What it means
جمع کردن (jam’ kardan) covers three practical meanings in everyday Persian: to collect or gather things together, to add up numbers, and to tidy or clean up a space. The noun جمع (jam’) is borrowed from Arabic, from the triliteral root ج-م-ع (j-m-‘) meaning to assemble or gather. In Arabic grammar this same root gives the word for plural (جمع). In Persian it was absorbed and paired with کردن (kardan) to form a workhorse compound verb. A related word is جمعآوری کردن (jam’-âvari kardan), which is slightly more formal and means to compile or collect systematically.
How to use it
- وسایلت رو جمع کن، داریم میریم. (Vasâyelet ro jam’ kon, dârim mirim.) “Pack up your things, we’re leaving.”
- اتاقت رو جمع کن قبل از اینکه مهمون بیاد. (Otâqet ro jam’ kon qabl az inke mehmun biyâd.) “Tidy your room before the guest arrives.”
- این ارقام رو با هم جمع کن. (In arqâm ro bâ ham jam’ kon.) “Add these numbers together.”
- بچهها داشتن گردو جمع میکردن. (Bachehâ dâshtan gerdoo jam’ mikardan.) “The kids were collecting walnuts.”
Cultural note
Jam’ kardan is one of those verbs Iranians hear from their parents constantly: جمع کن (jam’ kon), tidy up, is a household command in virtually every Iranian home. The concept of gathering and collecting also has cultural resonance beyond tidying: gathering for meals (sofre-ye jam’), community assemblies, and collective prayer all draw on the same semantic root of bringing things or people together. The Arabic origin of jam’ here is invisible to most native speakers, who experience it as simply Persian.