75938842-Farsi-Phrases.pdf

Farsi Phrases

English Farsi Phrases

Greeting Salam va ashnai

Hi! Salam

Good morning! Sobh bekheir

Good afternoon! Baad az zohr bekheir

Good evening! Asr bekheir

Welcome! (to greet someone) Khosh amadid

Hello my friend! Salam dooet e man

How are you? (friendly) Hal e shoma chetoor ast

How are you? (polite) Chetoori

I'm fine, thank you! Man khoobam ,mersi

And you? (friendly) Tu chetoori

And you? (polite) Va shoma

Good Khoob

Not so good Na kheili khoob

Long time no see Kheili vaghte ke too ra nadidam

I missed you Delam barat tang shoodeh

What's new? Cheh khabar

Nothing new Hich khabar

Thank you (very much)! Mersi,mamnoon,(kheili mamnoon)

You're welcome! (for "thank you") Khahesh mikonam

My pleasure Ba kamale meil

Come in! (or: enter!) Bia too!

Make yourself at home! Inja khaneh shomast

Farewell ExpressionsEstelahate rayej baraye

khodahafezi

Have a nice day! Rooze khoobi dashteh bashid


Good night! Shab bekheir

Good night and sweet dreams! Shab bekheir va khabhaye shirin

See you later! Baadan shoma ra bebinam

See you soon! Bezoodi shoma ra bebinam

See you tomorrow! Farda shoma ra bebinam

Good bye! Khodahafez

Have a good trip! Mosaferate khoobi dashteh bashid

I have to go Man bayad beravam

I will be right back! Barmigardam

Holidays and WishesBaraye kasi chizi arezoo kardan

Good luck! Moafagh bashid

Happy birthday! Tavaloodat mobarak

Happy new year! Sale noo mobarak

Merry Christmas! Krismass mobarak

Happy Eid Sale noo mobarak

Happy Nowrooz Eide shoma mobarak

Congratulations! Tabrikat

Enjoy! (or: bon appetit) Nooshejan

Bless you (when sneezing) Afiat bashad

Best wishes! Ba behtarin arezooha

Cheers! (or: to your health) Be salamati

Accept my best wishes Behtarin arezoohayemara bepazir

How to Introduce YourselfChetoorkhoodra moarefi konid

What's your name? Esme shoma chist

My name is (John Doe) Esme man ...ast

Nice to meet you! Azdidane shoma khoshhalam

Where are you from?Kojai hastid(ahle kodam keshvarhastid)


I'm from (the U.S/ Iran) Man ahle …(u.s.a/iran) hastam

I'm (American/ Iranian) Man amrikai/parsi hastam

Where do you live? Koja zendegi mikonid

I live in (the U.S/ Iran) Man dar(u.s.a) zendegi mikonam

Do you like it here? Aya anja ra doost darid?

Iran is a beautiful country Iran keshvarezibai ast

What do you do for a living? Shogle shoma chist?

I'm a (teacher/ student/ engineer)Shogle man (moalem,daneshjoo,mohandes)ast

Do you speak (English/ Persian)? Aya englisi parsi sohbat mikonid

Just a little Faghat yek kam

I like Persian Man zabane parsi ra doostdaram

I'm trying to learn PersianMan saay mikonam parsi yadbegiram

It's a hard language Zabane sakhti ast

It's an easy language An zabane asani ast

Oh! That's good! Ah!khoob ast

Can I practice with you?Aya mi tavanam ba shoma tamrin konam

I will try my best to learn Man say mikonam ke yad begiram

How old are you? Shoma chand sal darid?

I'm (twenty one, thirty two) years oldMan (bist o yek saleh,si o doo saleh)hastam

It was nice talking to you!Sohabat bashoma jalebbood(azsohbat ba shoma khoshhal shodam)

It was nice meeting you! Az didane shoma khoshhal shodam

Mr.../ Mrs. .../ Miss... Aghaye ...,khanome...,dooshizeh

This is my wife In hamsar e (zan e )man ast

This is my husband In shohare man ast

Say hi to Thomas for me Az tarfe man betomas salam


beresanid

Romance and Love PhrasesEshg

Are you free tomorrow evening? Aya farda asr vaght darid

I would like to invite you to dinnerMan mayelam shoma ra be sham davat konam

You look beautiful! (to a woman)Shoma khoshgel (ziba) hastid !baraye zan

You have a beautiful name Shoma esme zibai darid

Can you tell me more about you?Mishavad bishtar az khodetan begooid

Are you married? Aya ezdevaj kardehid?

I'm single Man mojarad hastam

I'm married Man moteahel hastam

Can I have your phone number?Aya mitavanam shomareh telephone shoma ra dashteh basham?

Can I have your email?Aya mitavanam e-maile shoma ra dashte basham

Do you have any pictures of you? Aya axi az khodatdari?

Do you have children? Aya farzanddarid?

Would you like to go for a walk?Doost darid ba ham ghadam bezanim?

I like youShoma ra doost daram(polite form)tu ra doost daram

I love you Man asheghe shoma hastam

You're very special! Shoma kheili makhsoos hastid

You're very kind! Shoma kheili mehraban hastid

I'm very happy Man kheili khoshhalam

Would you marry me?Aya meil darid ke ba man ezdevaj konid

I'm just kidding Shookhi mikonam

I'm serious Jedi migooyam


My heart speaks the language of loveGhalbam ba zabane eshgh sohbat mikonad

Solving a Misunderstanding Hale yek soetafahom

Sorry! (or: I beg your pardon!) Bebakhshid

Sorry (for a mistake) Bebakhshid

No problem! Mohem nist

Can you repeat please? Aya mitavanid tekrar konid

Can you speak slowly? Aya mitavanid yavash sohbat konid

Can you write it down? Ayamitavanid an ra benevisid?

Did you understand what I said? Aya motevajeh shodid

I don't understand! Motevajeh nemishavam

I don't know! Nemidanam

What's that called in Persian? Be farsi che mishavad

What does that word mean in English?An kalameh be englisi che mishavad?

How do you say "thanks" in Persian? Thank you 'be farsi che mishavad

What is this? In chist?

My Persian is bad Farsi man bad ast

Don't worry! Negaran nabash

I agree with you Man ba shoma movafegham

Is that right? Aya an dorost ast?

Is that wrong? Ayaan eshtabah ast?

What should I say? Che bayad begoyam?

I just need to practice Man faghat niaz be tamrin daram

Your Persian is good Farsi e shoma khoob ast

I have an accentMan lahjeh daram(manzoor in ast ke shoma nemitavanid begooid ke man irani hastam

You don't have an accentShoma lahje nadarid(manzoor:lahjeh shoma shabihe mast)

Asking for Directions Dar khaste komak va rah


porsidan

Excuse me! (before asking someone) Bebakgshid

I'm lost Man gom shodeham

Can you help me?Aya mitavanid be man komak konid?

Can I help you?Aya mitavanam be shoma komak konam?

I'm not from here Man ahle inja nistam

How can I get to (this place, this city)? Che tor mi tavanambe(in mahal,in shahr )beresam?

Go straight Mostaghim beravid

Then Baad az zohr bekheir

Turn left Be chap bepichid

Turn right Be rast bepichid

Can you show me? Aya mitavanid be man neshan dahid

I can show you! Mitavanam neshan daham!

Come with me!Ba man bia(friendly form),ba man biaid(polite form)

How long does it take to get there?Cheghadr tool mikeshad ta be anja beresam?

Downtown (city center) Markaze shahr

Historic center (old city) Markaze tarikhi

It's near here An nazdike injast

It's far from here An door az injast

Is it within walking distance? Aya piadeh mitavan be anja resid?

I'm looking for Mr. SmithMan be donbale aghaye esmith migardam

One moment please! Yek lahzeh lotfan

Hold on please! (when on the phone) Lotfan khat ra negah darid

He is not here Oo inja nist

Airport Roroodgah


Bus station Istgahe autobus

Train station Istgahe gatar

Taxi Tksi

Near Nazdik

Far Dour

Emergency Survival PhrasesUrgence va ebarate lazem baraye

ebgha

Help! Komak

Stop! Stop!

Fire! Atash!

Thief! Dozd!

Run! Bedo!

Watch out! (or: be alert!) Moazeb bash!

Call the police! Police raseda konid!

Call a doctor! Doktor ra seda konid!

Call the ambulance! Ambulance ra seda konid

Are you okay? Haletan khoob ast?

