Learn Farsi: هر دقیقه مهم است. - Every minute is important.

Just like the English word "every", the Farsi word هر (every/each) must always be followed by a singular noun. That's why we use دقیقه (minute) instead of its plural form.

If we mean "every minute," why is the verb است (is) singular instead of plural?

The subject هر دقیقه acts as a singular grammatical unit. Because the noun is singular, the verb must match it. Farsi uses the singular است (is) exactly how you say "every minute is" in English, rather than "every minute are".

If I want to say "all minutes" instead of "every minute", can I still use هر?

No, هر specifically means "each" or "every" and only works with singular nouns. To say "all", you would use the word همه (hameh), which is usually followed by a plural noun, like همه دقیقه‌ها (all the minutes).

How would a native speaker say this sentence in casual conversation?

In everyday spoken Farsi, the formal verb است (ast) usually drops its first letter and attaches to the end of the previous word as a short "e" sound. So, مهم است becomes مهمه (mohem-e), and the whole sentence sounds like "har daghigheh mohem-e".