Table Of Content

MINNEAPOLIPSU BLICL IBRARY WASHBURN +fiq 2807 .f \IT /At ; *"6!0'\E UZBEKISTAN \ i;t 't-.-.\, \ rj..1s P1-4t ,5 r .,1 FARSI 5 ^alcrold, v A COMPLETE COURSE ''t' "-t' FOR BEGINNERS IRAQ .----l3o;*n-L Tku,WAtr- J- -. oiuwerr written by Nick Pendar, Ph.D., Iowa State University editedb y ".r {}J O ilt (t tI ZvjezdanaYrzi{ Ph.D., and Atousa Mirzaei - .. ^MUSCAT Tropic of Cancer !vr SAUDIA RABIA OMAN IRAN YEMEN 0 2OO 4O0 kilomek.' O 100 200 miles LIVING TANGUAGE'& ACKTOWTEDGMEilTS Copyright @ zcr'1 by Living Language, an imprint of Random House, Inc. Thanks to the Living Language team: Tom Russell, Nicole Benhabib, christopher warnasch, zviezdana verzich, suzanne Mceuade, shaina Living Language is a member of the Random House InformationGroup Malkin, Elham shabahat, Denise De Gennaro,L inda K. schmidt, Lisbeth Living Language and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Dyer, Alison skrabek, Tom Marshall, Fabrizio La Rocca,T igist Getachew, and Sophie Ye Chin. 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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATESO F AMERICA 1098765432r Cours0eu tline List of Abbreviations ix Introduction x How to Use This Course x Farsi or Persian xiii Farsi Writing System Farsi Alphabet xiv The Sounds of Farsi Reading Farsi Written vs. Spoken Farsi VOCABUTARY G RAM MAR Greetings and Introductions Personal Pronouns 7 PossessiveF orms 8 The Present Tense 8 Kinship Terms PossessiveC onstructions Lg with PossessiveE ndings Plurals zo DefiniteNouns,Indefinite 2L Nouns, and lralll Home Objects and Colors Yes/No Questions j2 Questions Using Question 33 Words Adjectives 33 Numerals and Partitives 34 Cours0eu tline VOCABULARY G RAM MAR VOCABULARY 6 RAM MAR :1.. _-.tll,,,lJf .,'=$n r D0tffi.'?-,.l l*,' , f ffi #l ia;rM IGprn$'friN.rgffr fi Daily Routine Verb Forms 45 Food and Restaurants ExpressingL ikes and rrg Numbers 11-2o 49 Dislikes Telling Time 5o Double...d i . . .e-:and r2r + + Constructions iftffir'$.,iit'r ff;'=f,'$$li$ f "f 5ITY 5T Using .4t i flSayred 1,r nay, r22 might) Education and Schools Simple PastT ense 6z Negation 63 iil* Hlril ffirs'i# . ,i,rlial PrepositionalP hrases 65 Health and Doctors PresentP erfect ry3 Numbers 2r-99 67 Verbs after 0i-13s, 135 (fxast-anf , to want) Hl$# ff-l# liffi tt$l,I',nA MUSEUM. ?.'.,3 Questionsw ith 'tr-i,r ry6 Around the City and Giving Imperatives and the 77 (l&qredrl, how much) and Directions Subjunctive Mood u r+ (/dend ta/, how many) Comparatives and 79 Superlatives TESSO]Ir r PARLIAME NTAHvt=E ffi' wiiil Ordinal Numbers 8o Politics,M edia, and the PastP rogressive r48 Numbers 1oo-t,ooo 8z Internet Conditional Sentences r+g '[:s=#$oifi 'dfi Embedded Clausesw ith eS r50 i'#.i*ffi lN'd p [:,'"1 87 (/ke/, that) ,F"'..-'1r' Travel, Months, and DaYso f Counting Units 93 the Week Future Tense 94 Errands and Money Polite Past 16o Nationalities 95 PassiveV oice (Present t6t ' Tense) LESSOI{8 DO E 5 THI 5 FIT i;=|"=',1,ili ,l.,- 1.o':l Middle Voice L63 Clothing and Shopping The Subjunctive Mood 105 Past Habitual 107 # $$o ,m$;filn'. i p ;#/r=#fftfi iii[ n ffi Obfect Endings on Verbs ro8 Work and the Office Temporal Clausesw ith 175 45 flveqt-i ke/, when) "$r Expressing Manner 176 The Modal !"1+ (&ayedi, 177 must) vl tarsl CoursOe utline VOCABLUA RY 6 RAM MAR LlsTo F ABBREUIATIOlIS adl adjective Interests and Recreation Adverbial Clausesw ith 189 adv. adverb d al+ Uja-V,k et/, where) art. article Using; (/por/, full), # (A*-/,little), and aux. auxiliary verb c.l .0s+ I (hil,/bedun-e/, colloq, colloquial without) to MakeA diectives conj. conjunction Emphatic.S (4"0 192 tut. formal inter. interiection inful. informal Nature, Weather, and Sports Reflexive Pronouns 20,4 lit. literally Exclamatory Sentences 205 n. noun Impersonal Construction zo6 nutn. numeral p. preposition Farsi-English Glossary 2rr pl. plural English-Farsi Glossary 247 pro. pronoun sg. singular v. verb ;n{;;i tltTROllucTloll llrc dialogue.M any will be relatedt o the topic of the lesson;s omew ill be rt 'latedt o the grammar you'll be learning in that particular lesson. So you've decidedt o learn Farsi.C ongratulations! Learning a new language I)iulogue is one of the best and most rewarding decisions you can make in your 't'he lifetime. It opens up a door to a whole new world and a window into the dialogue in each lesson servest he double purpose of allowing you to minds of the people in that world. There is no better way to understand a read and hear natural Farsi at work and teaching you about Farsi culture as nation and communicate with its people than by studying their literature well. Read these dialogues carefully; they'll contain the grammar and key and culture in their native language.A t the same time, learning any new phrasest hat you will be learning later in the lesson. Don't be afraid to read language is also a major commitment. It takes time, practice, and a great lhem several times, in fact, and to listen to them on the recordings a few deal of patience.Y ou learned your native languaged uring the first seveno r times as well. Always go at your own pace,a nd stick with a section until so years of your life through constant exposure to and use of the language' you're comfortable with it. You shouldn't expect to learn a new language fluently in any time shorter Vocabulary than that. However, you can learn the basics of a language,u nderstand everyday conversations,a nd make yourself understood to a fair degree in The vocabulary list contains new words from the dialogue as well as a couple of years with consistent practice and the right kind of input. This other words related to the overall topic of the lesson.Y ou can refer to this coursei s designedt o help you take that initial step toward mastering Farsi, list while reading through the dialogue, but of course the translation of the language of Iran. This course covers most major Farsi grammatical the dialogue is also provided. use the vocabulary lists to build a good concepts and basic vocabulary used in everyday situations' It should give foundation for your Farsiv ocabulary one topic at a time. Experiment with you the head start you need toward becoming a proficient speaker of different methods of learning vocabulary-spoken or written repetition, Farsi. flash cards,p ractice sentencesw, eb searchese, tc. Be creative,a nd find what works for vou. HOW TO USET HIS COURSE Key Phrases This beginner-level course is designed to use both audio and visual The key phrases section contains more practical words or phrases related instruction to help you master the basics of Farsi. No previous knowledge to the lesson topic. Don't worry if you don't grasp the grammar behind of Farsi at all is assumed. each phrase right away. Treat the phrasesa s extended vocabulary lists; the Following this introduction, you'll find a sectiont hat teachesy ou everything grammar will be filled in as you progress,a nd the idiomatic and practical you need to know about Farsi spelling and pronunciation. Use it in expressionsy ou learn in the key phrasess ection will come in handy. conjunction with the audio to become fully acquainted with the sounds of Culture Notes Farsi. Imitate the native speakerst hat you hear,b ut don't be worried if you don't sound quite native yourself; after all, you're not. Good pronunciation Each lesson contains two culture notes. These notes are intended to give will come in time. fust use the pronunciation section enough that you're you a window on Farsi culture. The notes cover such topics as food, familiar with the sounds and spelling of Farsi. Then you can begin the clothing, manners, and etiquette, and they also offer practical advice for fifteen lessons,e ach of which is dedicated to a particular topic and to a anyone traveling to the Farsi-speakingr egion. number of structural points. Grammar As a general piece of advice,f ight the urge to skip ahead or rush over any part of this course. It's designed in a careful sequencera nd each section Each lesson contains a number of notes on particular aspectso f