Persian/Lesson 2

In lesson 1, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change their shape depending on whether they connect with letters before or after them. In this lesson, you will learn more formal greetings, the next eleven Persian letters and syllable stress. Dialogue: ‹hâl-e šomâ cetor e?› Arash sees Peyman: Arash salâm, âqâ-ye peymân. hâl-e šomâ cetor e? Hello, Mr. Peyman. How are you? Peyman salâm, âraš. xubam, mersi. šomâ cetorin? Hello Arash. I am well, thank you. How are you? Arash man xubam, mersi. xodâ hâfez, âqâ-ye peymân. I am well, thanks. Goodbye, Mr. Peyman! Peyman xodâ hâfez. Goodbye. |} Explanation Arash and Peyman are using a more formal style of speech typically used to show respect. That is why they use the formal pronoun شما yes šomâ instead of the informal تو yes tow used in lesson 1. Vocabulary yes آقا âqâ /ˈɒːɣɒː/ Mr. حال hâl /ˈhɒːl/ health شما šomâ /ʃoˈmɒː/ you (formal, shows speaker's respect for listener) چطور cetor /t͡ʃeˈtoɾ/ how (the endings ‹e› and ‹-in› will be explained in Lesson 5) خدا حافظ xodâ hâfez /xoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez/ May God keep you (similar to the literal meaning of “goodbye”, i.e. “May God be with you”) Culture Point: Titles Titles like آقا âqâ sir, Mr. are used before or after the first name, before or after a last name, or before or after both names. In the dialogue above, it is used before the first name پيمان peyman. The feminine version of آقا âqâ sir, Mr. is آغا âqâ madam, Miss. The two words are pronounced the same way and are sometimes confused for each other as a misspelling, but آقا is the proper spelling for use with male names and آغا for female names. Family names are a relatively new aspect of Persian culture, having been introduced in Iran in 1912. Syllable stress In most Persian words, the stress falls on the last syllable of the stem. For example, in the following words from the dialogue, the stress is on the last syllable: ‹šomâ› ‹cetor› ‹mamnun› ‹xodâ› ‹hâfez› When suffixes and enclitics are added to Persian words and word stems, the stress usually does not move: ‹cetor› + ‹-in› → ‹cetorin› ‹hast› + ‹-am› → ‹hastam› ‹hâl› + ‹-e› → ‹hâl-e› A few prefixes and suffixes are stressed. Those details will be explained in the lessons for those suffixes and prefixes. A limited set of Persian words (interjections, conjunctions and vocatives), however, has the stress on the first syllable: ‹mersi› — First syllable is stressed when used as in the conversation above, "Thanks!" ‹âqâ-ye› — First syllable is stressed when addressing someone by title as in the conversation above, but not when talking with someone else about ‹âqâ-ye› so-and-so. ‹âraš› — First syllable is stressed when addressing Arash as in the conversation above, but the last syllable is stressed ‹âraš› when talking about him. ‹peymân› — First syllable is stressed when addressing Peyman as in the conversation above, but the last syllable is stressed ‹peyman› when talking with someone else about him. د ‹dâl›, ذ ‹zâl› ← (read from right to left) ← د ذ ‹dâl› ‹zâl› The next two Persian letters, shown on the right, have the same basic form, but only second one has a dot. Like ا ‹alef›, these two letters do not connect with the letter that follows them. ‌د‌ dâl fa-د.ogg does not connect with the following letter The letter د dâl represents the /d/ sound. It sits on the baseline and is written beginning at the top, ending at the bottom left. Its name sounds like the English word “doll”. داد dâd fa-آب.ogg د d ا â د d The Persian word داد dâd (he/she/it) gave is shown on the right. As shown, د does not join with the letter