HSC Persian Continuers cheat sheet

Task structure: items are heard twice; candidates answer short English or Persian responses, so identify what language the response demands before the second playing.

Persian is written right to left and the script is Arabic-based; note that letters ک، گ، پ، چ exist only in Persian and mark Persian rather than Arabic vocabulary.

Register cue: formal speech uses شما and plural verb endings (-ید، -ند); informal speech uses تو، تو را/رو and contractions such as می‌خوام for می‌خواهم.

Numbers are read in Persian words; listen for units ordered before tens (بیست و پنج = 25) and for هزار as thousand in prices and dates.

Time expressions: ساعت هشت و نیم (8:30), ساعت هشت و ربع (8:15), ساعت هشت و چهل و پنج دقیقه (8:45); نیم means half past.

Discourse markers signal structure: اما (but), بنابراین (therefore), به نظر من (in my opinion), در واقع (in fact), اول/بعد/آخر (first/then/finally).

Politeness formulas carry function: خواهش می‌کنم (you're welcome/please), ببخشید (excuse me), ممکنه...؟ (could you...?), which often precede a request in dialogue items.

Inference rule: when a speaker answers with a question or a hedge such as شاید (maybe) or نمی‌دونم (I don't know), the intended meaning is uncertainty, not agreement.

Text types to recognise by layout: advertisement (bold price, imperative verbs), personal letter (dear/salutation سلام + closing با احترام), notice (short impersonal sentences), article (headline + paragraphs).

Verb tense identification drives comprehension: می‌روم present habitual, رفتم simple past, خواهم رفت future, رفته‌ام present perfect, داشتم می‌رفتم past progressive.

Ezafe construction links nouns to adjectives and possessors with an unwritten -e: کتابِ نو، خانهٔ من؛ the final ه is written as ۀ in خانهٔ.

Plural markers: -ها (inanimate, common), -ان (human and some inanimates: دانشجویان، کتاب‌ها), and Arabic broken plurals in formal texts (مطالب، اخبار).

Pronoun suffixes attach to nouns, verbs and prepositions: -م، -ت، -ش، -مان، -تان، -شان, e.g. کتابم (my book), به من/به‌ام.

Negation and prohibition: نمی- negates present (نمی‌روم), نـ negates past (نرفتم), and نه/نـ alone marks prohibition (نرو = don't go).

Cause and result connectors: چون/زیرا (because), بنابراین/پس (therefore), اگر... پس (if... then); locate the result clause to answer 'why' questions.

Comparison forms: از...تر (bigger than), ترین superlative (بزرگ‌ترین), and equative به اندازهٔ (as big as); identify the compared items before choosing an answer.

Script mechanics: Persian writes right to left; letters connect within words but the seven non-connectors (ا د ذ ر ز ژ و) do not join to the following letter.

Punctuation differs from English: comma is ، and question mark is ؟; quotation marks «» are standard, and full stop is the same .

Sentence order is Subject–Object–Verb: من دیروز کتاب را خریدم; the object marker را follows a definite direct object.

Formal written register uses می‌خواهم، می‌روم and full verb endings; colloquial forms (می‌خوام، می‌ره) belong in dialogue or informal letters only.

Text-type conventions: letter opens with سلام/با سلام and closes with با احترام، [name]; a notice uses short impersonal sentences; a diary uses first person and past tense.

Cohesion devices for extended writing: اول (first), سپس/بعد (then), علاوه بر این (moreover), در نتیجه (as a result), در پایان (finally).

Word-count control: plan paragraph topics before writing; each paragraph should develop one idea with a topic sentence, one supporting detail and a linking phrase.

Common agreement errors to avoid: subject–verb matching in number (آن‌ها رفتند not رفت), and adjective following noun with ezafe (مدرسهٔ بزرگ).