Dialogue

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’ll cover an extremely important phrase: “Where is the toilet?”
BODY
In Persian, “Where is the toilet?” is
Toalet kojasst?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) To-a-let ko-jasst
Once more:
Toalet kojasst?
Let’s break this down. The first word, toalet, means “toilet.”
(slow) To – a - let
toalet
This is followed by kojasst, which in Persian means “where is.”
(slow) ko - jasst
kojasst
The phrase Toalet kojasst? sounds a little informal. You can make it polite by adding Bebakhshid, that is translated as “Excuse me” in the beginning:
Bebakhshid toalet kojasst?
Another formal way to ask "Excuse me, where is the bathroom?” is
Bebakhshid, dastshooii kojasst?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Be – bakh - shid, dast – shoo – ii ko - jasst?
Once more:
Bebakhshid, dastshooii kojasst?
Bebakhshid literally means “excuse me.” If you use it in questions, it gives people an extra-polite impression.
(slow) Be – bakh - shid
bebakhshid
The second word, Dastshooii, means “washroom.”
(slow) dastshooii
dastshooii
After that is kojasst, which again means “where is.”
(slow) kojasst
kojasst
All together, that’s
(slow) Be – bakh – shid, dast – shoo –ii ko - jasst?
Bebakhshid, dastshooii kojasst?
If you are looking for the ladies’ room, the phrase is
Toalete zananeh kojasst?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) To – a - lete Za – na - neh Ko - jasst?
Once more:
Toalete zananeh kojasst?
First is toalet, again, which means “toilet.”
Zananeh means “ladies’.”
(slow) za – na - neh
zananeh
Then we have kojasst, which again means “where is.”
(slow) ko - jasst
kojasst
If you are looking for the men’s room, the question for that is
Toalete Mardaneh kojasst?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) To – a – lete mar – da – neh ko - jasst?
Once more:
Toalete mardaneh kojasst?
Mardaneh means “mens’.”
(slow) mar – da - neh
mardaneh
Just replace the word zananeh (“ladies’”) with mardaneh (“men’s”)
(slow) To – a – lete mar – da – neh ko - jasst?
Toalete mardaneh kojasst?
Let’s hear both of the sentences one more time:
Toalete zananeh kojasst?
Toalete mardaneh kojasst?
When you finally get to the bathroom, there may be one last hurdle. At some bathrooms, only Persian words are written on the doors! But don’t panic!
As we’ve seen above, the word for “men” is
mardaneh. مردانه
And for “women” you’ll see
zananeh. زنانه
Let’s hear those once more.
The word for “men” is mardaneh.
(slow) mar – da - neh
mardaneh
The word for “women” is zananeh.
(slow) za – na - neh
zananeh
There may not be many public bathrooms for tourists to use. This means your best option is to stop at either a café or a restaurant and use the bathroom there. Understandably, café owners sometimes aren’t too keen on having people stop in, just to use their bathroom. Since you’ll be a tourist, they will welcome you, and let you use the toilet. So to be polite, you might want to buy a bottle of water or order a coffee before asking Bebakhshid, toalet kojasst?.

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