صد

What it means

صد (sad) means “hundred.” The cardinal number 100. A pure Persian word, A1 priority, and one you’ll meet in the first week of any Persian course because prices, ages, distances, and percentages all run through it.

Reading it on a price tag is your first survival skill at any Iranian bazaar: صد تومان (sad toman), “a hundred toman.” Note that the spoken Tehrani “toman” hides ten rials behind it, and recent inflation means صد doesn’t go far. You’ll see صد هزار (sad hezâr, “one hundred thousand”) and صد میلیون (sad milyun, “one hundred million”) thrown around in normal grocery talk.

How to use it

• صد سال (sad sâl) “a hundred years”
• صد متر (sad metr) “a hundred meters”
• صد دفعه (sad daf’e) “a hundred times” (often hyperbolic, like “I told you a hundred times”)
• صد در صد (sad dar sad) “one hundred percent”
• صد تومان (sad toman) “a hundred toman”

The sad-darsad agreement intensifier

صد درصد (sad-darsad) literally reads “hundred per hundred” and means “one hundred percent.” In Persian conversation it works exactly like the English intensifier but lands harder. When an Iranian says صد درصد in response to a question, they are not just agreeing. They are agreeing emphatically and shutting down further negotiation.

You’ll hear it in three flavors. As a yes: “Are you coming to dinner?” “صد درصد.” As a confirmation of fact: “Did you finish the report?” “صد درصد آماده‌ست” (sad-darsad âmâde-st), “it’s a hundred percent ready.” As emphasis on certainty: “این رستوران صد درصد بازه” (in resturân sad-darsad bâze), “this restaurant is definitely open.”

The phrase has eaten so much real estate in spoken Persian that younger Iranians sometimes shorten it to just صد (‘100,’ said with the inflection of agreement). Older speakers prefer the full sad-darsad. Both are correct.

Cultural note

The Persian language has a soft spot for round numbers as exaggeration. صد بار گفتم (sad bâr goftam, “I said it a hundred times”) almost never means literally one hundred times; it means “many.” Same logic applies to هزار (hezâr, thousand). When someone tells you they’ve called you صد بار, they probably called you four times.

Mnemonic

SAD → صد. Picture an Iranian uncle saying “sad-darsad!” with a flat hand chop, ending the argument.