Learn how to talk about going somewhere and ask opinions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello everyone, this is Brandon. |
| Mohammad: And I’m Mohammad. “Salam.” |
| Brandon: Welcome back to PersianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 23 - See the Sights in Iran! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask opinions. |
| Mohammad We’ll listen to a conversation that takes place in a house. It’s between Zahra and Vahid. |
| Brandon: They're friends, so they use informal language. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: So Mohammad, are amusement parks, parks, and cinemas popular spots in Iran for holidays? |
| Mohammad: Yes, they're the most common activities, and most people like them. |
| Brandon: What are some other good places to visit in your spare time in Iran? |
| Mohammad: Restaurants, cultural centers, libraries, museums, and also sports centers are great. And they’re fun for people of all ages. |
| Brandon: How about shopping centers? |
| Mohammad: They're also very popular. |
| Brandon: So there are actually a few good holiday spots in Iran. |
| Mohammad: Yes. With the development of large entertainment complexes, which have all the fun things in one place, holidays are not boring anymore! |
| Brandon: That's great. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. As the first keyword of this lesson, let’s learn how to say “holiday” in Persian. |
| Mohammad: We say “ta’tili,” which is a noun. |
| Brandon: Hmm, the word that we had in the previous lessons was similar, wasn’t it? |
| Mohammad: Perhaps it was the word “ta’til,” which doesn't have the final “i.” When we drop the “i,” it becomes the adjective of the same word in this case. |
| Brandon: The adjective of “holiday” is …? |
| Mohammad: “off”, as in “day off”. |
| Brandon: So, if you want to say “Friday is a holiday”, which one do you use? |
| Mohammad: Usually we say “Friday is off” instead, which is “Jom’e ta’til ast.” |
| Brandon: Are there any other similar words? |
| Mohammad: You may hear “Ta’tilaat” which is the plural form and means “holidays” or “vacation.” |
| Brandon: So, once again it is …? |
| Mohammad: “ta’tili” (pause), “ta’tili” (pause). |
| Brandon: Great! Now what’s our next word? |
| Mohammad: “nazar.” It means “opinion.” |
| Brandon: Okay. What can you say about this word? |
| Mohammad: I can say that it has so many other meanings as well! |
| Brandon: Really? And what are they? |
| Mohammad: For example it can mean “view” as in “point of view”, or “sight” or “glance”. |
| Brandon: Oh, can you say “one glance” with this word? |
| Mohammad: Yes, it’s “Yek nazar.” |
| Brandon: Does it have another meaning too? |
| Mohammad: Yes. For example, on Persian websites, instead of the word “comment” we say “nazar” or “nazaraat,” which is the plural form. |
| Brandon: I see. In that case, let’s repeat it once more listeners! |
| Mohammad: “nazar” (pause) “nazar.” |
| Brandon: Let’s continue to our last phrase. |
| Mohammad: It’s “raaje’be,” meaning “about.” |
| Brandon: Does this one have many meanings too? |
| Mohammad: No, but it can be translated into many similar versions of the same thing. |
| Brandon: Which would be…? |
| Mohammad: For example, it can mean “regarding,” “concerning,” or “related to.” |
| Brandon: Oh, that’s what you meant by many versions. They are actually similar. What does it literally mean? |
| Mohammad: It means something like “in reference to.” |
| Brandon: And are there any other Persian words that mean the same as “about”? |
| Mohammad: Yes. There’s the word “darbaareye.” |
| Brandon: So once again, can we repeat it? |
| Mohammad: “raaje’be” (pause), “raaje’be. |
| Brandon: Thanks. Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask opinions. What’s the easiest and shortest way to ask someone’s opinion about something? |
| Mohammad: Like we had in the dialogue, it’s “chetore,” meaning “How about...?” or “How is…?” |
| Brandon: In English, we say “How about?” first, and then follow it with whatever we want to know about someone’s opinion. How about Persian? |
| Mohammad: Well, in Persian it’s exactly the opposite. It means that we say the key word first, and then add “chetore?” For example, “shahr-e baazi chetore?” means “How about the amusement park?” |
| Brandon: Ok, and what was the other way to ask someone’s opinion? |
| Mohammad: It’s “nazaret raaje’be…chiye?” |
| Brandon: Or the same as "What’s your opinion about...?" Let’s break it down. |
| Mohammad: Of course. “nazaret” means “your opinion,” and “raaje’be” means “about,” then we put the keyword, and… |
| Brandon: I know the next one! It’s “chiye,” which means “What is?”. |
| Mohammad: That's right! Now there's another even more simple way to ask someone what they think about a particular matter, and it works better with “Yes” or “No” answers. |
| Brandon: And that would be? |
| Mohammad: By saying the original sentence in a questioning tone. |
| Brandon: Just as simple as that? |
| Mohammad: Just that simple. Or additionally, you can change the verb into conditional form. |
| Brandon: Oh, I know! Is it where the prefix “mi” turns into the prefix “be”? |
| Mohammad: Yes, that's the one! By changing the prefix, the verb becomes conditional. |
| Brandon: We had the example in the dialogue, didn’t we? |
| Mohammad: Yes, for example we can say “paark mirim?,” meaning “We go to the park?”, or Paark berim? meaning “If we go to the park?” Both of them are right. |
| Brandon: And both mean “What do you think about going to the park?,” right? But there's no “if” in the conditional form. |
| Mohammad: You’re right. There isn’t any “if”, but it can be interpreted just from the form of the verb. |
| Brandon: Okay. Now let’s see how can we answer these questions, and give our opinion! |
| Mohammad: To answer these questions, you can use adjectives. |
| Brandon: What kind of adjectives do we use? |
| Mohammad: Adjectives that are commonly known to be either positive or negative. For example “taarik” or “dark” is known as negative, and “roshan” or “light” is a positive adjective. |
| Brandon: And which ones do we use for our opinions? |
| Mohammad: Well, if we agree with something, we have to use positive adjectives, like “khoob” meaning “good,” or “tamiz” meaning “clean.” |
| Brandon: You mean if we say “It’s clean,” it means that it’s okay for us? |
| Mohammad: That’s right. We can say “tamize” or “khoobe.” |
| Brandon: And if we disagree with something? |
| Mohammad: We use the negative adjectives, like for example “sholooghe” or “taarike,” which mean “It’s crowded” or “It’s dark,” respectively. |
| Brandon: I understand. But this isn’t absolute, right? I mean for some people, “dark” may be a positive adjective. |
| Mohammad: You’re right. It actually depends a lot on the tone you use. If you say “Taarike” or “It’s dark” with a happy tone, it means that you like it, and you agree with the whole idea. |
| Brandon: So listeners, what do you think? |
| Mohammad: By the way, “what do you think” is “nazaretoon chiye?” in Persian. |
| Brandon: Please leave us a comment with your opinion of this lesson! |
Outro |
| Brandon: And that’s all for now. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Mohammad: Goodbye everyone. |
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