I feel sick Man mariz hastam

I need a doctor Man be doktor niaz daram

Accident Tasadof

Food poisoning Masmoumiate ghazi

Where is the closest pharmacy? Nazdiktarin daroukhaneh kojast

It hurts here Inja dard mikonad

It's urgent! In fori(urgence)ast

Calm down! Aram shoo

You will be okay! Tu khoub khahi shod

Can you help me? Aya mitavani be man komak koni?

Can I help you?Aya mitavanam be shoma komak konam?


Hotel Restaurant Travel PhrasesEbarat e marbout be safar va

hotel va restaurant

I have a reservation (for a room) Man yek(otagh) reserve kardeham

Do you have rooms available? Aya otaghe amadeh darid,

With shower / With bathroom Ba doush/ba hamam

I would like a non-smoking roomMayelam yek otaghe gheir sigari begiram

What is the charge per night? Kerayeh otagh shabi cheghadr ast

I'm here on business /on vacationMan baraye kar inja hastam/man baraye tatilat inja hastam

Dirty Kasif

Clean Tamiz

Do you accept credit cards? Aya carte credit ghaboul mikonid

I'd like to rent a car Mayelam yek machin ejareh konam

How much will it cost? Hazineh an cheghadr ast?

A table for (one / two) please! Yek miz baraye yek/do nafar

Is this seat taken? Aya in sandali ra gereftehand?

I'm vegetarian Man giahkhar hastam

I don't eat pork Man khook nemikhoram

I don't drink alcohol Man alkol neminousham

What's the name of this dish? Esme in gaza chist?

Waiter / waitress! Garson/khanom garson

Can we have the check please? Aya mitavanim menu ra bebinim?

It is very delicious! In besiar khoshmazeh ast

I don't like it Man in ra doost nadaram

Shopping Expressions Ebaratemarbout be kharid

How much is this? In cheh gheimat ast

I'm just looking Faghat mikhaham negah konam

I don't have change Man poole khoord nadaram

This is too expensive In besiar geran ast


Expensive Geran

Cheap Arzan

Daily Expressions Ebarate moorede estefadeh

What time is it? Saat cheghadr ast?

It's 3 o'clock Sa,at 3ast

Give me this! In ra be man bedahid

Are you sure? Aya motmaen hasti?hastid(polite)?

Take this! (when giving something) In ra begirid

It's freezing (weather) Havayakh zadeh

It's cold (weather) Hava sard ast

It's hot (weather) Hava garm ast

Do you like it? Aya an ra doust dari?

I really like it! Man vagha,an an ra doust daram!

I'm hungry Man gorosneh hastam

I'm thirsty Man teshneham

He is funny Ou khandehdarast

In The Morning Sobhvaght

In the evening Vaghte asr

At Night Vaghte shab

Hurry up! Ajale kon

Cuss Words (polite)

This is nonsense! (or: this is craziness) In bimani ast!

My God! (to show amazement) Khodaye man

What's wrong with you? Shoma ra cheh mishavad?

Are you crazy? Aya divaneh hasti,

Get lost! (or: go away!) Gom shoo!


Leave me alone! Man ra tanhabegzar!

I'm not interested! Man alaghemand nistam!

Writing a Letter

Dear John John e aziz

My trip was very nice Mosaferate man besiarkhoob bood

The culture and people were very interestingFarhang va mardom besiar jaleb boud

I had a good time with youMan vaghte khoobi ba shoma dashtam

I would love to visit your country againDoust daram keshvaretan ra doobareh bebinam

Don't forget to write me back from time to timeFaramoosh nakon keh bazi vaghtha beh man nameh bedahi

Short Expressions and wordsEbarat va estelahate kootah

Good Khoob

Bad Bad

So-so (or: not bad not good) Na khoob,na bad

Big Bozorg

Small Kouchak

Today Emrouz

Now Hala

Tomorrow Farda

Yesterday Dirooz

Yes Baleh

No Na khoob,na bad

Fast Tond,sari

Slow Yavash

Hot Garm

Cold Sard

This In besiar geran ast


That An door az injast

Here Inja dard mikonad

There Anja

Me (ie. Who did this? - Me)Man (bist o yek saleh,si o doo saleh)hastam

You Tou

Him Ou khandehdarast

Her Ou khandehdarast

UsMan (bist o yek saleh,si o doo saleh)hastam

Them Anha

Really? Vaghean

Look! Negah kon!

What? Cheh?

Where? Koja?

Who? Ki?

How? Chetor?

When? Key?cheh vaght?

Why? Chera?

Zero Sefr

One Yek

Two Doo

Three Seh

Four Chahar

Five Panj

Six Shesh

Seven Haft

Eight Hasht


Nine Noh

Ten Dah

Language Learning Tips

Overview: Imagine a language as a living thing where vocabulary is the body parts,

grammar is the brain, language resources are the muscles, and motivation is the

energy which makes that living thing work hard or not. To be able to use a language,

you need a body, a brain, some muscles, and energy.

Vocabulary is what most of the language is made of, you will need lots of that (around

3000 words is fair). To be able to use the vocabulary, you need grammar, which is the

brain that allows you to use and manipulate your vocabulary. You need some muscles:

language resources such as audio lessons, exercises, and practice can speed up your

learning process. Finally you need motivation, without it, any language could seem

difficult to learn.

Below are 4 of the most important elements in learning a language, with an

explanation to why that is. If you think other factors should be included too, please

comment at the bottom.

1) Vocabulary: Did you know that a native speaker of most languages of the world

only uses about 3000 to 5000 words? What's more, a native speaker uses only about

300 to 500 words on a daily basis, which are repeated over and over again. That

means, if you memorize around 3000 words, you will be able to say write and

understand more than 75% of the general conversations. If you memorize 33 words

per day, in 3 months you would have memorized 3000 word.

2) Grammar: This powerful tool allows you to manipulate the vocabulary you

already memorized. With it, you can structure the vocabulary to make proper

sentences, but it can also help you multiply the number of words you already know.

With a couple hundreds of words and a dozen grammar rules you can form thousands

of sentences simply by changing the order or adding prefixes and suffixes.

3) Language resources: The more adequate tools you have available to you, the faster

and better you learn. For example, if you listen to audio lessons, practice your

speaking and writing by chatting with native speakers every day is better than simply

learning from a book. You need to diversify your methods of learning. Reading,

listening, writing, all can help you practice and remember more.

4) Motivation: It is the energy that drives the whole process, without it, you will feel

like swimming against the current, and you will give up eventually. Motivation can

help you set goals and achieve them. If you say I should memorize 10 words a day for

the next 3 months, then, all you need is motivation, because it's not an impossible

goal, it's only a matter of passion for learning.

In short, you needs lots of vocabulary, a good number of grammar rules, adequate

language resources and motivation. You can improvise with the rest depending on the

language you're learning.

The Easiest Language to Learn

According to the U.S. State Department who groups languages for the diplomatic

service, the "easiest" languages for English speakers, are the ones usually requiring

600 hours of classwork for minimal proficiency. In this case they’re the Latin and

Germanic languages group. However, German itself requires more time, 750 hours to

be exact, because of its complex grammar.

English is also considered easy because it has no cases, no gender, no word

agreement, and arguably has a simple grammar. The language is everywhere and can

be heard, absorbed and used anywhere. It has short words, and verbs change only in

the third person. Native speakers are very forgiving of mistakes as so many people

speak it as a second language. This makes English one of the easiest foreign language

to learn.

Italian is easy to learn as well since it has no cases, with easy clear pronunciation, its

vocabulary is derived from Latin; therefore the vocabulary has congruencies

throughout the Indo-European Latin influenced world.

Spanish is one of the easiest foreign languages to learn. Much of its vocabulary is

similar to English, and written Spanish is almost completely phonetic. It is closely

similar to Italian, and therefore is also easy because its grammar and pronunciation are

relatively easy, also ubiquitous, everywhere.

French is not difficult to acquire since most of its words are also in the English

vocabulary. The availability to use and study French also make it seem an easy

language to learn.

Esperanto is also easy. It is written phonetically, as in Spanish. It is a constructed or

invented language and therefore has an advantage over natural languages when it

comes to ease of learning. One disadvantage to Esperanto is the small number of

speakers compared to natural languages like English, French, and Spanish. One

advantage is the friendliness that people show when they find you know a language

that is special to them.

Factors to be considered: other factors can make a language easier for you

personally to learn and therefore you should consider them to help you decide, here

they're:

1. Similarity to your mother tongue: a language closely related to your own,

and shares many grammatical and vocabulary common ground should be

easier, because you get free advantage. For example, a Persian speaker might

find Arabic easier to learn than Spanish, even though Arabic is considered to be

a hard language to learn.

2. Passion towards learning: If you're enthusiastic, any language could look

easy, or at least fun to learn. This in return makes memorization easier, and

allows for quick improvement.

3. Resources available to you: With the right tools, you can make quick progress

and therefore quick results. That includes audio lessons, grammar and

vocabulary resources, practice with the natives and so on and so forth.

You can also check our other articles about the Most Difficult Language to Learn and

the Best Language to Learn, or other important resources in many languages here:

Learn Languages. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

Comments:

http://mylanguages.org/difficult_languages.php

http://mylanguages.org/index.php

http://mylanguages.org/best_languages.php

Scandinavian languages ain't as easy to learn as u think! if u're a beginner and think

this when learning a language u are only underestimating it. Never underestimate a

language!! btw, I'm from norway, so for me danish and swedish seems just like a

dialect for me, so I can speak, write and understand most of it without any study ;P but

if u're new to these languages, just wait for the more advanced part. Norwegian isn't

even a 'complete developed' language! it's just a mix. even native speaker can have a

hard time since there so BIG differences between pronuncing word and written words,

plus there many many dialects.. like water is vann, in a dialect it's vatn (and that's just

a minor difference! some words doesn't even resemble each others!).. a word can

easily be misunderstood by the way u pronounce it.. anyway x) the simplicity of a

language depends, of course, on ur mother tongue. so for me it would be swedish and

danish and other languages in the germanic group. BUT I find english even easier than

my own native language! xD hehe

Posted by Line on Fri, February 4, 2011 7:46:32 PM

Answer at Paul: Swedish is not so easy to learn, believe me, I am Swedish, so I speak

Swedish fluently.

1. There is two words for the English an and a, en and ett. And there is millions of

rules about what is en and what is ett, and it's important because there is no Swedish

word for the, you add -en or -et in the end instead like: a girl - en tjej, the girl - tjejen.

And it's important to know because its plural in the other form...

2. Swedish grammar is very hard, because there is words in the grammar that doesnt

exist in english, like: som, att, man... but some grammar parts is really easy to.

3. And the hardest of them all, the melody, and thats very important because it can

mean different things, like: tómtèn- the santa claus, and tòmtèn- the garden (the accent

marks ment high tone=´, low tone =`.

But if you can master the swedish then you are good...

Posted by Gordon Spiegel on Tue, January 18, 2011 10:30:48 PM

I am mainly studying Swedish right now, and I have to say that it's a very simple

language. Once you get used to basic grammar rules, it' easy to form sentences. It's

especially easy if you know how to speak English.

Posted by Cinna on Sat, January 15, 2011 6:02:02 AM

English is easy to learn to speak badly. It's hard to learn to speak it well, because it has

so many exceptions and irregularities that you just have to memorize. Prepositions are

especially arbitrary, and the spelling is complex.

Posted by David W on Fri, January 7, 2011 2:45:14 PM

Easiest should be Norwegian and Swedish. As with the Vikings English got lots of

Scandinavian words and are also Germanic languages like English sharing the same

core words. On top of that its verbs, nouns and adjectives are in fact easier than in

English. They have not the difficult way of making questions or saying no in English

with the verb to do that is difficult to foreigners. All verbs work like "jeg er, du er, han

er...", that is, "I am, you are, he is...". Some sounds can be new to English speakers,

but they also exist in many other languages like German or French thus making it

more likely that you have heard them before and know how to say them.

The only problem could be the two tones, but there are only a few words made

different by tones that at the same time are easily kept apart by their context like

bønder and bønner. There are also lots of books, movies, courses, channels and more

to help you learn them.

Posted by Paul on Wed, November 10, 2010 11:53:49 PM

Creole (Haiti's "language") is easy because it is a patois or slang which by nature

would mean it was a very basic form of communication.If you have the time to learn

Creole do yourself a favor and learn French instead ,it will help you interact with a lot

more people in the long run-unless the only people you will be dealing with are

Haitians from the lower classes since Creole is all some of them can understand.

Posted by Monica on Fri, September 24, 2010 9:03:30 PM

Haitian is a very easy language to learn because it is written the same way it's read,

and also has simple grammar and short vocabulary.

Posted by Mosamba on 07/15/10, 7:09 PM

Most Difficult Language To Learn

Overview: Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese are said to be the hardest, based on the

approximate learning expectations compiled by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of

the US Department of State. Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian are also among the

hardest because of the countless noun cases. The Pronunciation is even harder than in

Asian languages as they usually have long tong twisting consonants. However the list

doesn't stop there.

This is a list of the 10 candidates, with an explanation why they made it to this list. If

you think other languages should be included too, please comment at the bottom.

1) Chinese: Many factors make Chinese very difficult to learn. For example the

characters (Hanzi) used in the writing system seem to be archaic and obscure. Every

word is a different symbol and it's not phonetic so it gives you no clues as to how it is

pronounced. The tone system also is a pain because Mandarin has four tones. One

other reason is, Mandarin has a large number of homophones. For example, the

pronunciation "shì" is associated with over thirty distinct morphemes. Some people try

to learn this language for that specific reason, being difficult and different.

2) Arabic: The first challenge is the script. Most of the letters have four different

forms, depending on where they stand in the word, also, vowels are not included when

writing. The sounds are tough, but the words are tougher. An English-speaking

student learning a European language will run across many familiar-looking words,

but English-speaking Arabic students are not so lucky. Arabic is a VSO language,

which means the verb usually comes before the subject and object. It has a dual

number, so nouns and verbs must be learned in singular, dual, and plural. A present-

tense verb has thirteen forms. There are three noun cases and two genders. The other

problem is dialects. Arabic spoken in Morocco is as different from Arabic spoken in

Egypt and from Modern Standard as French is from Spanish and Latin.

3) Tuyuca: a language of the eastern Amazon. Tuyuca has a sound system with

simple consonants and a few nasal vowels, so is not as hard to speak. However it is

heavily agglutinating. For example one word, "hóabãsiriga" means "I do not know

how to write". It has two words for "we", inclusive and exclusive. The noun classes

(genders) in Tuyuca’s language family (including close relatives) have been estimated

at between fifty and 140. Most fascinating is that Tuyuca requires verb-endings on

statements to show how the speaker knows something. Diga ape-wi means that "the

boy played soccer (I know because I saw him)". English can provide such

information, but for Tuyuca that is an obligatory ending on the verb. Evidential

languages force speakers to think hard about how they learned what they say they

know.

4) Hungarian: First of all, Hungarian has 35 cases or noun forms. That fact alone

makes it a candidate in this list. Hungarian is full of very expressive, idiomatic words,

and suffixes. The high amount of vowels and their deep-in-the throat sound makes it

very hard to speak as well. It takes more effort to learn it and maintain what you

learned then most other languages.

5) Japanese: One main reason why Japanese is so hard is that the written code is

different from the spoken code. Therefore, you can't learn to speak the language by

learning to read it, and vice versa. What's more, there are three different writing

systems to master. The kanji system uses characters borrowed from Chinese. Students

need to learn 10,000 to 15,000 of these characters through rote memorization; there

are no mnemonic devices to help. Written Japanese also makes use of two syllabary

systems: katakana for loan words and emphasis, and hiragana for spelling suffixes and

grammatical particles. The State Department allows its students three times as long to

learn Japanese as it does languages like Spanish or French.

6) Navajo: This fascinating language can be the most difficult as well. During World

War II, the language was used as a code in the Pacific War by bilingual Navajo code

talkers to send secure military messages over radio. This had the advantage of being

an extremely fast method of encrypted communication. The code was never broken by

the Japanese, who were mystified by the sounds they intercepted. Navajo was not

chosen as a code language only because it is very hard but also because there was no

published grammar or dictionary of the language and because native speakers were

readily available. Nearly everything that a language must do is done differently by

Navajo than by English. For example in English, we only mark one person on the

verb--third person singular, present tense (I read --> he reads) with a suffix. Navajo

marks all of the persons with a prefix on the verb.

7) Estonian: This language makes the list too. Estonian has a very rigid case system.

"Case" is a grammatical system under which words inflect based on their grammatical

function in a sentence. There are twelve cases in Estonian, more than two times the

number of cases that exist in most Slavic languages. Apart from the fact that Estonian

has many cases, this language is also hard because it has many exceptions in grammar

rules, also, many words mean several different things.

