiom" itself. An idiom is a figure of speech that has a meaning of its own and that cannot be understood literally. For instance, think of a teacher who says to a student, "You passed your English test by the skin of your teeth." The phrase, "by the skin of your teeth," means that something was successful, but barely so. In other words, the student understands that they very nearly didn't pass the test. |
| We use idioms in conversations to emphasize or clarify the meaning of what we're saying. Every culture has its own idiomatic speech, and knowing this can greatly enhance our understanding of both the language and the culture. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Now let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee asks Bita Baharan, "What does "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" mean?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Negar as Karen Lee: (ma'ni-ye "harke baamash bish barfash bishtar" chiye?) |
| معنی "هرکه بامش بیش برفش بیشتر" چیه؟ |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: And do you remember how Bita Baharan replies: "It means a big head has a big ache?" |
| Bita Baharan: (in ya'ni harkas ke daaraayi-ye bishtari daare dardesare bishtari ham daare.) |
| این یعنی هر کس که دارایی بیشتری داره دردسر بیشتری هم داره. |
| (Pause 4 sec) |
| Antoni: When we look at the literal translation of the proverb, it says "Whoever's house has a bigger roof, they will have more snow on it." This idiom means that being wealthy comes with a lot of responsibility and, sometimes, problems. |
| The saying has an interesting origin. If you were traveling in the central and northern parts of Iran during winter, it would be snowing, and you would probably notice that the houses with big roofs catch a lot of snow. This means that the homeowners will have a lot of shoveling to do, which can be hard work and a really big headache, so to speak! We can use this saying when we want to remind someone to work carefully with their money, somewhat similar to the English reminder that "A fool and his money are soon parted." |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In the lesson so far, you've learned what idioms are, and why we use them. We also looked at the idiom in the dialogue. Let's further explore the usefulness of idioms in speech and discuss other examples of Persian idioms. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: If you want to fully grasp a language as it is used by its native speakers, there is no better way than getting to know its idioms and proverbs. This is because these sayings are born uniquely from within a culture. You'd be surprised how often Iranian people use idioms in everyday conversation, and understanding them will enhance your ability to follow what the natives say and mean. Let's take a look at another idiom. |
| Negar: (divaar moosh daare, moosh ham goosh daare.) |
| دیوار موش داره، موش هم گوش داره. |
| Antoni: This literally translates to "Walls have mice, and mice have ears." You'd be right if you thought it's similar to the English expression, "Walls have ears." If you were in a conversation and you wanted to caution someone to lower their voice because others could be eavesdropping, you could offer this idiom as a subtle hint. The next idiom |
| Negar: (baa yek dast nemitavaan do hendevaane bardaasht.) |
| با یک دست نمی‌توان دو هندوانه برداشت. |
| Antoni: is a well-observed truth, and it translates to "One cannot take two watermelons with one hand." This means that you cannot successfully perform two activities simultaneously, and reminds us to focus on the task at hand instead. An English equivalent would be "Don't run after two hares at the same time." |
| Some idioms take their inspiration from house pets, like the cat. Have you ever looked at a cat washing itself? In Persian, |
| Negar: (gorbe shoor kardan) |
| گربه شور کردن |
| Antoni: means "cat washing," when you translate it directly, and it refers to a person quickly cleaning themselves. Imagine, for instance, you wake up late one morning, and have to rush so you won't be late for work. There's no time for a shower, so you grab your washcloth and carelessly wash your body right then and there before you hurry out the door. This is what is called "washing like a cat" in Persian. |
| We all know that one person who is as "stubborn as a mule." They are determined to do what they want, and won't let you persuade them otherwise, and the next Persian idiom expresses just that: |
| Negar: (yek dande boodan) |
| یک دنده بودن |
| Antoni: This literally translates as "having only one gear" and it refers to someone being very stubborn. Can you imagine how frustrating it must be to drive a car that gets stuck in one gear? |
| Our next idiom is closely related to "having only one gear." When you absolutely insist on something in Persian, you could say, |
| Negar: (morgh-e man yek paa daare.) |
| مرغ من یک پا داره. |
| Antoni: meaning "my chicken has one leg." This expression comes from a Persian story, where a merchant allegedly attempted to turn an official decision in his favor. He sent a roast chicken to the judge with one of his servants, but, on the way, the servant ate one of the chicken legs. When the judge questioned him about the one-legged chicken, the servant insisted that "Our chickens have only one leg." Try as he might, the judge couldn't get the truth from the servant and he had to conclude that chickens may only have one leg in that part of the country. Today, when someone says "His chicken has one leg,'' it is used to refer to a person who insists on their opinion, sometimes even when it's not the truth. |
| Human body parts also found their way into idioms, like the expression, |
| Negar: (chashm andaakhtan) |
| چشم انداختن |
| Antoni: which literally means "to throw eye." If you were casually looking for something, then you could say, |
| Negar: (yek cheshm andaakhtam, chizi peydaa nakardam) |
| یک چشم انداختم، چیزی پیدا نکردم. |
| Antoni: meaning, "I had a look, but couldn't find anything." In Persian, the eye is also strongly associated with love. Our next two examples express the love a mother feels towards a child. The first, |
| Negar: (cheshm-aa-m-e), |
| چشمامه |
| Antoni: means "he/she is my eyes." For instance, if a mother says, "I love my daughter Nasrin dearly." |
| Negar: (nasrin, dokhtaram, cheshm-aa-m-e.) |
| نسرین، دخترم، چشمامه. |
| Antoni: The literal translation is "Nasrin, my daughter, is my eyes." There's a variation on this theme, which is closely related to English. We say that someone, such as a child, is "the apple of my eye" when they're our favorite person. In Persian, the idiom to express something similar is |
| Negar: (baabak noor-e cheshm-e maamaan-esh-e) |
| بابک نور چشم مامانشه. |
| Antoni: This literally translates to "Babak is the light of his mother's eyes." |
| Earlier in the lesson, we learned the meaning of the proverb, |
| Negar: (harke baamash bish barfash bishtar) |
| هرکه بامش بیش برفش بیشتر |
| Antoni: that used the image of snowfall on a house's roof to teach us about responsibility with money. And, for our last Persian saying, if you needed to emphasize that you need others to help us accomplish things, in Persian, you would say, |
| Negar: (yek dast sedaa nadaare.) |
| یک دست صدا نداره. |
| Antoni: This translates to "One hand does not make a sound." The idiom is close in meaning to the English one, "One hand washes the other hand and together they wash the face." |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Negar: خداحافظ (khodaahaafez) |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Negar (Persian, Iran), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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