اول

What it means

اول (avval) means first, at first, initially, or the beginning. It comes from Arabic أوَّل (awwal), meaning first or foremost, and is among the most naturalized Arabic borrowings in Persian. As an adverb it opens sentences that describe what happened initially before something else, اول رفتم خونه بعد اومدم اینجا (avval raftam khune bad umadam injâ, first I went home, then I came here). As an adjective it describes position or rank: اول کلاس (avval-e kelâs) means top of the class. The informal spoken form is identical to the written form, making this one of the few Persian sequence words that needs no colloquial adaptation.

How to use it

• اول صبحانه بخور (avval sobhâne bokhor) “Eat breakfast first.”
• اول از همه رسیدم (avval az hame residam) “I arrived first of everyone.”
• اون اول قبول نمی‌کرد ولی بعداً راضی شد (un avval ghabol nemi-kard vali ba’dan râzi shod) “He did not accept it at first but agreed later.”
• اول کلاسه (avval-e kelâs-e) “He is the top student in the class.”

Cultural note

Rank and order matter visibly in Iranian social life. Being اول کلاس, first in class, is a mark of pride that families track carefully, and report cards recording rank among classmates are still standard in Iranian schools. The word اول also opens many formal announcements and numbered lists in both spoken and written Persian, functioning as the Persian equivalent of first of all or to begin with in English. Learners who master اول, دوم (dovvom, second), سوم (sevvom, third) gain immediate fluency in sequencing any explanation or story.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab