3.8 Interrogative Sentence
“WH-“ QUESTIONS:
In this session
- You will learn what are WH questions in Persian
- You will learn how to use WH questions.
- You will learn how to answer WH questions.
In here, we’re going to talk about interrogative sentences in Persian. We know that there are two types of question. One is “Yes-No question,” which can be answered either in yes or no. For example, if I say, Am I a teacher? answer could be yes. Yes, I’m a teacher or no, I’m not a teacher.
To make “ WH” questions in English, you have to take several steps. So let’s take the sentence: My name is Saman. If I have to change this sentence to a “WH” question. First of all, I have to find an appropriate question word to replace “Saman” which I use “what?” So this is your second step. My name is what? Then you move “what” at the beginning of the sentence “what my name is.” And then auxiliary verb next to the “WH” words. So what and then “is” is moved next. So, “is my name.” These are the one, two, and three steps that you do in English to make a interrogative sentence.
However, in Persian language, if you have a sentence “Esme man Saman ast- اسم من سامان است” and want to make interrogative sentence! All You have to do is replacing the information with the appropriate question word. Now let’s have a look at all the question words. Who is “چه کسی” which are used for subject or agent. Whom “چی / چه کسی” And this can be used for indirect object or the beneficiary in a sentence. When is used for time, which is “چه موقع / چه وقت” Where is “کجا ” which is used for place? Whose is “چه کسی , Why is “چرا ” which is used for a reason. How is “چطور” and how much is “چند / چقدر. These are the question words that you have to keep in mind. Now in order to form interrogative/WH-interrogative, we have to replace the appropriate word in a sentence by using these question words. And that’s how you form WH questions in Persian.
| Uses | English | Persian |
| To find out the object of a verb | What | چه / چی/چه چیزی |
| To find out the subject (human) of a verb | Who | کی / چه کَسی |
| To find out beneficiary in a sentence | Whom | چه کَسی |
| For possession | Whose | مالِ کی؟/ مال چِه کَسی؟ |
| To select one | Which | کُدام؟ |
| For time | When | چه وقت؟/ چه موقِع؟/ کِی؟ |
| For place | Where | کُجا؟ |
| For reason | Why | چِرا؟ |
| For situation/condition and quality | How | چِطور؟ |
| For quantity | How many/much | چَند تا؟ چِقَدر؟ |
| For condition/ quality | How | چِطور؟ |
“WH” Question Formation
To form a Wh-question sentence, we should simply replace that part of
interrogative sentence by an appropriate question word.
For example:
| Question with…… | Sentence in Persian |
| او چه کسی است؟ who is he | او بابَک است He is Babak |
| این چیست؟ what is this | این میوه است this is fruit |
| من کُجایی هَستم؟ Where am I from | من ایرانی هَستَم. I am Iranian |
| تو چطور هَستی؟ How are you | حال تو خوب است. You are Well |
Look at the following sentence and pay attention to how we change the same positive sentence to question sentence by removing the information and replacing it with appropriate question word:
Today Mahan buys a notebook from bookstore ! .امروز ماهان از کتابفروشی یک دفتر می خرد-
when .کِی / چه وقت ماهان از کتابفروشی یک دفتر می خرد
whom/who امروز کی / چه کسی از کتابفروشی یک دفتر می خرد؟
where امروز ماهان از کجا یک دفتر می خرد؟
what امروز ماهان از کتابفروشی چه / چی/ چه چیزی میخرد؟
How manyامروز ماهان از کتابفروشی چند تا دفتر می خرد؟
why چرا امروز ماهان از کتابفروشی یک دفتر می خرد؟
Exercise 1:
Drag the words into the correct boxes:
As you know, in Persian , to form a “wh-” question sentence, we should simply replace that part of a sentence with an appropriate question word.
Remember: make sure to use the appropriate noun/ pronoun and matching verb ending.
For example:
| “Wh-” Question Sentence | Positive Sentence | ||
| What is this? | این چیه؟ / این چیست؟ | This is a fruit. | این میوه است / این میوه ست |
| Who i brother? | برادر تو چه کسی است؟/ برادر تو کیه؟ | Rakesh is my brother. | رامین برادر من است/ رامین برادر منه |
| Where am I from? | شما اهل کجا هستی ؟ / شما کجایی هستی؟ | I am from India. | من ایرانی هستم./ من ایرانی ام |
| Whose brother is Rakesh? | رامین برادر چه کسی است؟/ رامین برادر کیه؟ | Rakesh is my brother. | رامین برادر منه / رامین برادر من است |
| How are you? | حال تو چیه؟ | You are okay. | من خوبم. |
| How many students are here? | چند تا دانش آموز اینجا هستند؟ / چند تا دانش آموز انجاست؟ | Ten students are here. | ده تا دانش آموز اینجا هستند / ده تا دانش آموزاینجا اند. |
Exercise 2:
Please change the following positive sentences into WH-question/interrogative sentences.
Exercise 3:
Please read the following conversation and click on the question words.
Exercise 4:
Please choose the correct response of the following prompts.
Where are you from?
Nationality
The answer to “where are you from? ” can be either your nationality or the town you are from.
| English – | Persian ( People of the Country) | English | Persian ( The Country) |
| German | آلمانی | Germany | آلمان |
| American | آمریکایی | America | آمریکا |
| Afghan | افغانی | Afghanistan | افغانستان |
| English | انگلیسی | England | انگلیس |
| Iranian | ایرانی | Iran | ایران |
| Tajik | تاجیکی | Tajikistan | تاجیکستان |
| Turkish | ترک | Turkey | ترکیه |
| Canadian | کانادایی | Canada | کانادا |
To answer the nationality you use this formula: verb+ی+Name of the country +pro /noun←
| Answer | Question | ||
| من اهل کانادا هستم. | تو اَهلِ کجایی؟ | من ایرانی هستم. |
تو کجایی هستی؟ |
| او آمریکایی است. | او کجایی است؟ |
Exercise 5:
Clothing vocabularies:
| English | Transliteration | Persian | |
| tee shirt | teeshirt | تی شِرت | |
| Dress | peerahan | پیراهَن | |
| pants | shalvar | شَلوار | |
| socks | joorab | جوراب | |
| jean | jean/ lee | جین | |
| short | shalvarak | شَلوارَک | |
| underwear | lebaas zir | لِباس زیر | |
| head scarf | roosari | روسَری | |
| shoe | kafsh | کَفش | |
| shirt | bolooz | بُلوز | |
| gloves | dastkesh | دَستکِش | |
| hat | koolah | کُلاه | |
| tie | kerevaat | کِراوات | |
| Rain coat | baarani | بارانی | |
| men’s dressshirt | peeraahan mardaneh | پیراهن مردانه | |
| scarf | shaal | شال | |
| Suits | koat o shalvaar | کُت و شَلوار | |
| belt | kamar band | کَمَر بَند | |
| hand bag | keef e dasti | کیف دَستی | |
| tennis shoes | kafshe varzeshi | کَفش ورزَشی | |
Exercise 6:
Rules on Where are you from?
How do we say where we are from in Persian language?
In Persian to answer where are you from? اهل کجا هستی؟
You can answer base on your nationality or base on the city you are from.
to answer this question, there are 2 ways to answer:
1- من اهل ایران هستم ( if you use the word اهل=people from, you just name the city or country )
2-من ایرانی هستم ( if you just use the name of country or city with ی attach to it, then you should not use wordاهل)
Key Takeaways
- You can recognize “WH” questions in Persian
- You can use WH questions to ask questions.
- You Can answer WH questions.
!سپاس
