پارسال

پارسال is a single word for “last year,” not a phrase. Persian compresses what English spells out.

What it actually means

پارسال (pârsâl) means “last year,” the calendar year immediately before the current one. It is built from پار (pâr, “previous, past”) plus سال (sâl, “year”), fused into one word. Persian has the same logic for other time-spans: پارسال (last year), پیرارسال (pirârsâl, the year before last), امسال (emsâl, this year), سال آینده (sâl-e âyande, next year). The single-word forms are everyday spoken Persian; the multi-word forms feel more formal.

How to say it

Formal (نوشتاری): پارسال or سال گذشته · pârsâl / sâl-e gozashte · “last year / the past year”

Colloquial (محاوره): پارسال · pârsâl · same form

In writing you may see سال گذشته (sâl-e gozashte) for a more formal tone, but پارسال works in both registers and is by far the more common spoken form.

In a sentence

• پارسال به ایران رفتم. · pârsâl be irân raftam. · Last year I went to Iran.
• پارسال این موقع برف می‌بارید. · pârsâl in mowqe’ barf mibârid. · This time last year it was snowing.
• پارسال خیلی سخت بود. · pârsâl kheyli sakht bud. · Last year was very hard.

Cultural note

For Iranians, پارسال does not just mean “last calendar year” in the abstract. It anchors to the Iranian solar year, which begins on Nowruz (March 20-21). If you are speaking with an Iranian in May, پارسال refers to the Iranian year that ended at the previous Nowruz. This matters in conversation: “پارسال عید چه کار کردی؟” (what did you do for Nowruz last year?) is a precise question, not a vague one. When Iranians abroad speak with non-Iranians, they sometimes shift to the Gregorian frame, but the default mental clock is still solar.

Related

You will see this word with امسال (this year) and فردا (tomorrow). For Persian time vocabulary as a system see the Persian time-words guide.