Farsi iepresents a building block that adds to everything before it while at the grammar. These notes are introduced in a careful sequence,s o that they same time preparing you for everything that comes after it. Always move build on one another and explain the key structures you encounter in the aheada t your own pace; if you don't understand something, or if you don't lesson,p articularly in the dialogue. Each point is explained in plain and bfeeeslt q wuaitye t coo mmafokert asbulree w yoituhr sleoamrnei pnogi netx, pseimriepnlyc egi os opvaeinr liet sasg aanind. e Tffheactt'isv teh.e (slirmamplme alarn cgauna gbee, a trnicdk tyh efroer amrea pnlye nbteyg oinf neixnagm lapnlegsut oa ghee llepa yronue rusn, edseprsetcaianldly. with a language that looks and sounds so different from English. But Each lessono f this coursec ontains the following sections: lake your time on the grammar notes. Grammar is the nuts-and-boltso f irny language learning; without it, you wouldn't know how to put words VocabularyW armUp Iogether! The vocabulary warm-up kicks off the lessonw ith key words you'll hear in **--*-- x Farsi Howt o UseT hisC ourse ixi I I i Exercises GIossary The exercisesi n each lessonw ill give you more opportunities to practice At the end of this book you'll find a Farsi-English/English-Farsi the grammar and vocabulary you ve learned in each lesson.E ach lesson glossary. It includes all of the words from the vocabulary lists, plus includes an answer key at the end so that you can check your progress. any important vocabulary that's taught in the grammar notes. It also includes a wide range of common and practical words that may not Independent Challenge come up in the context of this course. It's not meant as a complete The most important part of learning a language is practice. These dictionary but it certainly includes enough to be a valuable reference challengea ctivities are designedt o give you ideas for finding contexts in tool for the beginning student of Farsi. your life where you can practice your Farsi' They're meant as a guide; if you feel inspired to createy our own independent challengea ctivities,g o As you use this course,k eep this in mind: languagel earning is a gradual right ahead.T he more contact you have with a language,t he better you'll process; it won't happen overnight. still, with repeated exposure and learn it. And don't forget about the internet. Language learners have practice, you'll find yourself becoming a better and better Farsi speaker an incredible tool at their disposal-they can find newspapers,b logs, each time you pick up this course. But languagesa ren't used by books; online references,t ravel and tourism sites,a nd much, much more, all of they're used by people. so, if you can, seek out speakerso f Farsi where which can be used to add depth and color to languagel essons. you live or on the internet. That way, you can practice the languagea nd discover new people while you do. Audio I+$t-,,#? The audio portion of this course is divided into two sets: Set A and Set /moveffeq baS-id!/ B. Good luck! SetAincludes the dialogue,v ocabulary,k eyphrases,a nd severalg rammar examplesf rom eachl esson.T his part of the audio course should be used FARSI OR PERSIAl{? along with the book, following the order of each lesson and allowing you to hear the words on the page in spoken Farsi. A good approach is The languagey ou are about to learn has two names-Farsi and persian. to read each section first without the audio, so that you're prepared to The reasonsf or this are historical. A long time ago,f rom about 64g BCE, get the most out of the audio when you do listen to it. Then, take it step- the Persians (a tribe belonging to the people who called themselves by-step and listen to each section at a time, always allowing yourself the Aryans) ruled a vast area including present-dayI ran, Iraq, Afghanistan, time and repetition that you need. Turkey, Syria, Armenia, and even parts of Egypt. They also had many xHelpful Hint: once you've listened