امسال packs “this year” into one word. The first time-word that pins your sentences to the present.
What it actually means
امسال (emsâl) means “this year” – the current calendar year, from the speaker’s point of view. It is built from ام (em, a demonstrative “this”) plus سال (sâl, “year”), fused into a single word. The same pattern produces امروز (emruz, today) and امشب (emshab, tonight). امسال is one of the most frequent time-words in spoken Persian, used to compare the present year against last year (پارسال) or against next year (سال آینده).
How to say it
Formal (نوشتاری): امسال or سال جاری · emsâl / sâl-e jâri · “this year / the current year”
Colloquial (محاوره): امسال · emsâl · same form
سال جاری (sâl-e jâri) appears in news, government documents, and academic writing. In conversation, امسال is universal across registers.
In a sentence
- امسال زمستان کوتاه بود. · emsâl zemestân kutâh bud. · This year winter was short.
- امسال ایران نمیروم. · emsâl irân nemiravam. · I’m not going to Iran this year.
- امسال نوروز چه برنامهای داری؟ · emsâl nowruz che barnâme-i dâri? · What plans do you have for Nowruz this year?
Cultural note
For Iranians, امسال is anchored to the solar year that began at the previous Nowruz, not to January 1. If you ask an Iranian in October “امسال چطور بود؟” (how has this year been?), they are mentally reviewing the months since the previous March. This is one of the small but real ways Iranian time differs from Gregorian time, even for Iranians who use both calendars daily. The phrasing also carries weight in poetry and song: امسال or این سال is often a meditation on what the year brought before it ended at Nowruz.
Related
Pair this word with پارسال (last year) and فردا (tomorrow). For the broader system see Persian time-words guide.
References
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