A Separation, Part 3

Leyla: Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, A Separation with Yara Elmjouie, Part Three.

So, salām, yārā jān! Thank you so much for joining me today.

Yara: salām, leylā joon! Thanks for having me; very excited to do this clip together!

Leyla: Yeah, so if you've been listening to these podcasts or watching them, you can either watch us go over these clips of the movie A Separation, or you could be listening to it on the podcast or wherever you get your audio from. And these lessons are cumulative, so if you haven't listened to Part One and Two of our Separation series, go back and listen to those. And today, we're back with a third clip that Yara has chosen. This is a short one, so it's a nice little break from the first two that we had, and so we're going to watch this clip just like we did last time and go over key vocabulary. So, Yara, is there anything you want to say before we listen to this clip?

Yara: No, I just think, you know, we're going to pay attention in this one in particular to some of the cultural dynamics that exist between the characters. I mean, if you've watched this film and again, you know, once again, I think we should probably mention that it is available on Amazon Prime. Please do watch the film. But you'll see there's a lot of cultural commentary here between, you know, the sort of socioeconomic and cultural background of the individual who's coming to clean the house and the homeowner or the apartment owner himself. So, yeah, those are things that we’ll point out as well as we watch the clip.

Leyla: All right. So let's go ahead and watch it together.

Nader: balé?

Razieh: bebakhsheed, man meekhāstam begam meeshé shomāreyé shomā-rō bedam bé shoharam begam az too rooznāmé paydā kardam, barāyé hameen kāré khoonatoon ō parastāree begam?

Nader: shomā sharāyeté kār-ō beheshoon begeen, agé ghabool kardan hāzer boodan beeyān...

Razieh: na, man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam. nagoftam meeyām eenjā baré kār.

Nader: khob, shomā begeen bé man zang bezanan. asan emshab begeen beeyān bebeenameshoon.

Razieh: emshab deegé fekr meekonam yé kam deer shé deegé. hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām. shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen. deegé... baré poolesham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed...

Nader: oo mas’alé-ee neest, pas befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram.

Razieh: khayli mamnoon.

Nader: khāhesh meekonam khānom. khodā negahdāretoon. khasté ham nabāsheed.

Leyla: Okay!

Yara: Cool, all right!

Leyla: Yeah, so right off the bat, we're seeing some smiles for the first time!

Yara: Yeah! So let's, I guess, start from the very beginning, just the very opening. I've kind of highlighted a few things, but I'll start with this. So he opens the door, and he says, “balé?” And then this is kind of a very common way to answer a telephone call or, you know, open the door! It's just like ‘yes?’ “balé?” means ‘yes?’, and that's something that I remember when I was kind of more learning how Persian is spoken in Iran today. I was also, I started to imitate, actually, I'd be...because usually, sometimes, I answer like “salām,” right? ‘Hello’. And you can say that; that's fine. But sometimes, there's just something very businesslike in just saying “balé?” ‘yes?’.

Leyla: It's kind of un-tārof-y, huh? There's no fluff around it, just like ‘what? What is it?’. “balé!”

Yara: Yeah! Completely, completely! And who knows if there's a social element here that is in the scripting that is trying to be communicated to the viewer where he is this very clearly wealthier person living in this nice apartment? And he’s just like ‘yes?’. Who knows? All right, so let's move on.

Nader: balé?

Razieh: bebakhsheed, man meekhāstam begam meeshé shomāreyé shomā-rō bedam bé shoharam begam az too rooznāmé paydā kardam, barāyé hameen kāré khoonatoon ō parastāree begam?

Yara: We continue with that line. She's making a very interesting inquiry here, starts by saying “bebakhsheed,” ‘sorry’, “meekhāstam begam,” ‘I wanted to say’. She's kind of dilly-dallying here. “meeshé shomāreyé shomā-rō bedam bé shoharam begam az too rooznāmé peydā kardam...?” So, Leyla, if you want to kind of take that over, and...what is she saying there?

Leyla: Okay, “man khāstam begam,” ‘I wanted to say’, “meeshé shomāreyé shomā-rō bedam bé shoharam?” So ‘can I take your number and give it to my husband?’. “begam az too rooznāmé peydā kardam.” So, “az too rooznāmé,” so ‘I'll say I found it in the newspaper’. She's kind of telling him she's about to be deceptive, so she's going to take that number of his and then say she found it in the newspaper.

Yara: Exactly, and so then, she continues by saying, “barāyé hameen kāré khoonatoon ō parastāree begam,” ‘so I'm going to tell him that it's about this work you need done in your house and taking care of’, “parastāree.” Here, she's referring to her nursing or being a caretaker to Peyman Moaadi’s dad, who, in an earlier scene, we saw has a health condition where he needs to be, he needs to be provided for by a caretaker.

So right here, we're already seeing, and this is sort of the sociocultural thing I wanted to mention, but she is basically saying, ‘give me your number’, or sorry, ‘let me give my number to your number’. Sorry. She's saying, ‘let me give your number to my husband, and even though I've been working here for you, seemingly secretively, I'm just going to give your number to my husband and then lie to him.’ This is not what's mentioned. ‘That I “found it in the newspaper. I don't know this man. This could be a good work opportunity for you, husband!” And, can I just do that? I just want to inform you...' Basically, she's doing this to say, like, 'if he calls, you just don't tell him that you know me!’

And the reason for this is we're gonna, you know, we're gonna we're going to learn a little bit more in this, in this conversation. But, very clearly, she doesn't want her husband to know that she is coming to another man's house, especially a single man, to do work, because perhaps that might arouse the suspicion of her husband. And she doesn't want to do that, so you see this cultural commentary bubbling up, and he's, and the man himself is kind of like ‘uhhh...oh! Okay.’ So you'll see as it plays out.

Leyla: Okay. Let's listen to the next line.

Nader: shomā sharāyeté kār-ō beheshoon begeen, agé ghabool kardan hāzer boodan beeyān...

Yara: Okay. So, yeah, if you want to take it away: “shomā sharāyeté kār-ō beheshoon begeen, agé ghabool kardan hāzer boodan beeyān...”

Leyla: So then he's kind of a little confused, and he says, “shomā sharāyeté kār-ō beheshoon begeen.” “sharāyet” is ‘the circumstances’, so ‘you tell him the circumstances of the work’, so what the work entails. “agé ghabool kardan hāzer boodan beeyān.” “agé ghabool kardan,” that means ‘if he agrees’, “hāzer boodan beeyān...” ‘and he was ready to come...’ and then he leaves it at that, dot dot dot.

Yara: Exactly, there’s a little bit of confusion going on here. It's like ‘yeah, just tell him you know about the circumstances, and if he accepts, he'll come’, and then now, we're going to listen to the next part. Actually, before we do that, a couple phrases I did want to highlight in the past two interactions: So one thing that I thought was worth highlighting was “az too rooznāmé,” which would be ‘from inside the paper’. So she says, ‘I'm going to give your number to my husband and say I found it in the paper’.

Instead of just saying “begam too rooznāmé paydā kardam,” she says “az too rooznāmé,” and this is another colloquialism where it's like ‘I found your number from inside the paper’. It's just something you have to memorize. It's just a common way of referring to ‘I found your thing in the yellow pages’. I know that doesn't really exist anymore. I don't think many people understand what that is, but ‘I found’, you know, ‘from inside’. It's a common sort of construction. You could also easily say “shomārat-ō too rooznāmé paydā kardam.” That's perfectly correct, but it's another colloquial way.

And then another thing I want to highlight is when Peyman Moaadi, the man, responds to her and says “ghabool kardan hāzer beeyān.” It's like a double verb sort of construction. You know, we do this a lot in Persian, either to be extra polite or just, you know, “beeyā,” ‘sit down and talk’, “besheeneen sohbat...” you know, whatever; we combine verbs a lot. So he's saying ‘if he accepted and he was ready’, ‘if your husband’ “ghabool kardan hāzer beeyān.” He could have easily said “agar ghabool,” “agar hāzer boodan beeyān,” ‘if he was ready to come’. That could have been enough, but he decided to pair it with “ghabool kardan,” ‘if he agreed and was ready to come’. It's just a common way of speaking, so if you want to speak like an Iranian today, this is a great skill to learn: Which verbs do you combine? I mean, you're really not adding very much to the meaning. You're communicating very much the same thing, but you're using two verbs because it sounds more colloquial.

