What it means
هر دو (har do) means “both” in Persian. It is built from two pure Persian words: هر (har, meaning “every”) and دو (do, meaning “two”). When you want to include two people or things without leaving either out, هر دو is the natural choice. A close contrast is هیچ کدام (hich kodum), which means “neither,” the opposite idea. In more emphatic speech you may also hear هر دوتاشون (har dotāshun), meaning “both of them,” with the suffix تا adding a counting flavour.
How to use it
- هر دو با هم رفتیم. (har do bā ham raftim.) “Both of us went together.”
- هر دو کتاب رو خوندم. (har do ketāb ro khundam.) “I read both books.”
- هر دوشون خوبن. (har doshun khuban.) “Both of them are good.”
- هر دوتاشون قبول شدن. (har dotāshun qabul shodan.) “Both of them passed.”
Cultural note
Persian does not have a standalone word for “both” the way English does. Instead, هر دو carries that meaning by pairing “every” with “two,” a pattern that feels completely natural to native speakers. In colloquial Tehran speech, the form هر دوتاشون (har dotāshun, both of them) is so common it has almost become its own fixed phrase. This kind of reduplication with تا, the generic counter, is a signature feature of informal spoken Persian.