پایین

What it means

پایین (pâyin) means down, below, downstairs, or low. As an adverb it points to a location or direction: the floor is پایین, the ground floor is طبقه پایین (tabaghe-ye pâyin), prices can be پایین, and so can someone’s mood or social rank. The word pairs naturally with its opposite بالا (bâlâ, up, above, upstairs). In compound phrases it does a lot of work: پایین انداختن (pâyin andâkhtan) means to lower or cast down, and پایین آمدن (pâyin âmadan) means to come down or descend. It functions as both an adverb describing where something is and an adjective describing something as low or inferior.

How to use it

• کفش‌هات پایینن (kafsh-hât pâyin-an) “Your shoes are downstairs.”
• صدات رو بیار پایین (sedât ro biâr pâyin) “Bring your voice down, lower your voice.”
• قیمت‌ها خیلی پایین اومدن (gheymat-hâ kheyli pâyin umadan) “Prices came down a lot.”
• بیا پایین، کارت دارم (biâ pâyin, kârat dâram) “Come downstairs, I need you.”

Cultural note

پایین carries a social dimension in Persian. In traditional Iranian home layouts, the نشیمن (nashin, sitting room) and kitchen were often on the lower floor while guest rooms occupied the upper story, so پایین and بالا quietly encoded the everyday rhythm of the household. In conversation, telling someone to bring their voice down, صدات رو بیار پایین, is a gentle way to ask for quiet without being blunt. More figuratively, پایین is used to describe someone of lower rank or standing, and Iranians use the phrase پایین‌تر from (lower than, beneath) to signal respect differences in a hierarchy.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab