What it means
دفعه (daf’e) means “time” or “occurrence” when counting how many times something happens. It comes from the Arabic word دفعة (daf’a), which originally referred to a push, a batch, or an installment. In Persian it kept the sense of “one occurrence.” In formal or written Persian you are more likely to see بار (bâr) or مرتبه (martabe) doing the same job, but in everyday spoken Persian, دفعه dominates casual conversation. A close synonym is دور (dour) in some regional dialects, though دفعه is by far more universal across Tehran and diaspora speech.
How to use it
- چند دفعه بهت گفتم. (chand daf’e behet goftam.) “I told you several times.”
- این دفعه اشتباه نکن. (in daf’e eshtebaah nakon.) “Don’t make a mistake this time.”
- یه دفعه دیدمش تو مترو. (ye daf’e didamesh too metro.) “I saw him once on the metro.”
- دفعه اول بود که اونجا رفتم. (daf’e aval bood ke ounjâ raftam.) “It was the first time I went there.”
Cultural note
Iranians use دفعه so naturally in speech that switching to the more formal مرتبه in a casual conversation can sound stiff or even sarcastic. In Tehran slang you will also hear the emphatic phrase “چند دفعه” (chand daf’e) used with a rising tone to mean “how many times do I have to say this,” signaling mild exasperation. In written Persian, news articles and official texts prefer بار or مرتبه, so spotting دفعه in a text is usually a reliable sign the register is conversational.