Learn how to talk about your ethnicity using the verb meaning "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, Becky here, and welcome back to PersianPod101.com. This is Basic Bootcamp, Lesson 2 - Talking Nationality in Persian. This is the second in a five-part series that will help ease your way into Persian. |
| Mohammad: Salam, Man Mohammadam. I’m Mohammad. |
| Mohammad: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to introduce yourself and tell people where you’re from. |
| Becky: This is essential when you’re traveling to Iran, because that will be the first question people will probably want to ask you. Ok, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky So Mohammad, Iran has always been a place that has attracted people from all around the world. |
| Mohammad: Maybe that's because of people’s curiosity about the culture and the country’s rich and ancient history. |
| Becky: Iran is a familiar name and it seems that everyone has heard about it somehow. |
| Mohammad: That's right, it's a country famous for so many things. It’s known as "The Country of the Black Gold". |
| Becky: Which refers to all its oil. Iran is also known for its hospitality. People are known to be very warm and kind. |
| Mohammad: It's true. Regardless of where you come from, or which part of Iran you're in, you are always welcomed by our people. |
| Becky: So why don't we use the opportunity to find out more about them and their country, by learning their language? |
| Mohammad: That sounds like a great idea! |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Mohammad: We already studied the greeting " سلام " (Salam) meaning "Hello" in the previous lesson. And the " اسم من ... ه " (Esmeh man .... eh) .... |
| Becky: Right, it means “My name is …” Now before you say your nationality, you need one phrase. It is extremely important, and you will use it all the time |
| Mohammad: " من ... هستم. " (Man ... hastam) |
| Becky: It means “I am” in English. One more time, slowly. |
| Mohammad: " من ... هستم. " (Man ... hastam) |
| Becky: It's another way of saying your name too. That's why it's a very basic phrase in the Persian language. |
| Mohammad: That's right. We use it not only to say our nationality, but also our name, how we’re feeling, our occupation, and whatever else we ‘are’. |
| Becky: But Mohammad, it is a little different than the English "I am". In the dialogue, the word for nationality came between the two words "I" and "Am", instead of coming after them. |
| Mohammad: Yes. That’s because in the Persian language, the verb is always placed at the end of the sentence. |
| Becky: So the word for nationality, in this case "Iranian", is... |
| Mohammad: "ایرانی" (Irani) |
| Becky: And when we put it into a sentence, it becomes... |
| Mohammad: " من ایرانی هستم. " (Man Irani hastam) |
| Becky: Listeners, listen and repeat! |
| Mohammad: " من ایرانی هستم. " (Man Irani hastam) [pause] |
| Becky: So what was the other nationality we heard in the dialogue? |
| Mohammad: انگلیسی (Engelisi). |
| Becky: And that means “British”. So the whole sentence “I’m British” would be... |
| Mohammad: " من انگلیسی هستم. " (Man Engelisi hastam) Notice the words " من ... هستم. " (Man ... hastam) didn’t change. Just the word for an English person. In this case, انگلیسی (Engelisi). |
| Becky: That sounds pretty straightforward! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about your nationality in Persian. We’ve learned how to say “I am Iranian” or “I am British”. |
| Mohammad: We used the phrase " من ... هستم. " (Man ... hastam), meaning "I am" in Persian. Then we added the nationality between the two words of this phrase. |
| Becky: Mohammad, tell us again what the words for "Iranian" and "British" were? |
| Mohammad: "ایرانی" (Irani), انگلیسی (Engelisi). |
| Becky: So, what do these two words have in common? |
| Mohammad: The "i" sound at the end, which indicates "Being From". |
| Becky: That's right. So, does this "i" sound exist in all nationality words? |
| Mohammad: Yes. To say the word for any nationality in the Persian language, you simply say the country's name, and add an "i" after it. |
| Becky: So, if you want to say you're Italian, the word becomes... |
| Mohammad: The country name "Italia", plus "i". "Italia-i". |
| Becky: And the word for "Chinese" is? |
| Mohammad: It's "Chin-i". The country name "Chin", plus "i". |
| Becky: This is the general rule, but there are some exceptions, right? |
| Mohammad: That's right. For example, "Russia" is "Roosiye" in Persian, but the word for "Russian" becomes "Roos-i". |
| Becky: And another example is? |
| Mohammad: "Faranseh" means "France" in Persian, while "French" becomes "Faransavi". |
| Becky: Great! Now let’s recap what we learned during this lesson. Listeners, we’ll give you a few seconds to answer before Mohammad does. How do you say, “I’m Iranian”? |
| Mohammad: {Pause} " من ایرانی هستم. " (Man Irani hastam). |
| Becky: And what about if you’re British? |
| Mohammad: {Pause} " من انگلیسی هستم. " (Man Engelisi hastam). |
| Becky: Great. Now, listeners, try to make some simple sentences using your own nationality. |
| Mohammad: And have fun with it! |
| Becky: You’ll find more nationalities in the lesson notes accompanying this lesson. |
| Mohammad: We hope everybody isn’t too tired after this boot camp! |
| Becky: Just keep practicing and you’ll have these down pat in no time. |
Outro |
| Becky: That’s it for this lesson. |
| Mohammad: Thanks for listening. “Khoda Hafez”. |
| Becky: See you! |
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