Learning Persian

How about learning some Persian greetings before traveling to Iran? Whether you want to take a taxi, pay for your dinner, interact with Iranians or talk to the local people you will need to know some Persian. For sure you will meet lots of Iranians who come to you to have a chat and maybe even hang out together. Remember, Modern Persian and Farsi are the same languages.

The fact is that learning Persian is not quite easy for many people since the grammar structure is different to what they know and what they have been taught. Most of the Persian/Farsi alphabet letters are similar to the Arabic alphabet and there are lots of similar words in both languages. However, these two languages are totally different due to their different grammar structures.

In Persian, the grammar is much simpler than Latin and Arabic and this simplicity makes it more complicated for non-natives to understand! For example, Persians use only one pronoun for “He”, “She” and “It”! You can also easily switch to simpler forms of verbs whenever it is needed.

All right, let’s forget about the grammar. There are a few Persian phrases you might need while traveling to Iran and talking to Iranians. Here is a list of common and useful Persian greetings and phrases written in English and Persian. The pronunciation is also included. Most of the sentences below are used in everyday conversations, so they might come handy if you memorize them.