خواهرم گفت: «قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی، به چراغ نگاه کن.»

خواهرم means my sister.

It is made of:

• خواهر = sister
• -م = my

That -م is a possessive ending attached directly to the noun. Persian does this a lot:

• برادرم = my brother
• دوستم = my friend
• کتابم = my book

So instead of using a separate word for my, Persian often adds it to the end.

The colon introduces direct speech, just like in English when you write something like:

• My sister said: ...

After گفت (said), the quoted words come next. In Persian writing, using a colon before direct speech is very common and natural.

گفت is the simple past form of گفتن (to say / to tell), and here it means said.

So:

• خواهرم گفت = My sister said

It is a very common past-tense form. Persian often uses this simple past where English also uses said.

قبل از اینکه means before in the sense of before doing something or before something happens.

It is built from:

• قبل از = before
• اینکه = that / the fact that

So literally it is something like before that...

In natural English, you just translate it as before:

• قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی = before you turn right

This pattern is very common in Persian when a full clause follows.

Because the next part is a clause, not just a noun.

Compare:

• قبل از غذا = before the meal / before food
• قبل از اینکه بروی = before you go

When Persian wants to say before + subject + verb, it often uses قبل از اینکه.

So in this sentence, since the speaker says before you turn right, not just before the turn, اینکه is the normal structure.

بپیچی is from پیچیدن here in the sense of to turn.

In this sentence, it is in the subjunctive/present stem form after قبل از اینکه, which is a very common pattern in Persian.

So:

• بپیچی = you turn

More literally, it is the kind of form Persian often uses after words like before, so that, until, and similar connectors.

Also, the ending -ی shows it is second person singular: you.

After قبل از اینکه, Persian usually prefers the subjunctive-style form, not the ordinary indicative می‌... form.

So:

• قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی = before you turn right

This is more natural than using می‌پیچی here.

A learner can think of this as: after قبل از اینکه, Persian commonly uses the b- form of the verb.

به راست literally means to the right.

Parts:

• به = to
• راست = right

So:

• به راست بپیچی = turn right

Persian often uses به with directions:

• به چپ = to the left
• به راست = to the right

Yes, in standard Persian this is the normal and natural way to say turn right.

• به راست بپیچ = turn right
• به چپ بپیچ = turn left

For English speakers, it helps to remember that Persian often expresses this as turn to the right/left, even if English usually just says turn right.

چراغ literally means lamp or light, but in context it can also mean a traffic light or signal.

Because the sentence is about turning right and looking before turning, چراغ here most likely refers to a traffic light.

Persian often relies on context for this kind of word.

Because the verb نگاه کردن usually takes به for the thing you look at.

So Persian says:

• به چیزی نگاه کردن = to look at something

Examples:

• به من نگاه کن = look at me
• به آسمان نگاه کرد = he/she looked at the sky
• به چراغ نگاه کن = look at the light

This is very important for learners, because English says look at, and Persian also needs its own preposition here: به.

نگاه کن is the singular informal imperative of نگاه کردن (to look).

It is made from:

• نگاه = look / glance
• کن = do

Since نگاه کردن is a compound verb, the command is formed with کن.

So:

• نگاه کن = look

Other examples of similar compound verbs:

• گوش کن = listen
• کار کن = work
• فکر کن = think

Yes. نگاه کن is singular and informal, used with you when speaking casually to one person.

The polite/plural version is:

• نگاه کنید = look

So if you were speaking respectfully, the sentence would be:

• قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچید، به چراغ نگاه کنید.

That means the same thing, but with polite you.

Because both verbs are marked for singular informal you:

• بپیچی
• نگاه کن

This suggests the sister is speaking casually to one person—probably someone close, such as a sibling, friend, or child. Persian commonly switches between informal and polite forms depending on relationship and context.

Not here. In this sentence, بپیچی is not the main command. The main command is:

• به چراغ نگاه کن = look at the light

The part:

• قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی = before you turn right

is a time clause, not a separate command.

So only نگاه کن is the actual imperative here.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• خواهرم گفت: = My sister said:
• قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی، = Before you turn right,
• به چراغ نگاه کن. = Look at the light.

So the pattern is:

• speaker + said
• time clause
• main command

This word order is very natural in Persian.

Yes, Persian can often change the order, depending on emphasis. For example, a version like this would still be understandable:

• به چراغ نگاه کن قبل از اینکه به راست بپیچی.

But the original sentence sounds smoother and more natural because Persian often places the time clause first when setting up the action.

So the original order is a very good model to learn from.

A natural pronunciation would be roughly:

• khâharam goft: ghabl az inke be râst be-pichi, be cherâgh negâh kon

A few helpful notes:

• خواهرم sounds like khâ-ha-ram
• قبل از اینکه is often said smoothly together
• بپیچی has stress around -pi-
• نگاه کن sounds like ne-gâh kon

If you say it naturally, the pause usually comes after گفت and a smaller pause after بپیچی.