Learn how to ask "Can you speak English?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson we’ll cover another extremely important phrase: "Do you know English?" Using this phrase as opposed to speaking English at someone is important for many reasons. For one, if the party you’re speaking to doesn’t understand English, at least they’ll be able to understand what you’re asking. Furthermore, it shows a lot of respect on your part, because you’ve made an effort to learn even a little bit of the language. For these reasons and many more, we’re going to cover this very important phrase. |
| BODY |
| In Persian, "Do you know English?" is |
| Inglissi midanid? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) In - g - li - ssi Mi – da - nid? |
| Once more: |
| Inglissi midanid? |
| The first word, Inglissi, means “English.” |
| (slow) In – g – li - ssi |
| Inglissi |
| After this comes midanid, a form of the verb for “to know" meaning "you know." |
| (slow) mi – da - nid |
| midanid |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) In – g - li – ssi mi – da - nid? |
| Inglissi midanid? |
| The phrase that we just learned is formal. This means you can use it in situations with older people or with people you don’t know. |
| When you’re speaking to young people, it’s OK to use informal speech. In that case, you will say |
| Inglissi midooni? |
| Here we drop the “d” from the end of the word midanid and change the “a” to double “oo”: midooni. In Persian, we have two forms of language: a formal or written style and an informal or spoken style. Midooni is the informal spoken version of midanid, which is the written style. |
| Let’s break the whole phrase down: |
| (slow) In – g – li - ssi mi – doo - ni? |
| Once more: |
| Inglissi midooni? |
| Again, you can use the formal Inglissi midanid? with older people or those you don’t know. Inglissi modooni is more friendly and informal. Do not use it with people you don't know or with elders. |
| Now for a change, let's try a different language: German. |
| “Do you know German?" is |
| Almani midanid? |
| The word for “German" is |
| Almani |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Al – ma - ni |
| Almani |
| Here, just the word for the language changes; the rest is the same. |
| (slow) Al – ma – ni mi – da - nid? |
| Almani midanid? |
| When you ask whether someone speaks another language besides Persian, you might get the answer in Persian. Here are a few ways they might answer this question. |
| “Yes, I know English” would be |
| Bale, Inglissi midanam. |
| Let’s hear that slowly now: |
| (slow) ba – le In – g – li – ssi mi - da - nam. |
| And one more time at natural native speed: |
| Bale, Inglissi midanam. |
| The first word, Bale, means “yes.” |
| (slow) Bale |
| bale |
| After this comes the word for “English,” Inglissi, which we’ve seen before. |
| Finally, we have midanam, which comes from the verb for “to know” to mean “I know.” |
| (slow) Mi – da - nam |
| midanam |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) Ba – le In – g – li – ssi mi – da - nam. |
| Bale, Inglissi midanam. |
| This phrase could be made shorter, just by saying “Yes”: |
| Bale. |
| Or by taking out the word for English and just saying saying “Yes, I do know”: |
| Bale, midanam. |
| (slow) bale, midanam. |
| Bale, midanam. |
| If the answer is negative, Iranian people might say “No, I don’t know English”: |
| Na, Inglissi nemidanam. |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: |
| (slow) na, In – g – li – ssi ne – mi – da - nam. |
| And again at natural native speed: |
| Na, Inglissi nemidanam. |
| The first word, na, means “no”. |
| (slow) na |
| na |
| Again we have the word for “English,” Inglissi. |
| Finally, we have the negative form of the word “to know” meaning “I don't know." |
| (slow) ne – mi - da - nam |
| nemidanam |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) Na, In - g - li – ssi ne—mi – da - nam. |
| Na, Inglissi nemidanam. |
| Sometimes, people will leave out the word for “English” and just say “I don’t”: |
| Na, nemidanam. |
| (slow) na, ne – mi – da - nam. |
| Na, nemidanam. |
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