Days of the Week in Persian (Farsi)

In Iran the week begins on Saturday, which is Shanbe. Every other day is counted from it, the way English counts from the first day of a month. Here is the whole week in order, starting where a Persian calendar starts.

Say each name as one word. People write Yekshanbe, never Yek shanbe, and you say it in one breath. The stress falls near the end, so Doshanbe sounds like do-SHAN-beh.

Look at the names again. Yekshanbe is yek (one) plus Shanbe. Doshanbe is do (two) plus Shanbe. Seshanbe is se (three), Chaharshanbe is chahar (four) and Panjshanbe is panj (five). Each one says how many days have passed since Saturday.

That is the whole trick. If you know the numbers one to five, you can build Sunday to Thursday without a list. English gives you Wednesday, a name that has nothing to do with three or four. Persian gives you a count.

Two days do not follow the pattern. Shanbe is the starting point, so it has no number. Jome, Friday, also has no number, because it is the day off and sits outside the count.

Jome is the day of rest in Iran, and it is the day family gets together. Lunch is long, nobody is rushing and a plan made for Jome is usually a plan for the whole table. For many people Thursday is a short day or a day off as well, so Panjshanbe has a bit of the weekend about it.

That is why Jome and Panjshanbe come up most when someone makes an invitation. If a cousin says Jome, the invitation has usually started.

To ask the day, you ask how many Shanbe it is: Emruz chand shanbast? It means What day is it today? The answer is just the name of the day, so Doshanbe is a full reply.

The same words work for a plan. Add Khoobe at the end of a day and you have asked whether that day works. Add Ta in front of a day to say until that day, as in Ta chaharshanbe, see you Wednesday.

A week is a Hafte, and you can hear the word Haft, seven, inside it. One week is Ye hafte. Put Har (every) in front and you have a habit: Har hafte is every week, and Har jome is every Friday.

Har works with every day name in the same way. Har shanbe is every Saturday and Har rooz is every day. It is the quickest route from knowing the days to saying something about your own life.

Wednesday has one more claim to fame. Chaharshanbe Suri is the festival of fire held on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, just before Nowruz. People jump over small bonfires and make a wish. Learning Chaharshanbe means you can follow the name of the night before the new year.

Our guide to Nowruz covers the rest of that week and the greetings that go with it.