Leyla: Yeah, in the last conversation we had, we said speaking Persian is all about why say less when you can say more? So we're continuing that theme!

Yara: Exactly, exactly!

Leyla: But another thing that I want to say about “az too rooznāmé”: This is actually more colloquial also. If you see something written, for that you would say “dar rooznāmé.” “dar” is the way that you write things; “too” is the way you say them. So you won't often learn it written that way. So if you want to say something is in the fridge, for example, you say “dar yakhchāl!” That’s the written version. But then the spoken, like, quick: “too yakhchāl.”

Yara: Yeah, “too yakhchāl!”

Leyla: ‘Inside’. “dar” also means ‘inside’ but in a written version.

Yara: Yeah.

Leyla: So those are two different constructions of that.

Yara: That's a very fantastic point. No Iranian, if they're like ‘where is the strawberry jam?’ nobody would say, “dar yakhchāl ast.”

Leyla: But that is the correct way to do it.

Yara: That is the correct written form, yes, so in a storybook, it would say that, but 100% in real life, no one would actually...yeah, unless you're a robot maybe! An Iranian robot!

Leyla: Siri, Siri, Iranian Siri!

Yara: Iranian Siri, yeah, exactly! Yeah.

Leyla: All right. So the next line:

Razieh: na, man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam. nagoftam meeyām eenjā baré kār.

Yara: Mmm, perfect! Yeah, so basically, this is what we're getting at from the beginning of this conversation. So he’s not getting it, she's like ‘look, I'm going to tell my husband I found your number in the paper. I'm going to give it to him. He's going to call you. You explain the circumstances’, “sharāyeté kār,” ‘the circumstances of the work’. And then he's like “ah, shomā sharāyeté kār-ō,” ‘you tell him about the circumstances! If he accepted, he'll come!’ And she's like ‘no, dude, you don't get it’. “man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam.” ‘I don't want to say that I know you’. “nagoftam,” ‘I haven't...’ and then she says, “nagoftam meeyām eenjā barāyé kār.” If you want to take over that part...

Leyla: Sure, so “na, man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam.” So, “shenākhtan” is ‘to know’, so ‘no, I don't want to say that I know you’. “nagoftam meeyām eenjā,” ‘I didn't say I come here’, “barāyé kār,” ‘for work’, and Yara’s highlighted this. Why did you highlight that “barāyé kār”?

Yara: So just very quickly in terms of a mechanical thing, another very common way, if you want to learn how to speak colloquial, spoken Persian, many, many, many, many times we will contract, shorten “barāyé” to just “baré,” and this is another common thing, similar to “dar” becoming “too.” Highly recommend students learn this! Very simple. I even do it all the...you know, you just naturally say, “āré, masalan, baré talalodé een-é, baré een khareedamesh.” We don't really say “barāyé een khareedamesh, barāyé tavalod...” We don't really fully, in many, many cases, pronounce all of “barāyé.” We just say "baré."

Leyla: Yeah. So let's listen to her say that again.

Razieh: na, man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam. nagoftam meeyām eenjā baré kār.

Leyla: It's very clear: “baré kār. ”

Yara: “baré kār,” yeah. Then the last thing is that “nagoftam meeyām eenjā barāyé kār,” yeah, ‘I haven't said that I'm coming here for work’. So she's now being very clear, like, ‘dude, I don't want to tell him, I haven't told my husband that I'm coming here to work for you’. And this is literally all the social commentary is. There's nothing else that’s being...we're very much being shown this rather than told. So you have to pick up on it, like oh, Christ! She's more conservative than his family, so she is now saying, ‘I don't want to come here. I want to tell my husband I'm coming for work.’ The unspoken reality is ‘because I don't want him to suspect that there's something between you and me.’

Leyla: We're having to kind of piece together this by context clues and also just the incredible face acting that they're doing because you can see that he got it right when he, like, starts looking down. He's like, ‘ohh! Got it!’ And she has kind of that shaytoon smile all of a sudden coming on, and we'll see that grow as this scene goes on. So, let’s listen to her next line and see what's going on here, or his next line.

