گیر

What it means

گیر (gir) functions as an adjective meaning stuck or caught, and as a highly productive base for colloquial compound verbs. It is the present stem of the verb گرفتن (gereftan, to take or to catch). In the compound گیر کردن (gir kardan) it means to get stuck, whether physically jammed or caught in a difficult situation. گیر دادن (gir dâdan) means to pester or to bother someone persistently, essentially to get on their case. گیر آوردن (gir âvardan) means to get hold of something or to manage to find or obtain it, often with an implication of difficulty. گیر افتادن (gir oftâdan) means to get trapped or caught, often used when someone is caught by the police or stuck in traffic. All of these are firmly colloquial and very common in spoken Persian.

How to use it

• تو ترافیک گیر کردم (tu trafik gir kardam) “I got stuck in traffic.”
• چرا به من گیر میدی؟ (cherâ be man gir midi?) “Why are you pestering me?”
• یه تاکسی گیر آوردم (ye tâksi gir âvardam) “I managed to get a taxi.”
• گیر پلیس افتاد (gir-e polis oftâd) “He got caught by the police.”

Cultural note

گیر دادن, meaning to pester or hassle, is one of the most useful colloquial verbs for describing the kind of persistent nagging that Iranians navigate in family and social life. A classic context is گیر دادن به بچه, which describes parents riding their children about homework, grades, or marriage. The phrase گیر کردی؟ (are you stuck?) is also a common and friendly check-in when someone looks confused or is struggling with a task, carrying no negative charge. In Tehran street speech گیر appears in dozens of fixed phrases, making it a word worth learning early on.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab