Basic Persian vocabulary starts with everyday words such as مادر (mâdar, mother), آب (âb, water), نان (nân, bread) and زعفران (za’farân, saffron). These 25 questions cover family, colors, food, spices and dishes, body parts, places and opposites, in both directions, with transliteration and an explanation for every answer.
Persian nouns have no grammatical gender and no word for “the”, so کتاب (ketâb) means both “book” and “the book”. The usual plural ending is ـها: کتاب‌ها (ketâbhâ, books). Many words are easy to break apart: پدربزرگ (pedarbozorg, grandfather) is “big father” and کتابخانه (ketâbkhâne, library) is “book house”. Start with the Persian family words if relatives are new to you.
Adjectives come after the noun and are linked to it by the ezâfe vowel -e (-ye after a vowel): ماشین سفید (mâshin-e sefid, white car), خانه‌ی بزرگ (khâne-ye bozorg, big house), چای گرم (chây-e garm, hot tea). Learn the six basic Persian colors and three pairs of opposites, and you can already describe most things around you.
Say each Persian word out loud with its transliteration in the explanation; hearing yourself say khâhar or za’farân helps the spelling stick.
Family and colors
1. What does مادر mean?
2. How do you say “brother” in Persian?
3. What does پدربزرگ mean?
4. Which word means “sister”?
5. How do you say “yellow” in Persian?
6. The color آبی (âbi, blue) is formed from which word?
7. Which three colors are on the flag of Iran?
Food and drink
8. What does نان mean?
9. How do you say “water” in Persian?
10. What does چای mean?
11. Which English word translates برنج?
12. Which fruit is انار?
Persian spices and dishes
13. What is زعفران?
14. What is the Persian word for turmeric?
15. What does زیره mean?
16. What is چلوکباب?
17. Which description fits قرمه‌سبزی?
Body, objects and places
18. What does چشم mean?
19. How do you say “hand” in Persian?
20. Complete the sentence: من یک ____ می‌خوانم. (I am reading a book.)
21. The English word “bazaar” comes from Persian بازار (bâzâr). What does it mean?
22. Odd one out: which word is NOT a place?
Opposites
23. What is the opposite of بزرگ (bozorg, big)?
24. Choose the right word: چای ____ است. (The tea is hot.)
25. Which pair is NOT a pair of opposites?
Answer key with explanations
- C. mother: مادر (mâdar) means mother; father is پدر (pedar). Both are related to the English words, since Persian and English are distant cousins in the Indo-European family.
- D. برادر: برادر (barâdar) is brother. Do not confuse it with پسر (pesar), which means son or boy.
- B. grandfather: پدربزرگ (pedarbozorg) is literally “big father”: پدر (pedar, father) + بزرگ (bozorg, big). Grandmother is مادربزرگ (mâdarbozorg), built the same way.
- C. خواهر: خواهر (khâhar) is sister. The و is written but not pronounced, so say khâhar, not khvâhar; دختر (dokhtar) means girl or daughter.
- D. زرد: زرد (zard) is yellow. The others are سبز (sabz, green), سیاه (siyâh, black) and قرمز (ghermez, red).
- A. آب (water): آبی (âbi) is آب (âb, water) + the suffix ـی (-i), so it is literally “water-colored”. The same suffix gives Persian many adjectives, such as ایرانی (irâni, Iranian).
- C. سبز، سفید، قرمز: The flag of Iran has three horizontal bands: سبز (sabz, green), سفید (sefid, white) and قرمز (ghermez, red). سیاه (siyâh) is black and زرد (zard) is yellow.
- B. bread: نان (nân) is bread, as in نان و پنیر (nân-o panir, bread and cheese), a classic Iranian breakfast. Rice is برنج (berenj).
- C. آب: آب (âb) is water. شیر (shir) means milk (and also lion), and چای (chây) is tea.
- C. tea: چای (chây) is tea, usually served in a small glass called استکان (estekân). Coffee is قهوه (ghahve); see more Persian drink words.
- B. rice: برنج (berenj) is rice, the raw grain or rice in general. Cooked plain rice is چلو (chelo), and rice cooked with other ingredients is پلو (polo).
- A. pomegranate: انار (anâr) is pomegranate, a fruit Iranians eat on شب یلدا (shab-e yaldâ), the longest night of the year. Apple is سیب (sib); more in fruit and vegetable words.
- B. saffron: زعفران (za’farân) is saffron, and Iran grows most of the world’s supply. It colors and flavors rice dishes; see the Persian spices list.
- B. زردچوبه: زردچوبه (zardchube) is turmeric, literally “yellow wood”: زرد (zard, yellow) + چوب (chub, wood). زعفران (za’farân) is saffron, which is also yellow-orange, and دارچین (dârchin) is cinnamon.
- B. cumin: زیره (zire) is cumin. Kerman is so famous for it that زیره به کرمان بردن (zire be Kermân bordan, taking cumin to Kerman) means bringing something where there is already plenty.
- A. kabâb served with plain steamed rice: چلوکباب (chelokabâb) is چلو (chelo, plain steamed rice) + کباب (kabâb), often called Iran’s national dish. It is usually served with grilled tomato and a sprinkle of sumac.
- D. a stew of fresh herbs, kidney beans and dried lime: قرمه‌سبزی (ghorme-sabzi) gets its name from سبزی (sabzi, herbs) and is eaten with rice. The pomegranate and walnut stew is فسنجان (fesenjân), and the yogurt drink is دوغ (dugh).
- B. eye: چشم (cheshm) is eye; said alone as a reply, چشم! means “Sure, I will.” Ear is گوش (gush) and head is سر (sar); see more body part words.
- A. دست: دست (dast) is hand. سر (sar) is head, پا (pâ) is foot or leg, and گوش (gush) is ear.
- A. کتاب: کتاب (ketâb) is book, so من یک کتاب می‌خوانم (man yek ketâb mikhânam) means “I am reading a book.” The plural is کتاب‌ها (ketâbhâ, books).
- D. market: بازار (bâzâr) is a market, like the historic covered bazaars of Tehran and Tabriz. School is مدرسه (madrese).
- D. ماشین: ماشین (mâshin) means car, an object, not a place. خانه (khâne) is house or home, مدرسه (madrese) is school and بازار (bâzâr) is market.
- A. کوچک: کوچک (kuchek) means small, the opposite of بزرگ (bozorg). بلند (boland) means tall or long, and its opposite is کوتاه (kutâh, short).
- B. گرم: گرم (garm) means warm or hot, so چای گرم است (chây garm ast) is “The tea is hot.” Its opposite is سرد (sard, cold), as in آب سرد (âb-e sard, cold water).
- B. سفید / سبز: سفید (sefid, white) and سبز (sabz, green) are just two colors; the opposite of white is سیاه (siyâh, black). خوب (khub, good) and بد (bad, bad) are opposites, and Persian bad sounds exactly like English “bad”.
How to learn Persian words faster
Learn words in small topic groups, as in this quiz, and always learn them in Persian script, not only in transliteration. Write each new word on a card with an example: نان و پنیر (nân-o panir, bread and cheese), چای گرم (chây-e garm, hot tea). Review the cards after one day, three days and a week.
Look for word families. Once you know آب (âb, water), you can work out آبی (âbi, blue); once you know سبز (sabz, green), سبزی (sabzi, herbs) makes sense, and so does the name of قرمه‌سبزی (ghorme-sabzi).