را با پدرم درس می خونم
For this week's culture blog, I had a goftagu with my dad about the use of "را" in Farsi and the way he subconsciously employs it when he is speaking. My dad cannot read or write Farsi and doesn't know anything about grammar constructions in Farsi, as he never had formal instruction or class on Farsi. I would say sentences to him with an without "را" and see if he recognized the need for "را" in the sentences that lacked it. I also asked him to translate some sentences from English to Farsi to hear if he would add "را". He subconsciously employed the ezafe for "را" to words to make them grammatically correct and it was really interesting to hear his subconscious addition of "o" sounds. I'd never noticed the addition of vowels to the ends of some words and after class on Thursday I wanted to see if I could pin point when he added "را" and how it sounded when a native speaker said it. Previously, I would get confused and find it difficult to distinguish words in a sentence because the addition of "را" made all words in the sentence blend together.
Afterwards I pointed out to my dad the instances he used "را" and explained how there was no direct English equivalent. He found it really interesting to examine his own speech and recognize a grammatical pattern he didn't even know existed. Learning about "را" and using it in different contexts and sentences has made it easier to comprehend what my dad and other family members are saying, as it made the distinction between words more clear. I also think it is really cool to see the ways native speakers employ grammatical rules without knowing they exist and that they're able to identify when to use them and when not to.
لورن
