Learn how to buy and use a pre-paid telephone card
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| INTRODUCTION |
| While most people wouldn't or couldn't step outside without their cell phones, when visiting another country, sometimes it's a little too far for your local carrier. You can use your cell phone when you get to Iran, but you have to pay very expensive charges. So if you feel like saving money, the good old ways work like a charm. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Iran, you can buy prepaid phone cards for cell phones. These prepaid cell phone cards are sold in kiosks and phone operator offices. They include SIM cards with PIN codes, and of course an Iranian phone number. You can insert the SIM card into your mobile phone and use it with an Iranian number. That’s how easy it is! That’s what we’ll focus on in this lesson. |
| Before asking for a prepaid card, you’ll want to know whether the shop you’re at, even carries them. In Persian, "Do you sell prepaid cell phone cards?" is |
| Sim kaart-e etebaari daarid? |
| Sim kaart-e etebaari daarid? |
| Once more: |
| Sim kaart-e etebaari daarid? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| The first words Sim kaart not surprisingly mean “SIM card”. |
| (slow) Sim kaart |
| Sim kaart |
| Next we have etebaari, which means “credit”. |
| (slow) etebaari |
| etebaari |
| After this comes daarid, which means “have you?” |
| (slow) daarid? |
| daarid? |
| All together, we have |
| (slow) Sim kaart-e etebaari daarid? |
| Sim kaart-e etebaari daarid? |
| "Do you sell prepaid cell phone cards?" |
| The answer to this will be “yes” which is bale, or “no” which is na. If they do have the cards, you'll want to ask for one of the denominations we talked about. |
| Let’s start with a ten thousand toman card. |
| In Persian, "A ten thousand toman card, please" is |
| Yek kaart-e dah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| Yek kaart-e dah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| Once again: |
| Yek kaarte dah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| The first word, Yek, means “one” or “a”. |
| (slow) Yek |
| Yek |
| Then you have kaart-e which means “card”, and in this case, “SIM card”. |
| (slow) kaart-e |
| kaart-e |
| Next we have dah hezaar “ten thousand.” |
| (slow) dah hezaar |
| dah hezaar |
| Next we have tomani, which you should remember is the name of Iranian money, but with an “i” at the end, so that it means “having toman” |
| (slow) tomani |
| tomani |
| Finally, you have lotfan, which means “please”. |
| Here’s the entire sentence: |
| (slow) Yek kaarte dah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| Yek kaarte dah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| This means, “A ten thousand toman card, please.” |
| For a fifteen thousand card, you just have to change the value this way: instead of dah, say paanzdah. |
| (slow) paanzdah hezaar |
| paanzdah hezaar |
| (slow) Yek kaarte paanzdah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| Yek kaarte paanzdah hezaar tomani, lotfan. |
| If you are looking for a payphone, you’ll have to ask |
| Telefon-e omoomi in nazdikihaa hast? |
| (slow) Telefon-e omoomi in nazdikihaa hast? |
| Telefon-e omoomi in nazdikihaa hast? |
| Let’s break this down: |
| The first two words, telephon-e omoomi, means “public telephone” or “phone booth”. |
| (slow) telefon-e omoomi |
| telefon-e omoomi |
| Then, in nazdikihaa, which you may remember is “nearby”. |
| (slow) in nazdikihaa |
| in nazdikihaa |
| Then we have hast which is “is there?” |
| (slow) hast? |
| hast? |
| All together, we have |
| (slow) Telefon-e omoomi in nazdikihaa hast? |
| Telefon-e omoomi in nazdikihaa hast? |
| In English, this means “Is there a phone booth nearby?” |
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