Persian Conversation 6: Birthplace and Hometown

Ask where someone was born and grew up in Persian: a dialogue with be donyâ omadan and bozorg shodan, spoken vs written forms and a quiz.

Where were you born and where did you grow up?

Neda and Sara are getting to know each other. Neda asks where Sara was born and whether she grew up there too. Sara was born and raised in Shiraz, while Neda was born in Isfahan and grew up in Hamedan. These are typical small-talk questions in Iran, where people often ask which city someone is from.

The key expressions are به دنیا اومدن (be donyâ omadan), "to be born", literally "to come into the world", and بزرگ شدن (bozorg shodan), "to grow up", literally "to become big".

The dialogue

Key words and phrases

Spoken vs written Persian

In spoken Persian a long â before m or n often turns into u: آمدن becomes اومدن and همان becomes همون. Speakers also drop the preposition در (dar), "in", before city names.

Asking about age

The page heading also mentions age, which the dialogue does not cover. In casual speech you ask چند سالته؟ (chand sâlete?), "how old are you?", and answer بیست سالمه (bist sâlame), "I'm twenty". Politely, ask چند سالتونه؟ (chand sâletune?). In writing these become چند سال داری؟ and بیست سال دارم, literally "I have twenty years".

Grammar note

Both verbs in this dialogue are in the simple past. The personal endings are added to the past stem اومد (omad) or شد (shod): اومدم (omadam) "I came", اومدی (omadi) "you came", شدم (shodam) "I became". There is no separate word for "was" in "I was born": Persian just says "I came into the world".

Try it yourself

• Say where you were born: … به دنیا اومدم (… be donyâ omadam), putting your city first.
• Say where you grew up: … بزرگ شدم (… bozorg shodam).
• Ask a friend whether they grew up in the same place: همون‌جا هم بزرگ شدی؟
• Turn the question back to the other person with تو چی؟ (to chi?), or politely شما چی؟ (shomâ chi?).
• Tell a partner the cities where three people in your family were born, using اومد (omad) for "he or she came".

• Previous: Lesson 5
• Next: Lesson 7 (talking about jobs)

Practice

1. Ask a friend where they were born.

   Show answer

   kojâ be donyâ omadi? کجا به دنیا اومدی؟

2. Say "I grew up in Tehran."

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   tehrân bozorg shodam تهران بزرگ شدم

3. What is the literal meaning of {{به دنیا اومدن}}?

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   To come into the world.

4. Write {{همون‌جا}} in its written form.

   Show answer

   hamânjâ همان‌جا

5. Ask a friend how old they are.

   Show answer

   chand sâlete? چند سالته؟

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