What it means
کندن (kandan) covers the action of removing something from where it is attached or embedded: digging earth, pulling out a nail, peeling off a sticker, uprooting a tree, or extracting a tooth. It is a pure Persian verb with roots in Old and Middle Iranian, and its versatility makes it one of the more useful action verbs at the A2 level. A close synonym in the sense of extracting is درآوردن (dar âvardan), though کندن is more physical and direct.
How to use it
- داره چمن میکنه. (Dâre chaman mikane.) “He is pulling up the grass.”
- دندونم رو کندن. (Dandoonam ro kandan.) “They pulled out my tooth.”
- پوست پرتقال رو بکن. (Poost-e porteghâl ro bekan.) “Peel the orange.”
- میخ رو از دیوار کندم. (Mikh ro az divâr kandam.) “I pulled the nail out of the wall.”
Cultural note
کندن appears in several Persian idioms and expressions. ریشه کندن (rishe kandan), literally “to uproot,” describes eradicating something at its source, whether a habit, a problem, or a political structure. In colloquial Tehran speech the verb is also used figuratively for breaking away from a person or place: از اون جا کندم (az unja kandam) means “I tore myself away from that place,” capturing a sense of effort that simple “leaving” does not.