میری

What it means

میری (miri) is the spoken-Tehrani 2nd-person-singular present of the verb raftan (“to go”). It means “you go” or “you are going.” The romanization meri sometimes appears in beginner materials; native speakers write میری and pronounce it miri. The form lives in every casual question about plans and movement. Like miram, miri covers both habitual and progressive senses, with context doing the work that English needs auxiliaries for.

How to use it

• کجا میری (kojâ miri) “where are you going?”
• کی میری (key miri) “when do you go?”
• میری مهمونی (miri mehmuni) “are you going to the party?”
• چرا نمیری (cherâ nemiri) “why aren’t you going?”
• داری میری (dâri miri) “are you on your way?”
• با کی میری (bâ ki miri) “who are you going with?”

Spoken vs written

Spoken: میری (miri). Written or formal: می‌روی (miravi). The same regular shift as the rest of raftan: the formal -av- drops, the -i ending stays. Miravi becomes miri, miravad becomes mire, miravim becomes mirim. Use miravi when writing essays, news, or formal letters; use miri in any natural conversation. Mixing them in speech sounds either bookish or sloppy.

The plural-formal form می‌روید (miravid) becomes میرید (mirid) in spoken Tehrani, used for groups and for polite address to a single person. So a shopkeeper might ask کجا میرید (kojâ mirid) to a customer, while a close friend asks kojâ miri. The shift between miri and mirid is one of the daily register choices Iranians make without thinking.

Cultural note

The opener کجا میری (kojâ miri), “where are you going,” is the standard Iranian greeting on a stairwell or street corner. It is rarely a real demand for information; it works the same way English “how’s it going?” does, as a social acknowledgment. The polite full answer is also rarely the literal destination. A nod or a vague دارم میرم بیرون (dâram miram birun), “I’m just heading out,” handles it.

There’s also a sharper rhetorical use: کجا میری (kojâ miri) yelled at someone trying to leave a party early, with a tone that makes it clear the speaker is annoyed. The same words, different intonation, become “where do you think you’re going?” Iranian hosts famously use it to extend a visit by another two hours.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab
• Wiktionary