One of the things that we do a lot is that we talk about the time. Probably the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is to check what time it is. So, when learning a new language asking about time and talking about time is what most of us would want to learn soon. Today, we will teach you how to ask and answer about time in Dari.

Time related vocabulary:

دقیقه  daqeeq/daqa means “minute”, it is usually pronounced as daqa.

بجه   baja : O’clock

کم    kam  : less

و     wa/o means “and”, it is usually pronounced as “o” when not in the beginning of a sentence or phrase.

ثانیه  sania : second

نیم neem :half

یک  yak  :one

پنج  Panj  : five

ده  da       : ten

To ask what time it is, we use the   sentence: چند بجه است؟    Chand baja ast “what time is it?”

And here are some answers:

یک بجه است. Yak baja ast.   It is one o’clock.

as you can see, in order to say a different time, all you need to do is to change the number. For example, to say “It is five o’clock.” You need to replace the word yak “one” with the word Panj “five” in the example above.

پنج بجه است.  Panj baja ast. It is five o’clock.

پنج و ده دقیقه است.   Panj o da daqeeqa ast. It is ten past five. The Dari version literally translates as “ It is five and ten minutes.” As you can notice, in the sentence above we only use the word daqeeqa “minute” and this is because the last number in the sentence refers to minutes.

ده کم یک بجه است.   Da kam yak baja ast.   It is ten minutes to one. The Dari version laterally means “ It is ten less one o’clock.”

یک و نیم بجه است.    Yak o neem baja ast. It is haf past one.

We have taught you how to say the numbers in Dari in our previous blog post. By knowing the numbers, you will be able to say any time.  Here are some examples you can practice and leave your answers in the comment area.

12:30      11:03     9:50      7:00