Learn how to ask "How far is it to ___?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In the previous lesson, we covered how to get bus tickets in cities. You may also want to move between cities, and Iran’s convenient coach services are perfect for that. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| The phrase you use for that will be: |
| “one ticket for” followed by the Destination name. Yek bilit baraye, destination name, lotfan. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Yek bilit baraye, destination name, lotfan. |
| And once again: |
| Yek bilit baraye, destination name, lotfan. |
| We’ve already covered all those words except baraye which means “for”. |
| Yek bilit baraye Mashad, lotfan. |
| Yek bilit baraye Esfahan, lotfan. |
| Yek bilit baraye Shiraz, lotfan. |
| ・ |
| Let’s imagine now that you are in Tehran and you want to go to Esfahan, the historical capital of Iran. Before you commit yourself to a ticket, you probably want to know how much it costs. What would you ask the bus driver? |
| Bilit Esfahan chandeh? |
| “How much is a ticket to Esfahan?” |
| (slow) Bi – lit Es – fa – han chan - deh? |
| Bilit Esfahan chandeh? |
| ・ |
| Imagine that you are visiting for the first time, with no idea how far apart your favorite destinations are, so you want to ask the bus driver how long the ride will be. |
| Ta Esfahan chand saat rah ast? |
| “How long will it be until we get to Esfahan?” |
| (literally: how many hours will it take?) |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Ta Es – fa – han chand sa – at rah ast? |
| And again at natural speed: |
| Ta Esfahan chand saat rah ast? |
| Ta means “up to.” |
| (slow) ta |
| Ta |
| Esfahan is the city of “Esfahan.” |
| (slow) Es – fa - han |
| Esfahan |
| Chand saat means “how many hours.” |
| (slow) chand sa - at |
| Chand saat |
| Rah ast means “is distance.” |
| (slow) rah ast |
| Rah ast |
| So the whole question is |
| Ta Esfahan chand saat rah ast? |
| ・ |
| ・ |
| One answer you could hear is Haft saat. This means “seven hours”—but I’m sure that by now you’re all familiar with numbers in Persian. |
| Haft saat. |
| You might also hear Haft saat rahe - “The way takes seven hours”. |
| If you want to say “approximately,” just add hodoode after saat, which you’ll remember means “hour”: |
| Hodoode haft saat rahe. |
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