Vocabulary
Family comes up in almost every conversation in Tehran. Within minutes of meeting someone, you are likely to be asked whether you are married, whether you have children and how your parents are. This page gives you the Persian words for family and people that you need to answer, with the spoken Tehrani form first and the written form noted where it differs.
Persian is more precise than English about relatives. There is no single word for “aunt” or “uncle”: the word changes depending on whether they are on your father’s or your mother’s side, and cousins are named after the aunt or uncle they belong to. It sounds like a lot to learn, but the system is completely regular once you see it.
Close family
Children and adults alike say bâbâ and mâmân in everyday speech; pedar and mâdar are a little more formal, and are what you use when talking about someone else’s parents politely.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| خانواده | khânevâde | family |
| پدر | pedar | father |
| بابا | bâbâ | dad |
| مادر | mâdar | mother |
| مامان | mâmân | mum |
| پدر و مادر | pedar-o mâdar | parents |
| بچه | bache | child, kid |
| پسر | pesar | son; boy |
| دختر | dokhtar | daughter; girl |
| برادر | barâdar | brother |
| داداش | dâdâsh | brother (informal, affectionate) |
| خواهر | khâhar | sister |
| آبجی | âbji | sister (informal, affectionate) |
| شوهر | shohar | husband |
| زن | zan | wife; woman |
| خانم | khânum (written: khânom) | wife (more polite than zan); lady; Mrs |
| همسر | hamsar | spouse (formal) |
| تک‌فرزند | tak-farzand | only child |
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins
Here is the system: your father’s brother is عمو amu and his sister is عمه amme; your mother’s brother is دایی dâyi and her sister is خاله khâle. To say “cousin”, put پسر pesar (son) or دختر dokhtar (daughter) in front: pesar-amu is the son of your paternal uncle, dokhtar-khâle the daughter of your maternal aunt, and so on. Aunts and uncles by marriage work the same way with zan (wife) and shohar (husband).
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| پدربزرگ | pedarbozorg | grandfather |
| بابابزرگ | bâbâbozorg | grandad (informal) |
| مادربزرگ | mâdarbozorg | grandmother |
| مامان‌بزرگ | mâmânbozorg | grandma (informal) |
| نوه | nave | grandchild |
| عمو | amu | uncle (father’s brother) |
| عمه | amme | aunt (father’s sister) |
| دایی | dâyi | uncle (mother’s brother) |
| خاله | khâle | aunt (mother’s sister) |
| پسرعمو | pesar-amu | cousin (son of your father’s brother) |
| دخترعمه | dokhtar-amme | cousin (daughter of your father’s sister) |
| پسردایی | pesar-dâyi | cousin (son of your mother’s brother) |
| دخترخاله | dokhtar-khâle | cousin (daughter of your mother’s sister) |
| زن‌عمو | zan-amu | aunt (wife of your father’s brother) |
| شوهرخاله | shohar-khâle | uncle (husband of your mother’s sister) |
| برادرزاده | barâdarzâde | nephew or niece (brother’s child) |
| خواهرزاده | khâharzâde | nephew or niece (sister’s child) |
| فامیل | fâmil | relatives; also surname in everyday speech |
| فک و فامیل | fak-o fâmil | the whole extended family (informal) |
Marriage and in-laws
In-laws are also built from simple pieces: pedar + shohar gives pedarshohar, a woman’s father-in-law, while a man’s father-in-law is pedarzan. Two words have no English equivalent at all: jâri and bâjenâgh.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| ازدواج | ezdevâj | marriage |
| عروسی | arusi | wedding |
| عروس | arus | bride; daughter-in-law |
| داماد | dâmâd | groom; son-in-law |
| نامزد | nâmzad | fiancé, fiancée |
| مجرد | mojarrad | single, unmarried |
| طلاق | talâgh | divorce |
| پدرشوهر | pedarshohar | father-in-law (husband’s father) |
| مادرشوهر | mâdarshohar | mother-in-law (husband’s mother) |
| پدرزن | pedarzan | father-in-law (wife’s father) |
| مادرزن | mâdarzan | mother-in-law (wife’s mother) |
| برادرشوهر | barâdarshohar | brother-in-law (husband’s brother) |
| خواهرزن | khâharzan | sister-in-law (wife’s sister) |
| جاری | jâri | the wives of two brothers, to each other |
| باجناق | bâjenâgh | the husbands of two sisters, to each other |
People in general
You will hear آقا âghâ and خانم khânum all day long: they mean “Mr” and “Mrs” before a name (âghâ-ye Ahmadi, khânum-e Ahmadi) and “sir” and “madam” on their own.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| آدم | âdam | person, human being (everyday word) |
| مرد | mard | man |
| آقا | âghâ | Mr; sir; gentleman |
| نی‌نی | nini | baby (informal) |
| جوون | javun (written: javân) | young person; young |
| پیرمرد | pirmard | old man |
| پیرزن | pirzan | old woman |
| مردم | mardom | people (in general) |
| دوست | dust | friend |
| رفیق | rafigh | mate, close friend |
| همسایه | hamsâye | neighbour |
| همکار | hamkâr | colleague |
| همکلاسی | hamkelâsi | classmate |
| مهمون | mehmun (written: mehmân) | guest |
| میزبان | mizbân | host |
| غریبه | gharibe | stranger |
Tehran tip: Tehranis use family words for people who are not family at all. A child will call any friendly adult man amu and any woman khâle, young men call each other dâdâsh, and a shopkeeper may address an older customer as mâdar or pedar-jân. It is a sign of warmth, not confusion.
Talking about your family
To say “my brother” or “your son”, add the possessive endings from Lesson 11: barâdaram (my brother), pesaretun (your son, polite). Ages use sâl (year) with the same endings: si sâlame means “I’m thirty”, literally “it is thirty years of mine”.
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| چند تا بچه دارید؟ | chand tâ bache dârid? | how many children do you have? |
| خواهر و برادر دارید؟ | khâhar-o barâdar dârid? | do you have brothers and sisters? |
| ازدواج کردید؟ | ezdevâj kardid? | are you married? (literally “have you married?”) |
| ازدواج کردم | ezdevâj kardam (written: ezdevâj karde-am) | I’m married |
| مجردم | mojarradam | I’m single |
| برادر بزرگم | barâdar-e bozorgam | my older brother |
| خواهر کوچیکم | khâhar-e kuchikam | my younger sister |
| چند سالتونه؟ | chand sâletune? | how old are you? (polite) |
| سی سالمه | si sâlame | I’m thirty |
| سلام برسونید | salâm beresunid (written: salâm beresânid) | give my regards (to your family) |
Example sentences
| Persian | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| این برادرمه | in barâdarame | this is my brother |
| دو تا پسر و یه دختر دارم | do tâ pesar-o ye dokhtar dâram | I have two sons and a daughter |
| خاله‌م تو شیراز زندگی می‌کنه | khâlam tu Shirâz zendegi mikone | my aunt (mum’s sister) lives in Shiraz |
| پدر و مادرتون خوبن؟ | pedar-o mâdaretun khuban? | are your parents well? |
| تک‌فرزندم | tak-farzandam | I’m an only child |
| اسم پسرتون چیه؟ | esm-e pesaretun chiye? | what’s your son’s name? |
| آخر هفته خونه‌ی مادربزرگم هستیم | âkhar-e hafte khune-ye mâdarbozorgam hastim | we’re at my grandmother’s house at the weekend |
| پسرعموم مهندسه | pesar-amum mohandese | my cousin is an engineer |