Learn how to ask "How do you say this?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson, we’re going to need a word, as we're going to cover “How do you say [something] in Persian?” So let's get started right away! |
| Iran is famous for traditional bread, so let’s assume that you want to buy some, but have no idea what to call it in Persian! So, what do you do now? Of course, you ask with Survival Phrases! |
| “How do you say ‘bread’ in Persian?” is |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Be Farsi be “bread” chi migan? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Be Farsi be “bread” chi migan? |
| Once more: |
| Be Farsi be “bread” chi migan? |
| The first two words, be Farsi, mean, “in Persian.” |
| (slow) be Farsi |
| be Farsi |
| This is followed by be bread, “to bread”. |
| (slow) be bread |
| Be bread |
| After that comes chi migan, meaning “what do you say?” (the Persian is actually “what do they say”.) |
| (slow) chi migan |
| Chi migan |
| Altogether, we have |
| Be Farsi be “bread” chi migan? |
| Literally, this means, “In Persian, what do they say to bread?” |
| Not to leave you hanging: “bread” in Persian is nan. |
| You can also use this expression without using any English. To accomplish this, you can use the expression “How do you say this in Persian?” In Persian, the word “this” is ino. |
| (slow) ino |
| ino |
| So in Persian “How do you say this in Persian?” is |
| Be Farsi ino chi migan? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Be Farsi ino chi migan? |
| Once again: |
| Be Farsi ino chi migan? |
| The structure is exactly the same as the previous sentence, except that in place of “bread,” we have the demonstrative adjective ino. |
| All together, we have |
| (slow) Be Farsi ino chi migan? |
| Be Farsi ino chi migan? |
| This is a phrase you can use while pointing at something. |
| Simply substitute the word ino with oono meaning “that” to ask, “How do you say that in Persian?” |
| (slow) oono |
| Oono |
| You will have |
| Be Farsi oono chi migan? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Be Farsi oono chi migan? |
| Once more: |
| Be Farsi oono chi migan? |
| But wait, it’s your Iranian friend’s birthday and you want to wish him or her a happy birthday—but you don’t know how to say it. Let’s try to ask: |
| Be Farsi be ‘happy birthday’ chi migan? |
| “How do you say happy birthday in Persian?” |
| (slow) Be Farsi be ‘happy birthday’ chi migan? |
| The first word is be Farsi, “in Persian.” |
| Then you have ‘happy birthday’ the phrase you want to ask, and chi migan follows that phrase which means ‘what do you say?’. |
| (slow) chi migan? |
| Chi migan? |
| All together: |
| Be Farsi be ‘happy birthday’ chi migan? |
| “Happy birthday,” by the way, is tavalodet mobarak in Persian. |
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