Persian Conversation 15: Going to a Cafe With a Friend

Invite a friend to a cafe in Persian and order drinks: barberry juice, orange juice, why not, let's go, spoken vs written forms and a quiz.

Inviting a friend to a cafe

Neda invites Sara to a cafe to have something. Sara agrees right away, and the two friends order juice: barberry juice for Sara and orange juice for Neda. The dialogue gives you a natural way to suggest going somewhere, میای بریم …؟ (miyây berim …?), and the cheerful reply چرا که نه (cherâ ke na), "why not".

Juice in Persian is آب (âb), "water", plus the name of the fruit: آب پرتقال is literally "orange water".

The dialogue

Key words and phrases

Spoken vs written Persian

The invitation in the first line is very colloquial. Compare the spoken forms with how the same words are written.

Inviting and agreeing

میای بریم …؟ (miyây berim …?), literally "are you coming, let's go …?", is a friendly way to suggest doing something together. You can add another subjunctive verb after it: میای بریم سینما فیلم ببینیم؟ (miyây berim sinamâ film bebinim?), "want to go to the cinema and see a film?".

To accept, say چرا که نه (cherâ ke na), باشه (bâshe) or simply بریم (berim), "let's go". To decline politely: مرسی، ولی امروز نمی‌تونم (mersi, vali emruz nemitunam), "thanks, but I can't today".

Barberries (زرشک) are small sour red berries used a lot in Iranian cooking, for example in زرشک‌پلو (zereshk-polo), rice with barberries.

Try it yourself

• Invite a friend to a cafe: میای بریم کافه؟
• Order your favorite drink with من … می‌خوام.

In a cafe you might also order بستنی (bastani), "ice cream", کیک (keyk), "cake", or چای (chây), "tea". When the order arrives, a friend may say نوش جان (nush-e jân), "enjoy". To offer to pay, say حساب با من (hesâb bâ man), "the bill is on me".

Neda uses می‌خوری (mikhori), from خوردن, "to eat", for drinks as well. In everyday speech this is completely normal; نوشیدن (nushidan), "to drink", is more formal and bookish.

• Previous: Lesson 14 (getting to university)
• Next: Lesson 16 (the weekend)

Practice

1. Invite a friend to go to a cafe.

   Show answer

   miyây berim kâfe? میای بریم کافه؟

2. How does Sara accept the invitation?

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   cherâ ke na, berim: "Why not? Let's go." چرا که نه، بریم

3. What does Sara order?

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   Barberry juice. آب زرشک

4. How do you say "apple juice" if "apple" is {{سیب}} (sib)?

   Show answer

   âb-sib آب سیب

5. Give the written form of {{بریم}}.

   Show answer

   beravim برویم

Find more dialogues in the Farsi conversation lessons series, and review the sounds behind the transliteration on the Persian pronunciation page.