Nader: khob, shomā begeen bé man zang bezanan. asan emshab begeen beeyān bebeenameshoon.

Razieh: emshab deegé fekr meekonam yé kam deer shé deegé.

Leyla: So we'll pause on this smile here. So what happened there?

Yara: So he's like ‘ah! Got it!’ with complete facial communication. “khob,” ‘okay’, “shomā begeen bé man zang bezanan.” So he's like ‘okay, well, tell him to call me’, “asan emshab begeen beeyān bebeenameshoon.” Okay, yeah, so he's like “asan emshab begeen beeyān meebeenameshoon.” So here, we actually have a couple things going on. “asan...”

Leyla: “bebeenameshoon.” The last word is “bebeenameshoon.”

Yara: “bebeenameshoon,” exactly. So, we have a couple things going on here in this second sentence: “aslan.” Here, we have him saying, “asan emshab begeen beeyān man bebeenameshoon,” so we have this word “aslan,” which is very interesting. I've tried to say it's like a form of ‘you know what?’. We say this a lot, and we will even shorten it sometimes to “asan.” We'll even perhaps eliminate the “l” when it's spoken. In some cases, you don't want to fully pronounce it. “asan begeen,” so here, it's like “asan emshab begeen,” so ‘you know what?’. “asan,” ‘you know what?’ “emshab begeen,” ‘tonight, tell him’, “beeyān man bebeenameshoon.” “begeen” and then “beeyān,” so ‘tell him to come so I can see him’, basically referring to her husband, saying, ‘tell your husband to come so I can see him tonight’. And then what does she say?

Leyla: And “aslan” is in the category of “deegé,” which we've talked about a lot. It's one of those filler words that you have to know that you just throw in there very often. “aslan meedoonee,” ‘anyways, you know’, ‘as a matter of fact, you know’. So yeah, it's one of those untranslatable things that we use all the time in conversation, and you'll hear it over and over again. And that's the best way to learn how to use it. That's a good one to pick up on.

Yara: Definitely, definitely one of the very strong colloquial phrases. Okay, and then what happens? And we should play the next part, I suppose, again.

Razieh: hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām. shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen. deegé... baré poolesham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed...

Leyla: Let's just look at her thing, her sentence and see how she...she's had this idea, so she's kind of excited. She's smiling. So, yeah, what did she say next?

Yara: So, “emshab deegé fekr meekonam yé kam deer shé,” and if I'm not mistaken, I swear she says “deegé” again. So that would be two “deegé”s in the same sentence, which is, again, really dallying, kinda like “emshab deegé fekr meekonam yé kam deer shé...deegé!” So what's this? What does that mean, Leyla? Two “deegé”s in there!

Leyla: So ‘tonight, anyways, I think it'll be a little too late, anyways’. ‘Tonight, in fact, I think it'll be a little too late, in fact’. Again, an untranslatable “deegé” word!

Yara: Yeah, yeah, and then also, there's a contraction here: “shé.” That's a common one we use when we speak, you know, so “emshab deegé fekr...”

Leyla: Instead of “beshé.”

Yara: Instead of “beshavad,” yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's two contractions for “beshavad” or “shavad”! So you could say “beshé” or you could just say “shé,” so “emshab deegé yé kam deer beshavad” yā “deer shavad,” just “shé,” which is very, very common.

Leyla: So ‘it will become too late’. “deer shé,” ‘it will become too late’.

Yara: And then the next part is “hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām. faghat... shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen.” Again, we have “hālā,” we have “deegé,” we have “aslan.” These are all these filler words. So, “hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām,” ‘I'll come myself for you tomorrow.’ And then ‘just don't replace me’, “shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen.” ‘Don't put anyone in my place. Don't replace me for now.’

Leyla: And “faghat” means ‘just’. ‘Just don't put someone in my place.’

Yara: Exactly. And then, Leyla, if you want to take the next part, you know, “deegé barāyé poolesham,” yeah...