8) Basque is also up on top based on a study made by the British Foreign Office. The

Basque language has 24 cases. It is impossible to link Basque with any Indo-European

language. Basque is probably the oldest known spoken language in Europe. Basque is

called an agglutinative language, meaning it likes to use suffixes, prefixes and infixes,

so new words are frequently formed by adding a common tag onto the end or the

beginning or in the middle of a simpler word. Basque is synthetic, rather than analytic.

In other words, Basque uses case endings to denote relationships between words.

Basque doesn't just change the end of the verb, it changes the beginning too. In

addition to the Indo-European languages moods, Basque also has a few more moods

(ex. the potential) and, finally, Basque has a complex system of denoting subject,

direct object and indirect object - all of which are crammed into the verb itself.

9) Polish: This language has seven cases and Polish grammar has more exception than

rules. German for example has four cases all of which are logical. Polish cases

however seem to need more time and effort to learn the logical pattern (if any) or

rules; you might have to learn the entire language. Polish has seven cases and Polish

grammar has more exception than rules. German for example has four cases all which

are logical, Polish cases seem to have no pattern or rules; you have to learn the entire

language. Furthermore Polish people rarely hear foreigners speak their language, so

with no accent or regional variation, pronunciation must be exact or they will have no

idea what you are talking about.

10) Icelandic is a very hard language to learn because of its archaic vocabulary and

complex grammar. Icelandic kept all the old noun declension and verb conjugations.

Many Icelandic phonemes don't have exact English equivalents. The only way you

can learn them is by listening to recordings or to native speakers.

But here is something you should know. The more different a language is from your

own (in terms of characters, grammar ...) , the harder it might seem to you to learn it.

One more element should be considered in deciding which language is the most

difficult: whether a language follows a logical pattern in its grammar, for example, in

English, there is a general rule for creating plurals, adding "s" or "es". In Arabic on the

other hand, the plural is irregular most of the time and non-native students spend

much of their time learning how to use it.

Finally, one thing is certain, no matter how hard a language is, you really need three

things that are essential for learning it: adequate and appropriate learning resources,

understanding of the way you learn, and passion of learning.

You can also check our other articles about the Easiest Language to Learn and the

Best Language to Learn, or other important resources in many languages here: Learn

Languages. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

Comments:

Japanese shouldn't be on that list! It's not that hard! A language is as hard as u want it

to be ;D saying a languages is hard without knowing the language itself is wrong!

even if a part of a language takes more time than other parts to learn, doesn't mean it's

hard... x) I think korean then should swap places with japnese.. korean reading and

writing is easy, but orally speaking and understanding can be hard, while japanese is

just the opposite! ;P

Posted by Line on Fri, February 4, 2011 7:33:51 PM

When considering which foreign language would be easier or more difficult for

yourself, you must also remember that language is not only pronunciation but the

whole pattern of thinking and formuling thoughts. Therefore for example a person

from Estern Europe may find more difficult to learn assian or african languages,

whereas it will be easier with arabic family...I myself would put Nepali up tehre as

Hannah said...and Polish - do not get put off. I am sure if you will try and get it wrong

everybody will understand. There are many different accents in Polish and once you

learn how to read, you are one third way there! :)

Posted by Maya on Sat, January 22, 2011 10:34:27 PM

I think that Lithuanian language is also one of the hardest to learn, especially for

native English speakers. First of all, spelling and pronunciation is diffcult. Even

though the language is mostly phonemic, it takes a really long time to pronounce its

words correctly, it has many silent letters, also many rules and even more exceptions

to spelling. Lithuanian has a pitch accent and free, mobile stress in words. The

grammar is difficult as well. Word order is free in the sentence, and the same idea can

be expressed in many different ways. Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns have seven

cases. Lithuanian declension system is one of the most complicated systems among

modern Indo-European and modern European languages. The verb has 4 tenses, 3

conjugations, 3 moods, active and passive voice and the gerund. The language retains



http://mylanguages.org/best_languages.php

http://mylanguages.org/easy_languages.php

a rich system of participles, 13 altogether ( while English has only 2). Adjectives have

5 degrees of comparison. There are many more complicated features that make

Lithuanian hard to learn, not only for the foreign speakers but also for the natives.

Posted by Renata on Mon, November 29, 2010 7:51:08 PM

I really dispute the fact that a language can be the 'hardest' to learn. Isn't it all relative?

Does it not depend on your mother tongue? Yes, languages like Japanese might be

difficult for an English speaker. Here it says one of the reasons for the difficulty is the

writing systems, particularly the use of kanji- true, an English speaker might struggle

with it. But would it be such a struggle for say, a Chinese student who has already got

knowledge of these letters/symbols through their native tongue? It also says Polish is

difficult due to a case system (personally as a student of a cased language, I disagree

with cases being "difficult"- I adore them!). However, a speaker of another cased

language would again, not find it as difficult. And also, would Polish not be easier for

a speaker of another Slavic language such as Czech to learn than even English (which,

unsurprisingly on this site, scored top in the 'easiest' languages to learn). Estonian- a

Finn would find this easier to learn than perhaps an Indo-European language. Do I

need to continue?

My point- There is no such thing as the hardest language!

Posted by Gabriella on Wed, November 24, 2010 9:24:36 PM

I have to agree that Basque is difficult, but also because it has ergative which changes

the whole way we build sentences. All the Caucasian languages native to the Caucasus

(not imposed from outside) are also as difficult as Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian by

having many cases in several of them, plus special consonants, some can have six

word classes (as prefix) for verbs and on top of that both split ergativity (which is

even harder than in Basque) and one meets so many new words that are not related to

other languages.

The Inuit (previously Eskimo) languages like many native languages from the

Americas can have also special sounds, different features with lots of suffixes that are

new like their words that are usually unrelated to any other language and difficult to

pronounce as in Navajo and again ergativity.

The languages from other ethnic groups that have lived on their own for thousands of

years can be hard for outsiders to learn like aboriginal Australian and Newguinean

languages, Andaman islands, Burushaski (in Pakistan) or even the Khoisan languages

from Africa with their clicks. You can try on your own any of these languages I listed

here I be prepared to face real challenges! Any Indo-European language (like Spanish,

French or Russian) is really easy when compared to any of these exotic languages that

usually lack good learning books, newspapers, CD's radio or TV channels to hear or

read them.

Posted by Paul on Wed, November 10, 2010 11:39:03 PM

I think Nepali is also one of the hardst languages because there are many exeptions

and vowels to learn. You can write one symbol at least 10 ways!!! So I really think

that should be up there.

Posted by Hannah on Wed, November 3, 2010 11:00:48 PM

What about Czech and Uklrainian ? They also have seven cases.

If you think Polish is difficult, try to learn Sinhalese !

Posted by Jerzy on Sun, September 12, 2010 4:30:01 PM

I think Dutch should also be in the hardest 10 since we have numerous exceptions.

Also is it hard to form verbs correctly as we work with -d, -t or -dt.

Dutch is a very difficult language

Posted by Hanne on Wed, August 25, 2010 12:20:36 AM

Japanese people are expected to learn a bit more than 2000 kanjis (the jouyou kanjis)

before leaving high school, and many forget the least used ones. 3000 kanjis is the

level of knowledgeable Japanese people.

6000 is the best level of the Japanese kanjis test and is only for kanjis experts who like

reading medieval Japanese or something.

Even Chinese people do not need to read 10000 or 15000 kanjis!

Posted by Luke on Sat, August 21, 2010 12:48:18 AM

There are a few remaining Bolivians fluent in Kallawaya, a mysterious language

linked to the practice of healing rites. It is passed down culturally from adults to teen

healers. If you are not a linguist, you probably haven't heard of it. If you are anything

but a chosen healer, you will never get to use it, or even need it.

Posted by Reg on Fri, August 20, 2010 3:31:13 PM

If taken literally, the hardest languages for outsiders to learn would be those that are

currently unknown by outsiders, for example, Sentinelese. Sentinelese is completely

unattested, and no Sentinelese have had significant contact with outsiders for several

centuries, so it cannot be learned anywhere but on North Sentinel Island. However, it

is illegal for anyone to visit the island, and fishermen accidentally visiting have been

killed by the Sentinelese.

*I recommended the list above however.

Posted by Nathan on 07/15/10, 10:09 AM

Documents

75938842-Farsi-Phrases.pdf