Lesson 17: Time, Days and the Persian Calendar

Telling the time

Persian	Say it	English
ساعت چنده؟	sâ’at chande?	what time is it?
ساعت سه	sâ’at se	three o’clock
سه و نیم	se-o-nim	half past three
سه و ربع	se-o-rob’	quarter past three
یه ربع به چهار	ye rob’ be chahâr	quarter to four
صبح	sobh	morning
ظهر	zohr	noon
عصر	asr	late afternoon
شب	shab	night

Days of the week

The Iranian week starts on Saturday, and Friday is the weekly day off. Most days are simply numbered from Saturday.

Persian	Say it	English
شنبه	shanbe	Saturday
یکشنبه	yekshanbe	Sunday
دوشنبه	doshanbe	Monday
سه‌شنبه	seshanbe	Tuesday
چهارشنبه	chahârshanbe	Wednesday
پنجشنبه	panjshanbe	Thursday
جمعه	jom’e	Friday
امروز	emruz	today
فردا	fardâ	tomorrow

The Persian calendar

Iran uses the solar hijri calendar. The year begins at Nowruz, on the spring equinox around 20 or 21 March, and the year 1405 began in March 2026. The months follow the seasons: the first six have 31 days, the next five have 30 and the last has 29, or 30 in a leap year.

Persian	Say it	Roughly
فروردین	Farvardin	late March to April
اردیبهشت	Ordibehesht	April to May
خرداد	Khordâd	May to June
تیر	Tir	June to July
مرداد	Mordâd	July to August
شهریور	Shahrivar	August to September
مهر	Mehr	September to October
آبان	Âbân	October to November
آذر	Âzar	November to December
دی	Dey	December to January
بهمن	Bahman	January to February
اسفند	Esfand	February to March

Tehran tip: Official documents, receipts and bills in Iran use Persian dates. If a form asks for your date of birth, people may expect it in the Persian calendar; any converter will do the sum for you.

Practise

1. Say “quarter past five” and “half past eight”.
2. Which month starts the Persian year, and when?

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