to the dialogue severalt imes while battles with the Greeks.T he Greeksw ould call these people perses.T he word then traveled through Europe and ended up in English as persians. reading along in the book, try listening to it without the help of the book. The word Persia was used throughout history by Europeans to refer to This will help attune your ear to Farsi, and it will make understanding the country of the Persiansa nd their language. the spoken languagee asierd own the line. The people of Persia,h owever, called their country Iran (from an old Set B is intended to be used on the go to supplement your studies. Iranian word meaning the land of the Aryansl and their language parsi, It contains the dialogue from each lesson, broken down into easily and later, Farsi.In 1935,R eza shah, the ruling king of persia at the time, digestible sentencesw ith English translations. You'll hear pauses after askedt he international community to call the country by its native name, each line of dialogue; use the pause to repeat the line and practice your Iran. Thus the words Persiaa nd persian gradually lost their popularity pronunciation. Set B also includes several audio-only exercisest hat do and gave way to Iran and,F arsi as the names of the country and its official not appear in the book but are based on exactly the same grammar language, respectively.s ome Iranians still prefer to call their language points. A good way to make use of Set B is to listen to it following each "Persian"r ather than "Farsi"w hen they are speaking English in order to lesson,o ncey ou've comfortably completed reading the text and listening stay connected to their history. In this book we will call the languageb y to the Set A audio. Use Set B wherever it's convenient for you-in the its native name, Farsi,b ut from time to time the word "persian" may be car,o n the train, at the gym, while you do dishes,i n the garden-it's up used to refer to the people, culture, and languageo f Iran. to you. You can also use Set B as a review of lessonsy ou completed long ago to keep you on your toes! 'i 1..............- xil: Far si Farsoi r Persian? t... lxlll 1 iI FARSIW RITIl{G SYSTEM The writing systemo f modern Farsi is basedo n the Arabic alphabetw ith ltu']"yr' a few extra symbols for sounds that do not exist in Standard Arabic. END MIDDLE The script differs significantly in several ways from the English writing Itel (-.1 JaaJ system. First, the script goes from right to left, which means that Farsi books I'l lsel IJ& Js JI open from the left. This is something that you should definitely keep in lil liiml i*+ ee + -r.- mind, becauser eading a mystery novel backwards is no fun. lrl Itel 4s. _ce_ 5n So:j ) Second,m any letters are connected to each other within words. This means that for each letter there could be more than one form, and the ht hel 4-s 77 sj form used depends on the letter's position in the word and whether or */x*l''', l*el 4+ ) ei not it can connect to the following letter. Jil \ ldt /daV J **_ Third, some vowel sounds are not represented in the alphabet. These ;- vowels are shown using diacritics (small markings above and below lzl lzall cJli \ \ J the letters) only in children's books, but they do not exist in writing for lrel .) J ) )i adults. -;" ;- -l l'"1 ) J )i This means that beginners may have difficulty figuring out the .**.; & s &i pronunciation of a word based on its written form alone. This might lzel ) ) ti sound discouraging at first, but it isn't as hard as you might think, .-L-,J;' especially considering that the pronunciation of English words isn't & & exactly predictable from their written forms either. Remember how you !l *I *lt learned to pronounce the first f in palient as a sh sound and how you rE & s learned not to pronounce the c in indigt, not to mention the difference ..- -'.-_t'_'" _ between the i's in each?I n order to facilitate learning the Farsi alphabet, s .ra you will be provided with phonetic alphabet pronunciations next to Ital IT T T T words where necessarv. l;;l TI T T T FARSIA TPHABET l'eynl Ut*,, t_e I' There are 32letters in Farsi alphabet. The following table shows the Farsi lqeyn' l v,t'..rr-.c -e()- --.