اینقدر

What it means

اینقدر (inqadr) means “this much,” “so much,” or “to such a degree.” The word is mixed: این (in) is pure Persian “this,” and قدر (qadr) is Arabic “amount, measure, worth.” Together they emphasize quantity or intensity. The matched form for “that much” is آنقدر (ânqadr), spoken as اونقدر (unqadr).

In casual speech you will hear it shortened to اینقد (inqad) or انقد (enqad). The dropped ر is normal Tehrani contraction.

How to use it

• اینقدر خسته بودم! (inqadr khaste budam!) “I was THIS tired!”
• چرا اینقدر دیر کردی؟ (cherâ inqadr dir kardi?) “Why are you so late?”
• اینقدر غذا نخور (inqadr ghazâ nakhor) “Don’t eat that much food”
• اینقدر که فکر می‌کنی سخت نیست (inqadr ke fekr mikoni sakht nist) “It’s not as hard as you think”
• اونقدر دوستش داره! (unqadr dustesh dâre!) “She loves him so much!”
• اینقدر سرد بود که لرزیدم (inqadr sard bud ke larzidam) “It was so cold that I shivered”

The intensifier function

Inqadr is the main spoken-Persian intensifier. Where English would say “so tired,” “so late,” “such a lot,” Persian usually reaches for inqadr or its sibling unqadr. The word can carry positive emphasis, frustration, exasperation, or wonder, depending on tone.

اینقدر خوبه! (inqadr khube!) means “It’s so good!” with happy tone. اینقدر بد بود! (inqadr bad bud!) means “It was so bad!” with the same word doing opposite emotional work. The intensifier is neutral; the speaker provides the color.

The comparison structure

Inqadr also opens comparison clauses with که (ke) “that.” اینقدر گرسنه بودم که سه پرس خوردم (inqadr gorosne budam ke se pors khordam) “I was so hungry that I ate three portions.” This is one of the highest-frequency clause builders in spoken Persian. Iranians use it the way English uses “so… that…” constructions, but more often.

Inqadr vs unqadr

The split mirrors English “this much” vs “that much,” but Persian uses unqadr much more loosely. اونقدر often stretches to mean a vague “so much” without any pointing function, where English would just say “so.” In real speech the two are nearly interchangeable when emphasizing quantity, and Iranians switch between them based on rhythm more than logic.

Related words

• آنقدر / اونقدر (ânqadr / unqadr) “that much”
• چقدر (cheqadr) “how much”
• قدر (qadr) “amount, worth”
• هر قدر (har qadr) “however much”

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab