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### Meeting People

Persian politeness runs on fixed formulas — you learn them whole, like single words, and they need almost no grammar. When you are introduced to someone, the answer is **خوشبختم** (nice to meet you, literally "I am fortunate").

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### Welcoming Guests

When guests arrive, the host says **خوش آمدید** — welcome, literally "you came well". It pairs naturally with بفرمایید to usher people in.

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### Saying Sorry

**متأسفم** expresses regret — I'm sorry — where ببخشید (from the previous lesson) asks pardon: excuse me. Use متأسفم to console or to apologize for something that already happened.

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### On the Phone

**الو** is how Iranians answer the phone — never سلام first. The سلام follows once you know who is speaking.

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### The All-Purpose بفرمایید

**بفرمایید** is the politeness word for offering anything: here you are (handing something over), please come in, go ahead, take a seat. You will hear it dozens of times a day in Iran.

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Social formulas

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

suffix

verb

Singular pronouns and copula (man, -am)

Plural pronouns and copula (mâ, -im)

Subject pronoun omission

Singular demonstratives (in, ân)

Plural demonstratives (inhâ, ânhâ)

Independent copula (hastam, hast)

Negative present copula (nistam, nist)

Yes/No questions (âyâ)

Regular plurals (-hâ)

Animate plurals (-ân)

Indefiniteness (yek)

Indefinite marker (-i)

Describing nouns (-e / -ye)

Possession (-e / -ye)

Singular possessives (-am, -at, -ash)

Plural possessives (-emân, -etân, -eshân)

Basic prepositions (dar, be, az, bâ)

Spatial prepositions (ru-ye, zir-e...)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yek, do, se...)

Numbers and singular nouns

Numbers 11 to 20 (yâzdah, davâzdah...)

Counting by tens to 100

Telling time (sâ'at)

The verb to have (dâram)

Negative to have (nadâram)

Basic word order (SOV)

Infinitives and present stems (-an)

Present indicative (mi-)

Negative present indicative (nemi-)

Compound verbs

Question words (che, kojâ)

How many (chand)

The definite object marker (râ)

Object pronouns (man râ, to râ)

Singular commands (be-)

Formal and plural commands (be- ... -id)

Negative commands (na-)

The present subjunctive (be-)

The negative present subjunctive (na-)

Must (bâyad)

Might (shâyad)

Wanting to do something (khâstan)

Being able to do something (tavânestan)

Forming the past stem

The simple past of to be (budan)

The simple past tense

Negative simple past (na-)

Attached object pronouns on verbs (-am, -at, -ash)

Comparative adjectives (-tar)

Basic conjunctions (va, ammâ, yâ)

Giving reasons (chon)

Adverbs of frequency and degree (hamishe, hargez, kheyli, kam)

Everyday actions (kâr kardan, bâz kardan)

Non-human plural subjects

Indefinite pronouns (kasi, chizi, jâyi)

Negative indefinite pronouns (hich-kas, hich-chiz, hich-jâ)

Reciprocal pronouns (hamdigar, yekdigar)

Reflexive pronouns (khod-)

Reflexive direct objects (khod râ)

Emphatic pronouns (khod)

The quantifier every (har)

The quantifier all (hame)

The quantifier some (ba'zi)

Another and other (-i digar)

Which (kodâm)

How much (cheghadr)

Comparisons of equality (mesl-e)

Superlative adjectives (-tarin)

Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Ordinal numbers (-om)

Pre-nominal ordinal numbers (-omin)

Fractions and percentages

Prepositions of theme (dar mored-e)

Prepositions of time (ghabl az, ba'd az)

Preposition of exclusion (bedun-e)

Resultative conjunctions (banâbarin, pas)

Hortative construction (biyâ, biyâyid)

The present progressive tense (dâram mi-)

The past continuous tense (mi-)

Negative past continuous (ne-mi-)

Past continuous of to have (dâshtam)

The past progressive tense (dâshtam mi-)

The past participle (-e)

Present perfect tense (-e-am, -e-ast)

Negative present perfect (na-)

Question	Answer
nice to meet you	خوشبختمkhoshbakhtam
Nice to meet you, ma'am.	خوشبختم، خانم.khoshbakhtam, khânom.
Nice to meet you too.	من هم خوشبختم.man ham khoshbakhtam.
welcome!	خوش آمدیدkhosh âmadid
Welcome to our home.	به خانه‌ی ما خوش آمدید.be khâne-ye mâ khosh âmadid
I'm sorry	متأسفمmote'assefam
I'm sorry, mother.	متأسفم، مادر.motaassefam, mâdar.
I'm very sorry.	خیلی متأسفم.kheyli motasefam.
hello (answering the phone)	الوalo
Hello? Hi!	الو، سلام!alo, salâm!
Hello? Hi, mom!	الو، مادر، سلام!alo, mâdar, salâm!
here you are; please, go ahead	بفرماییدbefarmâyid
Welcome — please come in.	خوش آمدید، بفرمایید داخل.khosh âmadid, befarmâyid dâkhel.
Here you are, this is your tea.	بفرمایید، این چایِ شما است.befarmâyid, in châye shomâ ast.
Please come in.	بفرمایید داخل.befarmâyid dâkhel.