What it means
نظر (nazar) is the opinion you hold, the view you take, the way you see a thing. It is one of the workhorse abstract nouns in spoken and written Persian. When an Iranian asks نظرت چیه؟ (nazaret chiye, what’s your opinion), they are asking for your honest take, not a polite nod. The word lands at A1 because you will hear it within your first month in any Iranian conversation that goes past pleasantries.
Nazar also carries a second meaning, the literal one closer to its Arabic root: a look, a glance, the act of seeing. This is the nazar in نظر بد (nazar-e bad, evil eye), the cultural belief that an envious glance can damage what it sees. Most modern uses lean on the opinion sense, but the eye-meaning sits underneath.
How to use it
The three structures you need: به نظر من (be nazar-e man, in my opinion), نظرت چیه (nazaret chiye, what’s your opinion), and نظر دادن (nazar dādan, to give an opinion, see its own entry). The possessive form attaches directly to the noun: نظرم (nazaram, my opinion), نظرت (nazaret, your opinion), نظرش (nazaresh, his or her opinion).
be nazar-e man in film kheyli khub bud.
In my opinion this film was very good.
به نظر من این فیلم خیلی خوب بود.
nazaret dar-bāre-ye in ketāb chiye?
What is your opinion about this book?
نظرت درباره این کتاب چیه؟
hame nazar-e khodeshun-o goftand.
Everyone gave their own opinion.
همه نظر خودشون رو گفتند.
Where it comes from
Nazar is Arabic in origin, from the root n-z-r (ن-ظ-ر), which carries the senses of looking, observing, considering. The Arabic verbal noun نَظَر (nazar) means a look or a glance, and the metaphorical extension to opinion (the way one sees a matter) happened early. Persian borrowed it in the early Islamic period along with the bulk of the philosophical and administrative vocabulary, and it has been everyday Persian ever since.
In our voice
Iranians ask for your nazar more readily than English speakers ask for your opinion. Conversations move fast to the point. Be ready: when someone asks نظرت چیه؟ they want a real answer, not a hedge. Hedging reads as evasion, not modesty.
References
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