Persian/Lesson 3

In lessons 1 and 2, you learned some greetings, the first twenty letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters. You also learned syllable stress in Persian words. In this lesson, you will learn more about casual and formal speech, the next nine Persian letters, and more about short vowels in Persian. Dialogue: ‹sobh bexeyr› Hassan drops by to see his good friend Mohamad: Hassan sobh bexeyr, mamad! Good morning, Mamad! Mohamad sobh bexeyr, hasani. hâlet cetor e? Good morning, Hassani. How’s your health? Hassan bad nistam, mersi. va to? Not bad, thanks. And you? Mohamad man xeyli xubam. I'm very good. |} Explanation Mohamad and Hassan are using a very casual style of speech because they are close friends. “Mamad” is a common nickname for people named Mohamad. “Hassani” is a common nickname for people named “Hassan”. Vocabulary yes صبح بخیر sobh bexeyr /sobh beˈxejɾ/ Good morning حالت hâlet /ˈhɒːlet/ your health (informal) بد bad /bæd/ bad similar meaning and pronunciation as the English word نیستم nistam /ˈniːstæm/ (I) am not و va, o /væ/, /o/ and خیلی xeyli very Familiarity and formality In any language, speakers use various levels of formality in various social settings. For example, an English speaker in a formal setting may use proper grammar, pronounce -ing clearly (i.e., so that "walking" does not sound like "walkin'"), may choose formal or technical words (e.g. sodium chloride rather than salt and child rather than kid), and refrain from saying ain't, but the same person could violate some or all of those rules in an informal setting. In Persian, several speech patterns are used to raise or lower the level of formality. One general rule in the Persian formality system is that referring to an individual with a plural pronoun and/or plural verb indicates respect for that individual. In polite Persian conversations, it is therefore customary to use the plural pronoun شما šomâ to when speaking with a superior or someone whom one has just met, and to use the singular pronoun تو to only when talking to friends, family members, and the like. ع ‹’eyn›, غ ‹qeyn› ← (read from right to left) ← ع غ ‹’eyn› ‹qeyn› The next two letters have the same form except only one has a dot over it. The bottom hook in these letters is a tail that only appears in isolated and final position. ع fa-ع.ogg ’eyn The Persian letter ﻉ ’eyn represents the sound [ʔ], i.e. the glottal stop in the middle of “uh-oh” in English. Traditionally, as well as in UniPers it is transcribed as ‹’›. Its name sounds something like the English word “main”, but beginning with a glottal stop instead of an m. The top loop sits on the baseline. When it is the last (or only) letter in a word, its lower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letter follows it, it has a different form. رعد fa-ع.ogg ra'd ر r ع‍ ’ ‍د d As shown on the right, the letter ﻉ ‹’eyn› combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. with د in the word رعد ra’d thunder. غ fa-غ.ogg qeyn The Persian letter غ qeyn represents the sound [ɣ], that is, it is produced by placing the back part of the tongue against the soft palate and vibrating the vocal cords while pushing air from the lungs over the middle of the tongue. The top loop sits on the baseline. When it is the last (or only) letter in a word, its lower loop hangs below the baseline. When another letter follows it, it has a different form. باغ Fa-باغ.ogg bâq ب‍ b ‍ا â غ q As shown on the right, the letter ﻍ ‹qeyn› is used to spell باغ bâq garden. Arabic alphabet ayn-ghayn.png ع 'eyn Ain-individua.svg Lettre 18 ʿayn.jpg Lettre 18 'ayn.gif غ qeyn GHain-individua.svg Lettre 19 ġayn.jpg Lettre 19 ġayn.gif ف ‹fe›, ق ‹qaf› ف ق ‹fe› ‹qaf› The next two letters are shown on the right. ف fa-ف.ogg fe The Persian letter ف fe sits on the baseline. Its name sounds like a quick pronunciation of "Faye". فردا fardâ ف‍ f ‍ر r د d ا â As shown on the right, the letter ف ‹fe› combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. as the first letter in the word فردا fardâ tomorrow. ق fa-ق.ogg qaf The Persian letter ق qaf is pronounced like غ ‹qeyn›, i.e. like [ɣ]. The small loop sits on the baseline and the tail, when present, hangs below the baseline. Like other Persian letters with tails, the tail is only written when no other letter follows. آقا âqâ آ â ق‍ q ‍ا â As shown on the right, the letter ﻕ ‹qaf› combines with the letter that follows, as in آقا âqâ Mr., sir, gentleman. Arabic alphabet fa-qaf.png ف fe Faa-individua.svg Lettre 20 fâʾ.jpg Lettre 20 fâ.gif ق qaf Qaaf-individua.svg Lettre 21 qâf.jpg Lettre 21 qâf.gif ک ‹kaf› and گ ‹gaf› ک گ ‹kaf› ‹gaf› The next two letters are shown on the right. ک kaf fa-ک.ogg The Persian letter ک kaf sits on the baseline. The slash on top ( / ) is written after the connected strokes of the word, along with the dots in any of the word’s dotted letters. Its name sounds a bit like the English word “cough”. کتاب ketâb fa-سگ.ogg ک‍ k ‍ت‍ t ‍ا â ب b As shown on the right, the letter ک combines with the letter that follows it, e.g. as the first letter in the word کتاب ketâb book. گ gaf fa-گ.ogg The Persian letter گ gaf sits on the baseline. The two slashes on top ( // ) are written after the connected strokes of the word, along with the dots in any of the word’s dotted letters. بزرگ bozorg fa-بزرگ.ogg ب‍ b ‍ز z ر r گ g As shown on the right, the letter گ is used in the word بزرگ bozorg big. Arabic alphabet kaf.png ک kaf Kahah-individua.svg 22b-Persisches Kaf.png گ gaf Gaaf-individua.svg 22a-Gaf.png Gaf.svg ل ‹lâm› ل lâm The letter ل lâm sits on the baseline and connects with the letter that follows it. گل gol گ‍ g ‍ل l ل is the last letter in گل gol flower. Arabic alphabet lam.png ل lâm Laam-individua.svg Lettre 23 lâm.jpg Lettre 23 lâm.gif م ‹mim› م fa-م.ogg mim The Persian letter م is pronounced as /m/. اسم ا fa-اسم.ogg esm e س‍ s ‍م m The Persian word اسم esm name, shown on the right, is an example of an initial alef without a “hat” ( ا ) used to indicate that the word begins with a short vowel, in this case, with ‹e›. م mim Miim-individua.svg Lettre 24 mīm.jpg Lettre 24 mîm.gif ن ‹nun› ن nun fa-ن.ogg The name of this letter "nun" is pronounced rhyming with "noon" and not "nun". Note the difference between ن nun and ﺏ be, in be the dot is below the curve and in nun it is above. The shape of nun is also narrower than the "be, pe, se, te" group of letters. نان nun ن‍ n ‍ا â ن n The Persian word نان nun bread is shown on the right. Note that the written form uses ا â, indicating that the word should be pronounced as ‹nân›, but in standard Persian, ان ân is usually pronounced ‹un›, including the word آن un that. ن nun Nuun-individua.svg Lettre 25 nūn.jpg Lettre 25 nūn.gif Exercises Recognizing letters | What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters? |- |ف The letter ‹fe›, which represents the sound ‹f›. ﻝ The letter ‹lâm›, which represents the sound ‹l›. گ The letter ‹gaf›, which represents the sound ‹g›. ق The letter ‹qaf›, which represents the sound ‹q›. ع The letter ‹'eyn›, which represents the sound ‹'›. غ The letter ‹qeyn›, which represents the sound ‹q›. ک The letter ‹kaf›, which represents the sound ‹k›. |} Reading words | Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts. |- |بازار بازار bâzâr bazaar, market چادر چادر câdor chador, covering بانک بانک bânk bank چک چک chek Czech |} Review In this lesson, you learned ..., the next seven letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned about syllable stress in Persian words. Core vocabulary: yes نیستم nistam /ˈniːstam/ (I) am not صبح بخیر sobh bexeyr /sobh beˈxejɾ/ Good morning حالت hâlet /ˈhɒːlet/ your health (informal) بد bad /bæd/ bad similar meaning and pronunciation as the English word خیلی xeyli very Letters: ع ’eyn غ qeyn ف fe ق qaf ک kaf گ gaf ﻝ lâm م mim ن nun Bonus words: رعد ra’d thunder باغ bâq garden فردا fardâ tomorrow آقا âqâ sir, Mr., gentleman کتاب ketâb book بزرگ bozorg big 3 Persian/Lesson 4 Lesson 4 ( ۴ ), The alphabet (continued)