Leyla: Okay. “deegé... baré poolesh ham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed.” So, “deegé,” again... ‘anyways’, “barāyé poolesh,” ‘for the money’, “ham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed...” So, ‘for the money also, whatever you think is right...’. “salāh” is like ‘right, correct’. ‘Whatever you think is right or correct.’

Yara: Exactly.

Leyla: And then, as Yara highlighted, “barāyé,” because again, she says “baré” instead of “barāyé.”

Yara: “baré poolesham,” and then also here is a contraction. We talked previously, in a previous episode, about “ram,” “rā ham” becoming “ram.” Here, we don't have a “rā,” but she just says “poolesh ham,” and in that case, it's very common. If there's a “ham” that comes after the word, you don't say the “hé.” You just say “poolesham,” “poolesham,” ‘also the money’, ‘and for also the money, whatever you think is fit, whatever you think is right yourself’. So, “poolesham,” “dokhtaresham,” “feelmesham,” you know. It's not “feelmesh ham”; it's just “feelmesham.”

Leyla: Okay, so let's listen to her say this sentence again, and then let's listen to the next line.

Razieh: hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām. shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen. deegé... baré poolesham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed...

Nader: oo mas’alé-ee neest, pass befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram.

Razieh: khayli mamnoon.

Yara: “mas’alé-ee neest.” This is the same as saying “moshkelee neest,” ‘no problem’. This exists in, like, so many languages around the world, so very simple. ‘There's no problem’, so he gets it, you know. “pas befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram.” So what does that mean, Leyla?

Leyla: All right! So again, like Yara said, “mas’alé-ee neest” means ‘it's no problem’, ‘it's no issue’. “pas,” ‘then’, so this is another filler word. “pas befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran,” so he's saying, ‘so go ahead and he should contact me.’ “man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram,” so ‘I will make a plan with him’.

Yara: Exactly, and this is very interesting, this word “befarmāyeed.” I think it might have come up before; at this point, I can't recall, but very common way of... this is extremely formal language. So you could say here, “befarmāyeed” really is the same as saying “begeen.” So in other words, “befarmāyeed,” you know, he's trying to say, “befarmāyeed beheshoon,” ‘tell him to contact me’, “bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāré,” ‘I will make an appointment with him’. But “befarmāyeed” here is a very formal way of just saying “begeen.” In fact, any time you want to be super-duper formal on the phone, at a meeting, at a conference, meeting someone at a very formal setting, you can always just say “befarmāyeed” instead of “befarmāyeed,” you know, ‘tell me this again?’. “befarmāyeed, esmé...?” you know, ‘what was this?’ So it's just a very formal way of saying “begeen.”

Leyla: ‘Tell me’, “begeen,” ‘tell me’. We did hear it before in the last lesson, either Part 1 or 2. It was Part 1: “befarmāyeed bālā,” ‘please come in’. So it kind of means, like, ‘go ahead’, so he's saying ‘so go ahead’. So, 'go ahead and tell’, for example.

Yara: Yeah.

Leyla: And it’s understood what she is supposed to do. “befarmāyeed,” ‘go ahead’.

Yara: Yeah. It's a very magical word. It's kind of like one of those “aloha” words where it means so many different things.

Leyla: Yeah. So if you want to tell someone to sit, for example, you say “befarmāyeed besheeneed.” If you want to tell someone to go in the door before you, you say “befarmāyeed bereen,” ‘go ahead and go’. If you want to say ‘please tell me’, say “befarmāyeed!” if you want someone to talk first.

Yara: Yeah, and then a funny thing to mention, too, is, again, it literally is a go-ahead. And then at other times, for example, I remember when I was living in Iran, there's a lot of events I would attend, and sometimes, it would be like a Q&A moderator or whatever, even on TV. “shomā farmoodeed!” You know, they would say, “āh! shomā chand lahzé peesh,” ‘a few seconds ago’, “farmoodeed ké” felān felān felān. So ‘a few moments ago, you said’, you know, so-and-so. Instead of saying “shomā chand lahzé peesh gofteed,” they would literally just say “farmoodeed,” and it's so funny! And even sometimes, if they want to say a saying or something that someone said, I've even heard the term “farmāyesh” or “farmāyeshāt,”which is a very funny situation; it’s an Arabic pluralization! So, “bar tebghé farmāyeshāté shomā,” ‘according to the sayings of you, things that you just said’, you know. “farmāyesh,” “farmoodan,” “befarmāyeed,” this word is a magical formal word in Persian I highly recommend if you want to sound like an extremely serious, overly formal person to impress someone's parents, you can always pull some conjugation of this word out.

