What it means
از آب درآوردن (az âb dar âvardan) is a native Persian verb phrase built from آب (âb, “water”) and درآوردن (dar-âvardan, “to bring out, to extract”). The image is of pulling something submerged to the surface. Idiomatically it means to manage to achieve something, to pull something off, or to make a plan succeed despite uncertainty. It is used in both positive contexts, “we managed to make it work,” and sarcastic ones, “yeah, great job pulling that off.” A close synonym in everyday speech is جور درآوردن (jur dar-âvardan).
How to use it
- آخرش از آب درآورد! همه فکر میکردن شدنی نیست. (âkhareš az âb dar-âvard! hame fekr mikardan šodani nist.) “He finally pulled it off! Everyone thought it was impossible.”
- این پروژه رو چطور از آب درآوردی؟ (in porože ro chetour az âb dar-âvardi?) “How did you manage to pull this project off?”
- نمیدونم این کار رو چطور از آب در بیاریم. (nemidunam in kâr ro chetour az âb dar biârim.) “I have no idea how we are going to pull this off.”
- با این بودجه کم از آب درآوردن معجزهست. (bâ in budje kam az âb dar-âvardan mo’jezast.) “Pulling this off with such a small budget is a miracle.”
Cultural note
The phrase reflects a pragmatic streak in Persian colloquial speech: the focus is on outcome, not method. Whether the process was elegant or chaotic matters less than the fact that it worked. For this reason از آب درآوردن is often used with a hint of relief or grudging respect. It is entirely at home in casual conversation and unlikely to appear in formal written Persian.