A1.4 – Daily Life

Overview

In this chapter you move from isolated words and very simple sentences to talking about your daily life. You will learn how to introduce your family, say what people do, talk about where people are from, and describe them in a simple way. You already know basic sentence structure and the verb “to be,” so here you will focus on four new ideas that are essential for everyday communication: family, nationalities and countries, jobs, and basic possession and descriptions.

Talking about Family and Relationships

Family is one of the most common topics in small talk in Persian. The usual word for “family” is خانواده /khânevâde/. To say “my family,” you add the ending -ام /-am/ to show “my”: خانواده‌ام /khânevâde-am/.

The most basic family words are:

پدر /pedar/ means father.
مادر /mâdar/ means mother.
برادر /barâdar/ means brother.
خواهر /khâhar/ means sister.
فرزند /farzand/ means child (son or daughter).
پسر /pesar/ means son or boy.
دختر /dokhtar/ means daughter or girl.

There are also words for your parents as a pair and for children as a group:
والدین /vâledeyn/ means parents.
بچه /bachche/ or بچه‌ها /bachche hâ/ means child, children.

To introduce family members in simple A1 sentences, you combine a noun with the verb “to be” and sometimes an adjective or a job. You will learn possession more clearly later in this chapter, but at this level you should recognize and begin to use some simple patterns like “this is my mother” or “he is my brother.”

For example:
این مادرِ من است.
/in mâdar-e man ast./
“This is my mother.”

او برادرِ من است.
/u barâdar-e man ast./
“He is my brother.”

In very informal spoken Persian, the word است /ast/ is usually shortened, but for now it is safer to use the full form that you learned with the verb “to be.”

Relationships beyond the core family are also used very often. Here are the most useful at this level:
همسر /hamsar/ means spouse.
شوهر /shohar/ means husband.
زن /zan/ means wife or woman, the meaning depends on context.
دوست /dust/ means friend.
دوست دختر /dust-e dokhtar/ means girlfriend.
دوست پسر /dust-e pesar/ means boyfriend.

When you talk about your family in Persian, it is common to say how many brothers or sisters you have. You already know numbers, so you can say for example:
من دو خواهر دارم.
/ man do khâhar dâram./
“I have two sisters.”

You will see the verb دارم /dâram/ again later when we talk about possession more directly.

Nationalities and Countries

Persian uses different words for countries and for nationalities. Many country names look or sound similar to their English forms, but the nationality words usually end in -ی /-i/ and behave like adjectives.

For example:
ایران /Irân/ means Iran,
ایرانی /Irâni/ means Iranian.
فرانسه /Farânseh/ means France,
فرانسوی /Farânsavi/ means French.
آلمان /Âlmân/ means Germany,
آلمانی /Âlmâni/ means German.

You already know how to say “I am” with the verb “to be.” You can use that to say where you are from and what your nationality is.

For example:
من ایرانی هستم.
/ man Irâni hastam./
“I am Iranian.”

من اهلِ ایران هستم.
/ man ahl-e Irân hastam./
“I am from Iran.”

The word اهل /ahl/ means “from” in the sense of origin, like “a person of (a place).”

Here are some other very common countries and their nationalities for everyday conversations:

آمریکا /Amrikâ/ means America or the United States.
آمریکایی /Amrikâyi/ means American.

انگلستان /Englestân/ or بریتانیا /Beritâniyâ/ means England or Britain.
انگلیسی /Engelisi/ means English (nationality and language).

ایتالیا /Itâliyâ/ means Italy,
ایتالیایی /Itâliyâyi/ means Italian.

اسپانیا /Espâniyâ/ means Spain,
اسپانیایی /Espâniyâyi/ means Spanish.

افغانستان /Afghânestân/ means Afghanistan,
افغان /Afghân/ means Afghan.

تاجیکستان /Tâjikestân/ means Tajikistan,
تاجیک /Tâjik/ means Tajik.

پرتغال /Portegâl/ means Portugal,
پرتغالی /Portegâli/ means Portuguese.

To talk about your country in daily life, you might say:
من اهلِ آمریکا هستم، ولی در ایران زندگی می‌کنم.
/ man ahl-e Amrikâ hastam, vali dar Irân zendegi mikonam./
“I am from the United States, but I live in Iran.”

At A1 you do not need to use very long sentences. Even two short sentences are fine:
من آمریکایی هستم.
من در ایران زندگی می‌کنم.
“I am American. I live in Iran.”

Jobs and Occupations

Another daily topic is “What do you do?” This usually means “What is your job?” in everyday conversation. The general question is:

شغلِ شما چیست؟
/ shoghl-e shomâ chist?/
“What is your job?” (formal or polite)

کارِ شما چیست؟
/ kâr-e shomâ chist?/
“What is your work?” (also common)

Informally, between friends, people may ask:
چه کاره‌ای؟
/ chekâre-i?/
“What do you do?” (informal)

The main word for “job” is شغل /shoghl/. The word کار /kâr/ means “work” in general, and also appears in many everyday phrases.

To answer, you use a simple structure with the noun and the verb “to be.” You usually do not need an article like “a.” For example:
من دانشجو هستم.
/ man dâneshju hastam./
“I am a student.”

من معلم هستم.
/ man mo’allem hastam./
“I am a teacher.”

Very common jobs and occupation words include:

دانشجو /dâneshju/ means university student.
دانش‌آموز /dânesh-âmuz/ means school student.
معلم /mo’allem/ means teacher.
استاد /ostâd/ means professor or master teacher.
کارمند /kârmad/ means office worker or employee.
کارگر /kârgar/ means worker, usually manual worker.
مهندس /mohandes/ means engineer.
پزشک /pezeshk/ or دکتر /doktor/ means doctor.
پرستار /parastâr/ means nurse.
راننده /rânande/ means driver.
فروشنده /forushande/ means salesperson.
آشپز /âshpaz/ means cook or chef.
هنرمند /honarmand/ means artist.
نویسنده /nevisande/ means writer.

If you want to say that someone does not have a job at the moment, you can use a simple word like:
بیکار /bikâr/ means unemployed or without work.
خانه‌دار /khâne-dâr/ means housewife or homemaker.

Here is an example with another person:
او مهندس است.
/ u mohandes ast./
“He is an engineer” or “She is an engineer.”

For yourself, in very common everyday spoken Persian, people often drop the word هستم /hastam/ and only say the noun with “am” attached, but for now continue to use the full form to keep the structure clear in your mind.

Possession in Daily Life

Possession is very important in daily life because you often want to say “my mother,” “my job,” “his car,” “our house,” and so on. At A1 you do not need a full grammar explanation of every pattern, but you should start using the most frequent possessive endings.

Persian shows possession by adding short endings to the noun. These endings are based on the personal pronouns that you already know. For example, the possessive ending for “my” is -م pronounced /-am/ or /-em/ depending on the word. You have already seen it in words like خانواده‌ام /khânevâde-am/ “my family.”

Here are some simple and very common examples:

کتاب /ketâb/ means book.
کتابم /ketâbam/ means my book.
کتابت /ketâbat/ means your book (informal).
کتابش /ketâbash/ means his or her book.

خانه /khâne/ means house or home.
خانه‌ام /khâne-am/ means my house.
خانه‌ات /khâne-at/ means your house (informal).
خانه‌اش /khâne-ash/ means his or her house.

The same pattern works for family members:
مادرم /mâdar-am/ means my mother.
پدرم /pedar-am/ means my father.
برادرم /barâdar-am/ means my brother.
خواهرش /khâhar-ash/ means his or her sister.

You can combine possession with the verb “to be” to make complete sentences for daily life. For example:
این کتابم است.
/ in ketâbam ast./
“This is my book.”

آن خانه‌اش است.
/ ân khâne-ash ast./
“That is his house.”

Sometimes in spoken Persian the verb “to be” is attached at the end as a short form. You will meet those forms later. For A1 it is enough that you can recognize and begin to use the basic possessive endings, especially for “my” and “your.”

In addition to endings, Persian can also show possession with a structure using the word “of.” The ordinary word for “of” is ِ /-e/ which you already see in phrases like مادرِ من /mâdar-e man/ “mother of me,” that is “my mother.” At this level you can see both ways:

مادرِ من مهندس است.
/ mâdar-e man mohandes ast./
“My mother is an engineer.”

مادرم مهندس است.
/ mâdar-am mohandes ast./
“My mother is an engineer.”

Both are correct, and both are useful in daily life.

Simple Descriptions with Adjectives

To describe people, family members, or things in your daily life, you need adjectives. Adjectives in Persian usually come after the noun that they describe. This is different from English, where adjectives usually come before the noun.

For example:
خانه‌ی بزرگ /khâne-ye bozorg/ literally “house big” means “a big house.”
کتابِ کوچک /ketâb-e kuchak/ literally “book small” means “a small book.”

The word بزرگ /bozorg/ means big.
The word کوچک /kuchak/ or the spoken form کوچولو /kuchulu/ means small or little.

When you say “the big house,” you actually say “house big” with a small “of” sound between the noun and the adjective. This small sound is written with a short sign and often pronounced /-e/ or /-ye/. At A1, you do not need to analyze it deeply, but you should get used to seeing it in writing and hearing it in speech.

Some very useful adjectives for daily life are:

خوب /khub/ means good.
بد /bad/ means bad.
جدید /jadid/ means new.
قدیمی /qadimi/ means old (for things).
جوان /javân/ means young.
پیر /pir/ means old (for people).
خسته /khaste/ means tired.
خوشحال /khoshhâl/ means happy.
غمگین /qamgin/ means sad.
گرم /garm/ means warm or hot.
سرد /sard/ means cold.

To make very simple descriptive sentences, combine a noun, an adjective, and the verb “to be.” For example:
او خسته است.
/ u khaste ast./
“He is tired” or “She is tired.”

خانه‌ی من بزرگ است.
/ khâne-ye man bozorg ast./
“My house is big.”

آن کتاب جدید است.
/ ân ketâb jadid ast./
“That book is new.”

You can also combine possession, family words, and adjectives to talk about daily life:
برادرِ من جوان است.
/ barâdar-e man javân ast./
“My brother is young.”

دوستِ من ایرانی است.
/ dust-e man Irâni ast./
“My friend is Iranian.”

At this level, try to make many short sentences like these instead of trying to say everything in one long sentence. Practice with your own family, job, country, and simple descriptions around you.

Vocabulary Table for A1.4 – Daily Life