Leyla: Yes, absolutely! All right, let's keep going!

Nader: mas’alé-ee neest, pas befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram.

Razieh: khayli mamnoon.

Nader: khāhesh meekonam khānom. khodā negahdāretoon. khasté ham nabāsheed.

Leyla: So let's just go over the last two lines.

Yara: Wait, what did she say?

Leyla: She said, “khayli mamnoon,” ‘thank you very much’. That one’s very easy, and then if you want to say his last line...

Yara: “khāhesh meekonam khānom,” you know, ‘you're welcome, ma'am’. “khodā negahdāretoon...” oh, yeah, I think he just says “khodā negahdār.” I have to listen again, but “khasté ham nabāsheed,” so “khodā negahdāretoon, khasté ham nabāsheed.” So these are very common ways of saying ‘goodbye’. I think, Leyla, you might have some good explanation for these. You know, ‘may God protect you’!

Leyla: A lot of flowery language here, yeah. Iranians don't just say... again, why say less when you can say more? He's saying ‘goodbye’ and ‘thank you’ in a lot of different ways here. So, “khāhesh meekonam, khānom,” so ‘it's my pleasure, ma'am’. “khāhesh meekonam” is also an answer to ‘please’. So, ‘please’, ‘you're welcome’ would be “khāhesh meekonam.” So it has a lot of different meanings, but here it's “khāhesh meekonam, khānom.” It means ‘you're welcome. It's my pleasure.’ “khodā negahdāretoon” means ‘may God look after you’, and this is just a common way of saying ‘goodbye’. It doesn't necessarily have any religious connotations, like ‘God bless’. ‘God bless!’

And then at the end, this is very interesting! He says, “khasté ham nabāsheed.” So what does “khasté nabāsheed” mean, and what is the equivalent of this beautiful phrase in English? Because I do not know, and I would love to know!

Yara: We don't really have an equivalent, honestly. I've seen many documentaries and films where they try to subtitle this thing. I mean, the direct translation is ‘don't be tired’, usually after someone has done something, whether it's a thing that requires a lot of labor or, you know, after a long day of work, you can say, ‘don't be tired’. In other words, ‘I'm recognizing the work that you've done. Thank you for your hard work.’ “khasté nabāsheed,” ‘please don't be tired, even though I know you're exhausted’. By saying ‘please don't be tired’, I am recognizing your work!

Leyla: It's so nice, and, you know, my husband and I, it's a difficult phrase with us because if you'd, like, done something else, like if I've been like “oh, we need to do the yard!” and he's, like, mowed the lawn or something, afterwards, I want to say, “khasté nabāsheed!” Like, ‘I know that was a lot of work. Thank you for doing that work’. But whenever I try to translate it, he gets angry because I'm like “don't be tired,” and he's like, “I just did all this work! What are you talking about?!” And it just doesn't translate! And there’s nothing kind you can say to someone after their work to recognize that they've done a lot of work in English, so this is a flaw of the English language! It leads to many a disagreement between couples!

Yara: I think in English, it might be seen, yeah, like you were saying, it's kind of like, almost, putting someone down!

Leyla: “You told me to do the lawn! And now you're telling me not to be tired?!”

Yara: Yeah, exactly!

Leyla: “What are you saying?”

Yara: Yeah, right, whereas in Persian, a lot of the time, actually, “khasté nabāsheed” is... Here, it’s kind of being used as a ‘goodbye’. Also, there's a sort of finality to it. ‘We're ending this engagement. You're about to go home. Bye-bye.’ “khasté nabāsheed,” ‘don't be tired’, but also, it's used as a ‘hello’!

