استدلال کردن

What it means

استدلال کردن (estedlal-kardan) means to argue, to reason, to construct an argument from premises to a conclusion. It is the verb form of استدلال (estedlal, reasoning, argumentation), and it carries the same technical, formal weight. A lawyer estedlal-konad before the judge, an MP estedlal-konad before a vote, an economist estedlal-konad in a policy paper.

The verb is not synonymous with بحث کردن (bahs-kardan, to discuss, to debate). Bahs-kardan is the social act of exchanging views back and forth, often loud and unstructured. Estedlal-kardan is the disciplined work of presenting a chain of reasoning. You can do one without the other: a lawyer can estedlal-konad in writing without any bahs ever happening, and two friends can bahs-konand for an hour without either of them ever doing real estedlal-kardan.

Compound verb structure

Estedlal-kardan combines the Arabic-origin noun استدلال (estedlal, reasoning) with the Persian light verb کردن (kardan, to do). Conjugation lives in کردن: استدلال می‌کنم (estedlal mikonam, I argue), استدلال کرد (estedlal kard, he argued), استدلال خواهد کرد (estedlal khahad kard, he will argue). The noun استدلال stays fixed. The verb often takes a که (ke, that) clause for the content of the argument: “استدلال کرد که قانون نقض شده” (estedlal kard ke qanun naqz shode, he argued that the law had been violated).

How to use it

vakil estedlal kard ke movakkelash bigonah-e.

The lawyer argued that his client was innocent.

وکیل استدلال کرد که موکلش بی‌گناه است.

nemitooni faqat ehsasi harf bezani, bayad estedlal koni.

You can’t just speak emotionally, you have to reason.

نمی‌تونی فقط احساسی حرف بزنی، باید استدلال کنی.

tu in maqaleh nevisande be khubi estedlal mikoneh ke ravabet-e diplomatik bayad barqarar besheh.

In this article the author argues well that diplomatic relations should be restored.

تو این مقاله نویسنده به خوبی استدلال می‌کنه که روابط دیپلماتیک باید برقرار بشه.

Where it comes from

Estedlal is Arabic-origin, the form X verbal noun of دلّ (dalla, to indicate, prove) on the root d-l-l (د ل ل). The form X استفعال pattern carries the sense of “seeking, drawing out”: estedlal is “the drawing out of evidence, the act of arguing from indications.” The same root gives دلیل (dalil, reason, evidence) and دلالت (dalalat, signification). The verb estedlal-kardan was built in Persian by pairing the Arabic noun with the native light verb, a productive pattern that gave Persian most of its formal vocabulary for cognitive acts (تحلیل کردن tahlil-kardan, تفکر کردن tafakkor-kardan, مطالعه کردن motale-e-kardan).

In our voice

Estedlal-kardan is the verb of serious public discourse. Use it in writing, in formal speech, in academic settings. In a casual conversation about a movie or a soccer match, reach for bahs-kardan instead. Mixing the registers (using estedlal-kardan with your cousin over dinner) will mark you as either pompous or a graduate student. Both are recoverable.

References

• Dehkhoda, استدلال
• Vajehyab, استدلال