that follows it. ‌ذ‌ zâl does not connect with the following letter The letter ذ zâl is one of the “foreign” letters in Persian. In Arabic, it represents the consonant [ð], but Persian does not have that sound, so it is pronounced as the closest Persian sound. Thus, ذ ‹zâl› is one of four Persian letters pronounced /z/. ذات zât ذ z ا â ت t As shown in ذات zât essence on the right, the letter ذ also does not join with the letter that follows it. Arabic alphabet dal-dhal.png د dâl Daal-fina.svg Lettre 8 dâl.jpg Lettre 8.gif ذ zâl DHaal-fina.svg Lettre 9 ḏâl.jpg Lettre 9 ḏâl.gif ر ‹re›, ز ‹ze›, ژ ‹že› ر ز ژ ‹re› ‹ze› ‹že› The next three Persian letters, also have the same basic form except for the dots. They are all written with a tail that drops well below the baseline. Like ا ‹alef›, د ‹dâl›, and ذ ‹zâl›, these three letters do not connect with the letter that follows them. ‌ر‌ fa-ر.ogg re does not connect with the following letter The letter ر re is pronounced as [ɾ], that is, it is produced by striking the tongue against the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth, then expelling air over the middle of the tongue, similar to the r in the Scottish English pronunciation of free or the tt in the American English and Australian English better. Between vowels, it is often trilled like rr in the Spanish word perro. Its name, ‹re›, sounds similar to a quick pronunciation of the English word "ray". در dar د d ر r fa-در.ogg As shown below the word در dar door, the letter ر does not join with the letter that follows it. چرا cerâ چ‍ c ‍ر r ا â چ followed by ر and ا spells the word چرا cerâ why. Recall that ‹e›, like other short vowels, is not usually written in Persian. ‌ز‌ fa-ز.ogg ze does not connect with the following letter The letter ز ze is the most common of the four ‹z› letters in Persian. رز roz ر r ز z The word رز roz rose is shown on the right. Recall that ‹o› is usually not spelled in Persian words. Like ر, ز does not join with the letter that follows it. ‌ژ‌ fa-ژ.ogg že does not connect with the following letter The letter ژ že is transcribed in UniPers and here as ‹ž› and is pronounced as [ʒ], i.e. like the "g" in "mirage" or the s in measure and Persian. If you open your Persian-English dictionary at the letter ژ , you can see that it is not used in very many words. It occurs in many loanwords of French origin. ژخ žax ژ ž خ x As shown in the word ژخ zhakh wart, ژ does not join with the letter that follows it. Arabic alphabet ra-zay.png Arabic examples. Persian examples would be better here, probably a separate page to print out with letters to trace. ر re Raa-fina.svg Lettre 10 râʾ.jpg Lettre 10 râ'.gif ز ze Zai-fina.svg Lettre 11 zâī.jpg Lettre 11 zây.gif ژ že 11a-Zhe.svg Jaa-individua.svg Jaa-fina.svg س ‹sin›, ش ‹šin› س ش ‹sin› ‹šin› The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but one of them has no dots and the other has three. س fa-س.ogg sin The letter س sin is the usual Persian letter for /s/. Its name sounds like the English word "seen". سر sar س‍ s ‍ر r As shown in the word سر sar head on the right, the letter س joins with the letter that follows it. ش fa-ش.ogg šin The letter ش šin is pronounced as [ʃ], that is, like "sh" in English. It is transcribed in UniPers as ‹š›, but in other literature it may be transcribed as sh, sch, ʃ, or ş. Its name sounds like the English word “sheen”. شب šab ش‍ š ‍ب b As shown in the word شب šab evening, the letter ش joins with the letter that follows it. Arabic alphabet sin-shin.png س sin Siin-individua.svg Lettre 12 sīn.jpg Lettre 12 sīn.gif ش šin SHiin-individua.svg Lettre 13 šīn.jpg Lettre 13 šîn.gif ص ‹sâd›, ض ‹zâd› ص ض ‹sâd› ‹zâd› The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but only one has a dot. ص sâd fa-ص.ogg The letter ص sâd is the third Persian letter for the sound /s/. صد sad ص‍ s ‍د d As shown in the word صد sad hundred, on the right, the letter ص joins with the letter that follows it. ض fa-ض.ogg zâd The letter ض zâd is another Persian letter for the sound /z/. ضد zed ض‍ z ‍د d As shown in the word ضد zed opposite on the right, the letter ض joins with the letter that follows it. Arabic alphabet sad-dad.png ص sâd SSaad-individua.svg Lettre 14 ṣâd.jpg Lettre 14 ṣâd.gif ض zâd DDaad-individua.svg Lettre 15 ḍâd.jpg Lettre 15 ḍâd.gif ط ‹tâ›, ظ ‹zâ› ط ظ ‹tâ› ‹zâ› The next two Persian letters have the same shape, but only one has a dot. ط fa-ط.ogg tâ The letter ط tâ is another Persian letter for the sound /t/. طاس tâs ط‍ t ‍ا â س s As shown in the word طاس tâs bald on the right, the letter ط joins with the letter that follows it. ظ zâ The letter ظ zâ is another Persian letter for the sound /z/. It is rare and only appears in words of Arabic origin. ظ joins with the letter that follows it. Arabic alphabet da-za.png ط tâ TTaa-individua.svg Lettre 16 ṭâʾ.jpg Lettre 16 tâ'.gif ظ zâ ZZaa-individua.svg Lettre 17 ẓâʾ.jpg Lettre 17 zâ'.gif Exercises Recognizing letters | What are the names of and sounds represented by the following letters? |- |ﺵ The letter ‹šin›, which represents the sound ‹š› (IPA: [ʃ]). ﺩ The letter ‹dâl›, which represents the sound ‹d›. ﺱ The letter ‹sin›, which represents the sound ‹s›. ژ The letter ‹že›, which represents the sound ‹ž› (IPA: [ʒ]). ﻅ The letter ‹zâ›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺫ The letter ‹zâl›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺹ The letter ‹sâd›, which represents the sound ‹s›. ﺽ The letter ‹zâd›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﺯ The letter ‹ze›, which represents the sound ‹z›. ﻁ The letter ‹tâ›, which represents the sound ‹t›. ﺭ The letter ‹re›, which represents the sound ‹r›. |} Reading words | Read these words by breaking them down into their component parts. |- |چرا ‹čerâ›: چ‍ ‍ر ا صبح ‹sobh›: ص‍ ‍ب‍ ‍ح بابا ‹bâbâ›: ب‍ ا‍ ب‍ ‍ا اسم ‹esm›: ا‍ ‍ﺱ‍ ‍م چرا ‹čerâ›: ج‍ ‍ر ا اثاث ‹asâs›: ا‍ ث‍ ا‍ ث توت |} Word recognition. | See if you can recognize these familiar words: |- |ژاكت ژاكت žâkat jacket بازار بازار bâzâr bazar, marketplace بد بد bad bad (not good) |} Review In this lesson, you learned some greetings, the first nine letters of the Persian Alphabet, and how to spell several words with those letters from right to left. You also learned that short vowels are usually not written, and that many letters change their shape depending on whether they connect with letters before or after them. Core vocabulary: yes آقا âqâ /ˈɒːɣɒː/ Mr. حال hâl /ˈhɒːl/ health شما šomâ /ʃoˈmɒː/ you (formal, shows speaker's respect for listener) چطور cetor /t͡ʃeˈtoɾ/ how خدا حافظ xodâ hâfez /xoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez/ May God keep you (similar to “goodbye”, “God be with you”) ‹hâl-e šomâ cetor e?› — "How is your health?" ‹man xub hastam.› — “I am well.” ‹šomâ cetorin?› — “How are you?” (formal) Letters: د dâl ذ zâl ر re ز ze ژ že س sin ش šin ص sâd ض zâd ط tâ ظ zâ Bonus words: داد dâd (he/she/it) gave ذات zât essence در dar to, for, at رز roz rose چرا cerâ why ژخ žax wart سر sar head شب šab evening صد sad hundred ضد zed opposite طاس tâs bald Below are all the core vocabulary words from lessons 1 and 2. The far right column shows the words in Persian script. Don't worry if you can't yet read the Persian script: 2 Persian/Lesson 3 Lesson 3 ( ۳ ), The alphabet (continued)