You know, sometimes, you know, in Iran, I'm walking down the street. I come across a bodega, corner store, convenience store, whatever you happen to call that place, and, you know, you see a man perhaps operating the store, sitting on a little seat that he's put out the store for himself, waiting for customers to come by. He's got a cane. You know, he's been sitting there all day checking customers out. Checking them, sorry, not checking them out in a... checking them out at the register! And, you know, so when I come across him, you know, from a distance, I'm approaching his store, I want to buy some water, I just go ‘hey, how's it goin’, dude?’ “khasté nabāsheed!” I don't say ‘dude’, you know; “salām ghorbān!” you know, “khasté nabāsheed!” ‘Hello, sir! Don't be tired!’ It's my form of saying ‘hello’ and somehow recognizing maybe the labor he's done, but it really has just become a way of saying ‘hello’. “khasté nabāsheed!”

Leyla: Yeah.

Yara: “How much is this pear? How much is this shirt? salām, khasté nabāsheed!” You know, ‘hello, don't be tired! How much is this dress?’ So, very common way of saying hello, starting a conversation, or also ending it.

Leyla: Yeah, lovely! It's just a way of saying ‘may your tiredness wash away; may you not be tired!’

Yara: Ooh! I like that one!

Leyla: That's kind of what it is, but yeah, a lot of good vocabulary. You can use these all the time. “khāhesh meekonam,” you know, ‘you're welcome’, and then “khodā negahdāretoon,” ‘God bless you’, and “khasté nabāsheed.” These are all really good phrases to add to your vocabulary. So let's listen to this one last time and see if there's any parting things that we want to say or we’ll leave it at that!

Yara: Let’s do it.

Nader: balé?

Razieh: bebakhsheed, man meekhāstam begam meeshé shomāreyé shomā-rō bedam bé shoharam begam az too rooznāmé paydā kardam, barāyé hameen kāré khooneyetoon ō parastāree begam?

Nader: shomā sharāyeté kār-ō beheshoon begeen, agé ghabool kardan hāzer boodan beeyān...

Razieh: na, man nemeekhām begam ké shomā-rō meeshenāsam. nagoftam meeyām eenjā baré kār.

Nader: khob, shomā begeen bé man zang bezanan. asan emshab begeen beeyān bebeenameshoon.

Razieh: emshab deegé fekr meekonam yé kam deer shé deegé. hālā man fardā-rō khodam barātoon meeyām. shomā faghat kesee-rō jām nazāreen. deegé... baré poolesham harchee khodetoon salāh meedooneed...

Nader: oo mas’alé-ee neest, pas befarmāyeed bā man tamās begeeran man bāhāshoon gharār meezāram.

Razieh: khayli mamnoon.

Nader: khāhesh meekonam khānom. khodā negahdāretoon. khasté ham nabāsheed.

Leyla: I like that with the context of knowing that he's saying, ‘okay, bye-bye’, and then he wants to, like, add a little nice thing to leave her by. You know, she has this smile on her face, and he's like ‘let's end this interaction on a really nice thing!’. “khasté ham nabāsheed!”

Yara: Yeah, he almost throws it in. There's, like, a brief pause. I mean, the dialogue in this is just, and I feel like this is something that may be lost in the translation because, you know, I watched this film in Persian, but the dialogue is just so real. I mean, that's the thing with Asghar Farhadi’s films, that literally, I've been in so many interactions; I have members of my family that talk like this guy and then members of my family that talk like the woman on the other end! It's just brilliant, brilliant. The pauses, the little “khasté nabāsheed” at the end, the social dynamics, it's so good, so good!

Leyla: Very good. And the official translation, by the way, for that last sentence is ‘bye and thanks for today’!

Yara: Yeah, exactly! See how much is lost there? This sort of pause where it's like ‘oh, yeah, and also, don't be tired! Be on your way, and may your tiredness go away! Goodbye!’ You know, like, he’s almost just throwing it in there as a perfunctory way of being polite, maybe. Who knows!

Leyla: Yeah. Wonderful. Well, okay, so this is Clip Three, and, as you know, I will be doing one more lesson after this to go over these phrases a little bit more in depth, and we'll be back in the lesson after that with Yara for Clip Four. So thank you, Yara, and see you on Clip Four!

Yara: Yeah. Thank you so much, Leyla. Looking forward to it!