(;- -**;-;;****-*- I alphabet. For eachl etter, its different forms, its name, and the sound or sounds lrel :^f 3 s associatedw ith it are also shown. BecauseF arsi is written from right to left, IJ rl tables containing Farsi text are arranged from right to left, too. Remember to lg Lltl I sl read the following table and other tables like it from the right. karl LilS gS .5. 5. f le"rl K <= FARSAIL PHABET lla l rY ,I I (J *.*"":*-**-* SOUND NAMEO FT HEL ETTER LETTER lmiml _tr t: 4 i BEclll"rNg lnl lnunl o9 O J J i laltel u la-leIf ,-ilj itl l"l lvavl ;l; J j hl h:l a I J J ht h"l .{-l + A -jI ** ,-*.*"*] lpl lp:l 4J* (-€i J.t J.3 lvl lvel tu JJ --l xiv Far si FarsAi lphabet I The forms in the column labeled beginning appear at the beginning of producet he actualF arsis oundsr epresentedbytheses ymbolsb ycomparing the word, those in the column labeled middle come in the middle of the the pronunciation guides in the vocabulary sections of the book with the word, and the ones in the column labeled end come at the end of the pronunciationso f the words on the accompanyingC Ds.T o distinguish the word. phonetic transcriptionso f the Farsiw ords from their English translations, the phonetic symbols are placed between two slanted lines (/ /). We can also categorize letters based on whether they get attached to their adjacentl etters, and on which side or sides,a s follows: Phonetic Symbols for Farsi Consonant Sounds The table shows the Farsi consonant sounds.T he letters that correspond a. Forms that attach only to the following letter (the one on their to the sounds representedb y the phonetic symbols appear in boldface left): type in the examples. A FARSCI ONSONANTS b. Forms that attach only to the preceding letter (the one on their right): Li r# 3 j ) I I e e e e & c! ? c+ t SYMB OL APPROMXIA TE FARSEIX AMPLE ENGLISSHO UND Ls 4 r O t d.(.S d Li 6 C & F lbl Ir bat, cab ibal, with !.1 c. Forms that attach to both the preceding and the following let- Ita;!:1*,i" s.itl ters: *.t.tlb & &, lr I church l6zl,thing- h S+rl*!JS.llS S SS JJ J JJ lp-l(l:s crew !8 $ J+J il<. 5. s 3, ldt door, cord lda;rl,d oor')J /-ma_dd/t,i de l-o d. Forms that don't attach to their adjacent letters: 6 0I lfl farm, calf lfill, elephantd $ lkefl, foam 5i$ You may have noticed that for some sounds there are severall etters. For ;il,;;; eaxnadm c3p lbeo,t thhe r leepttreersse Ln-tt) hae, U /t / saonudn &d . Tahlel rree pisr eas heinstto thriec a/sl /r esaosuonnd f,o arn tdh !at. lsl llsgeolsl,l frldo owse1r (glJK As mentioned before, the writing system of Farsi was borrowed from thl heart lholul,p each3 lil Arabic after the adoption of Islam. The older writing systems died out lmehl,f og 43 during the period when Arabic was the official language in Iran. The ttil i;il, b;Js; ljui"l, chifk 4+j| Arabic sound system is more complex than that of Farsi,a nd when Per- lkejl, crookedg -\ sians adopted the script that was written for that more complex sound q-i$ system,t hey ended up with many letters that, to them, all sounded the lkl kite lkifl , bag,p urs" same.B ut instead of dropping those letters from the alphabet, they de- lkr'la,kl, trick .5$' cided to keep them in words they borrowed from Arabic. lrl lamb llampl,lightbulb? fY lmall,p ossessiodtl THE SOUlII'SO F FARSI l^l man frrrr-,,nIf LE lkeml,li11lgf' 5 The phonetic alphabet that we will be using is shown below together with a description of what sound each symbol represents and an example of lnl ;;;; each.F arsi has twenty-two consonant sounds and six vowel sounds.T hese sounds are listed in the tables below. For each phonetic symbol, at least lpl pool, map lpuU,- o.,"y cJ-.,:4 one illustrative English example (where possible)a nd one Farsi example llamp,ll ightbulb ?.7 are given to show you what sound the symbol represents.Y ou can learn to ------l--..-- I XVI Far si TheS oundso f Farsi I xvll I