What it means
اجاره (ejâre) means rent or lease, specifically the contractual arrangement of paying to use property, land, or an asset owned by someone else. The word came into Persian from Arabic, where إِجَارَة (ijâra) carries the same sense. In everyday speech اجاره refers almost exclusively to housing and property rental. Its close counterpart is کرایه (kerâye), which covers both property rent and transport fares, but اجاره is the formal, contract-level term you will see in a lease document. You pay اجاره ماهانه (ejâre-ye mâhâne), meaning monthly rent, to your landlord.
How to use it
- اجاره این آپارتمان ماهی چند تومنه؟ (ejâre-ye in âpârtmân mâhi chand tomane?) “How much is the rent on this apartment per month?”
- قرارداد اجاره رو امضا کردیم. (qarârdâd-e ejâre ro emzâ kardim.) “We signed the lease agreement.”
- صاحبخونه اجاره رو بالا برد. (sâhebkhune ejâre ro bâlâ bord.) “The landlord raised the rent.”
- خونه رو اجاره دادیم. (khune ro ejâre dâdim.) “We rented the house out.”
Cultural note
In Iran, rental contracts almost always involve two separate payments: رهن (rahn), a large refundable deposit, and اجاره (ejâre), the monthly rent. Tenants and landlords often negotiate the balance between the two, exchanging a higher رهن for a lower monthly اجاره and vice versa. This rahn-plus-ejâre system is deeply embedded in the Iranian housing market and differs from simple monthly-rent models common elsewhere. Rising اجاره costs in Tehran and other major cities have been a significant social and political topic in recent years.