A1.3 – Everyday Basics

Overview of Everyday Basics in Persian

In this chapter you start using Persian for very simple, real, everyday situations. You already met basic communication patterns like greetings, pronouns, and the verb “to be.” Now you will learn how to count, ask and answer very simple questions, say “not,” and point to things with “this” and “that.” All examples are given in standard Iranian Persian.

Throughout this chapter, try to read words from right to left, and notice how the sounds connect to what you have already learned about the alphabet, vowels, and basic pronunciation.

Numbers from 0 to 100

Numbers are among the most useful words you can learn early. You will use them for prices, age, phone numbers, time, and counting objects.

Numbers 0 to 10

Here are the core numbers from 0 to 10. Learn their pronunciation and spelling together.

0: صِفر
1: یِک / یه
2: دو
3: سِه
4: چَهار
5: پَنج
6: شِش
7: هَفت
8: هَشت
9: نُه
10: دَه

The forms یِک and یه both mean “one.” یِک is more neutral and clear, یه is more informal and common in speech.

Numbers 11 to 19

These are special forms that you must memorize:

11: یازده
12: دوازده
13: سیزده
14: چهارده
15: پانزده
16: شانزده
17: هفده
18: هجده
19: نوزده

Notice that many of them contain the basic number word plus ده “ten,” but the exact forms change and you cannot always guess them from the parts.

Tens: 20, 30, 40, ..., 100

Here are the main “tens” you will need:

20: بیست
30: سی
40: چِهِل
50: پَنجاه
60: شَصت
70: هَفتاد
80: هِشتاد
90: نَوَد
100: صَد

For now, learn these as new words. Later, you will see patterns with larger numbers, but in this level you mainly need up to 100.

Combining tens and units

Numbers between the tens use و “and” in formal style, especially in reading and careful speech. In everyday colloquial speech, many speakers drop و between tens and units, but at A1 it is good to learn the clear “with و” pattern.

Examples:

21: بیست و یک
22: بیست و دو
25: بیست و پنج
30: سی
33: سی و سه
40: چهل
47: چهل و هفت
50: پنجاه
59: پنجاه و نه
60: شصت
64: شصت و چهار
70: هفتاد
72: هفتاد و دو
80: هشتاد
88: هشتاد و هشت
90: نود
99: نود و نه

In many everyday situations, you will also hear:

21: بیست و یِک or more colloquially بیست و یه
31: سی و یِک / سی و یه

For now, focus on recognizing all forms and using at least one clear version.

Using numbers in simple phrases

You can already combine numbers with simple nouns and the verb “to be” that you saw before.

Examples:

صفره.
“It is zero.”

سه تاس.
“There are three.” (informal, using تا as a general counter)

سه‌تا کِتاب دارم.
“I have three books.”

ده‌تا دوست دارم.
“I have ten friends.”

You will learn more about possession and counters in a later chapter, but try to say simple combinations like “two books,” “five friends,” or “one phone”:

دو تا کِتاب
“two books”

پنج‌تا دوست
“five friends”

یه گوشی
“a phone / one phone”

Asking Simple Questions

Simple questions often use question words and the basic verb “to be” or very common verbs like “to have” and “to want.” You have already seen sentence order and the verb “to be,” so here you add the most frequent question words.

Important question words

Here are the core question words you need in everyday basics:

“what” چی
“who” کی
“where” کُجا
“when” کِی (same spelling as “who,” but different pronunciation)
“how much / how many” چَند
“why” چِرا

These words usually come near the beginning of the sentence, often after the topic or subject, and the sentence still ends with the verb.

Examples with “what” and “who”:

این چیه؟
“What is this?”

اون کیه؟
“Who is that?”

اسمِت چیه؟
“What is your name?” (informal singular)

Examples with “where” and “when”:

کجا هستی؟ or more commonly کجایی؟
“Where are you?” (informal)

کی میای؟
“When are you coming?” (informal)

At A1, do not worry about the internal verb forms; just notice the position of the question word and the rising question intonation in speech.

Asking about quantity: “how much / how many”

The word چند is used for both “how much” and “how many.” It often comes before a noun, and the verb is at the end.

Examples:

چند سالِته؟
“How old are you?” (literally: “How many years are you?” informal)

چندتا کِتاب داری؟
“How many books do you have?” (informal)

قیمتش چنده؟
“How much is it? / What is the price?” (informal)

You can answer with a number:

بیست سالمه.
“I am twenty years old.” (literally: “I have twenty years.”)

سه‌تا کتاب دارم.
“I have three books.”

ده تومنه.
“It is ten tomans.” (very common structure for prices; you do not need to master currency yet)

Yes/no questions with question words

If a sentence already has a question word like چی, کی, کجا, چند, it is automatically a question, so you do not need an extra marker. The question sound mainly comes from your intonation and the presence of the question word.

کجا هستی؟
“Where are you?”

چرا ناراحتی؟
“Why are you upset?”

Notice that these questions already “feel” like questions in English too, because of words like “where,” “why,” or “how many.”

Negation in Persian

Negation is how you say “not” or “no” in Persian. There are two important basic ideas at this level:

1. The word نه “no” as a full reply.
2. The prefix نَـ or نِـ that attaches to the beginning of verbs to mean “not.”

Saying “no”

You already know the positive word بَله or آره for “yes” in formal or informal speech. For “no,” use:

نَه
“no”

This can stand alone as a full answer.

A: ایرانی هستی؟
“Are you Iranian?”
B: نه. ایرانی نیستم.
“No. I am not Iranian.”

Negating the verb “to be”

In this level, one of the most common negative forms you need is the negative of the present “to be.” You have already seen basic forms like هستم, هستی, هست in their positive version. The negative form usually has نِـ / نَـ before it.

Very important are the short colloquial “to be” endings with their negative forms:

I am: هستم / م
I am not: نیستم / نیستم

You are (informal): هستی / ی
You are not (informal): نیستی / نیستی

He / she / it is: هست / ه
He / she / it is not: نیست

We are: هستیم / ایم
We are not: نیستیم

You are (plural/formal): هستید / اید
You are not (plural/formal): نیستید

They are: هستند / ن
They are not: نیستند

In very common daily speech, the negative forms that you will hear all the time are نیستم, نیستی, نیست, نیستیم, نیستید, نیستن / نیستند. Use them at the end of the sentence.

Examples:

من ایرانی نیستم.
“I am not Iranian.”

اون دوستم نیست.
“He / she is not my friend.”

این خوب نیست.
“This is not good.”

ما خسته نیستیم.
“We are not tired.”

Negating other verbs in very simple patterns

You will study verb tenses in detail later, but already now you can see how negation works, because the pattern is very regular: add نَـ / نِـ before the verb base.

Examples in very common present forms:

دارم “I have” → ندارم “I do not have”
می‌خوام “I want” → نمی‌خوام “I do not want”
می‌رم “I go” → نمی‌رم “I do not go”

Very simple sentences:

پول ندارم.
“I do not have money.”

نمی‌خوام.
“I do not want (it).”

فارسی بلد نیستم.
“I do not know Persian.” (literally: “I am not knowing Persian.”)

At this stage, focus on the position of the نـ unit: it comes directly before the verb, never at the end.

Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions are questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no.” In Persian, they are usually formed with:

1. Normal sentence word order (Subject + Object + Verb).
2. Rising intonation at the end.
3. Optional question particle آیا in more formal or written style.

Basic spoken yes/no questions

In everyday speech, most yes/no questions do not have any special question words at all. The difference is in your voice.

Positive statement:

تو ایرانی هستی.
“You are Iranian.”

Yes/no question:

تو ایرانی هستی؟
“Are you Iranian?”

You keep the same words, but your voice goes up at the end. In writing, a question mark “؟” is added. Answers:

بله، من ایرانی هستم.
“Yes, I am Iranian.” (more formal)

آره، ایرانی‌ام.
“Yes, I am Iranian.” (informal)

نه، من ایرانی نیستم.
“No, I am not Iranian.”

Another example with the verb “to have”:

Statement:
پول داری.
“You have money.”

Question:
پول داری؟
“Do you have money?”

Answer:
نه، پول ندارم.
“No, I do not have money.”

You can practice by taking any simple sentence you know and just turning it into a question by changing your intonation.

Using “آیا” in more formal style

The word آیا can introduce a yes/no question, especially in written language, careful speech, or when you want to sound more polite or formal. It usually comes at the beginning.

Examples:

آیا تو ایرانی هستی؟
“Are you Iranian?” (formal / neutral)

آیا فارسی بلدی؟
“Do you know Persian?” (formal / neutral)

In everyday casual speech, Iranians often simply drop آیا and rely on intonation.

Short replies

You already saw بله / آره for “yes” and نه for “no.” Often people repeat part of the verb in the answer:

A: ایرانی هستی؟
“Are you Iranian?”
B: بله، هستم.
“Yes, I am.”

A: خسته‌ای؟
“Are you tired?”
B: نه، خسته نیستم.
“No, I am not tired.”

A: پول داری؟
“Do you have money?”
B: آره، دارم. or نه، ندارم.
“Yes, I do.” / “No, I do not.”

At A1, repeating the verb is optional; a simple “yes” or “no” already works.

Demonstratives: “this” and “that”

Demonstratives are words like “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.” In Persian, the most important basic forms are:

این “this” (near the speaker)
اون “that” (far from the speaker, or just “that” in general)

Both این and اون are very frequent. They can be used alone, or before a noun. In more formal writing, you may see آن for “that,” but in speech اون is the usual form.

“this” and “that” with nouns

The structure is:

“this / that” + noun

Examples:

این کِتاب
“this book”

اون خونه
“that house”

این دوستَمِه.
“This is my friend.” (literally: “This is my friend.”)

اون مَدرِسِه‌ست.
“That is a school.” (informal contraction, literally: “That school is.”)

این ماشین خوبه.
“This car is good.”

اون فیلم جالب نبود.
“That film was not interesting.” (you will fully learn past tense later, just notice the use of اون)

Remember, the sentence still ends with a verb, usually a form of “to be.”

“this one” and “that one”

Sometimes you point to something without naming the noun again. Then این and اون can stand alone, often with a special short “to be” ending.

Examples:

این چیه؟
“What is this?”

اون چیه؟
“What is that?”

این قشنگه.
“This one is beautiful / nice.”

اون بزرگ‌تره.
“That one is bigger.”

At this level, it is enough to recognize that این refers to something near, اون to something not near. In many real situations, speakers use این and اون a lot when showing things: in shops, at home, in class.

Plural “these” and “those” (first contact)

You will formally learn plurals later, but you will already hear:

این‌ها / اینا “these”
اون‌ها / اونا “those”

The spoken everyday forms اینا and اونا are very common.

Examples:

اینا دوستامن.
“These are my friends.”

اونا کی‌ان؟
“Who are they?” (literally: “Those, who are they?” informal)

For now, just start recognizing اینا and اونا as “these” and “those.”

Putting it all together: mini dialogues

You can now understand small everyday exchanges using numbers, questions, negation, yes/no questions, and demonstratives.

Dialogue 1, introducing age:

A: چند سالته؟
“How old are you?” (informal)

B: بیست سالمه.
“I am twenty years old.”

A: ایرانی هستی؟
“Are you Iranian?”

B: نه، ایرانی نیستم.
“No, I am not Iranian.”

Dialogue 2, pointing and asking:

A: این چیه؟
“What is this?”

B: این کِتابه.
“This is a book.”

A: اون چنده؟
“How much is that?”

B: ده تومنه.
“It is ten tomans.”

Dialogue 3, have / not have:

A: پول داری؟
“Do you have money?”

B: نه، پول ندارم.
“No, I do not have money.”

A: این خوبه؟
“Is this good?”

B: آره، این خیلی خوبه.
“Yes, this is very good.”

Even without mastering every verb form, you can already catch the meaning because of the question words, numbers, negation, and demonstratives.

Vocabulary for this section

Below is a table of the important Persian words and expressions introduced or practiced in this chapter.