What it means
قرارداد (qarârdâd) means a contract or formal agreement between two or more parties. The word is a compound of two parts: قرار (qarâr), which comes from Arabic and means a settled decision or arrangement, and داد (dâd), the pure Persian past stem of دادن meaning to give. Together they convey the idea of establishing and delivering an agreement. It is the standard word for any legal contract, from an employment agreement to a lease, a business deal, or a government tender. A common synonym in more colloquial or administrative contexts is پیمان (peymân), though قرارداد is far more common in written documents.
How to use it
- قرارداد امضا کردیم. (qarârdâd emzâ kardim.) “We signed the contract.”
- قراردادش تموم شده. (qarârdâdash tamoom shode.) “His contract has ended.”
- میخوام قرارداد ببندیم. (mikhâm qarârdâd bebandim.) “I want us to draw up a contract.”
- قرارداد کاری داری؟ (qarârdâd-e kâri dâri?) “Do you have a work contract?”
Cultural note
In Iran, many workers, especially in the private sector, are hired on short-term قرارداد موقت (qarârdâd-e movaqat), temporary contracts, rather than permanent employment. These are often renewed every three to twelve months, a practice that keeps employees from accumulating the legal protections that come with permanent status under Iranian labour law. Advocacy groups and labour unions have long criticised this system. The phrase قرارداد سفید امضا (qarârdâd-e sefid emzâ), signing a blank contract, refers to a known abuse where workers are pressured to sign an undated or partially blank document that can be filled in later by the employer.