What it means
قرارداد (qarârdâd) means contract or agreement, any binding arrangement between two or more parties that establishes mutual obligations. The word is a compound formed from two parts of different origins: قرار (qarâr), borrowed from Arabic, where it means settlement, stability, or decision, and داد (dâd), the past stem of the Persian verb دادن (dâdan, to give). Together they carry the sense of a settlement that has been given or established. A near synonym is توافقنامه (tavâfoqnâme, formal agreement, accord), which sounds more diplomatic and official. In everyday speech, قرارداد is the standard term for employment contracts, rental agreements, business deals, and legal documents.
How to use it
- قرارداد کاری امضا کردم. (qarârdâd-e kâri emzâ kardam.) “I signed a work contract.”
- مفاد قرارداد رو خوندی؟ (mafâd-e qarârdâd ro khundi?) “Did you read the terms of the contract?”
- قرارداد اجارهشون تموم شد. (qarârdâd-e ejâre-shun tamum shod.) “Their rental agreement ended.”
- این قرارداد هنوز معتبره. (in qarârdâd hanuz mo’tabare.) “This contract is still valid.”
Cultural note
In Iranian legal and business culture, formal written contracts became more central after Iran enacted its modern Civil Code between 1928 and 1935, establishing standardized frameworks for obligations and agreements. Before that era, verbal agreements backed by witnesses and Islamic oath-taking were common in commercial life. Today, labor law in Iran requires that employment relationships above a certain duration be formalized with a written قرارداد کار (qarârdâd-e kâr, work contract), and disputes over contract terms are a frequent subject of labor court cases. The term also appears in international contexts, as in قرارداد نفتی (qarârdâd-e nafti, oil contract), a phrase with a charged history given Iran’s experience with the 1901 D’Arcy concession and subsequent oil nationalization debates.