فرض

What it means

فرض (farz) has two distinct but related lives in Persian. In everyday speech it means assumption or supposition: فرض کن (farz kon) means let’s suppose or imagine that, and فرضاً (farzan) means hypothetically or for the sake of argument. These are extremely common in conversation, used to set up a scenario or a thought experiment. In Islamic religious usage, فرض refers to an act that is obligatory, one that must be performed and whose omission carries a sin: نماز فرض (namâz-e farz) is obligatory prayer as distinct from voluntary prayer. The two meanings connect through the Arabic root ف-ر-ض (f-r-z), which carries the sense of something prescribed, stipulated, or assumed to be the case.

How to use it

• فرض کن پول داشتی (farz kon pul dâshti) “Suppose you had money.”
• فرضاً این کارو کردی (farzan in kâr-o kardi) “Hypothetically, if you did this.”
• نماز فرضه (namâz farz-e) “Prayer is obligatory.”
• این فرض درسته؟ (in farz dorosti?) “Is this assumption correct?”

Cultural note

فرض کن is one of the most useful phrases for Iranians in arguments, storytelling, and teaching. Speakers use it constantly to walk someone into a hypothetical scenario before making a point, and it has the same rhetorical weight as the English let’s say or imagine for a moment. The religious sense remains very much alive in daily language: Iranians who practice Islam distinguish clearly between فرض duties, which must be done, and نافله (nâfele), the optional acts that earn extra reward but are not required.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab