What it means
سه (se) is the cardinal number 3 in Persian. Indo-European cognate with Latin “tres,” Sanskrit “tri,” English “three.” Note: pronounced “seh,” not “see.”
How to use it
- سه تا برادر دارم (se tâ barâdar dâram) “I have three brothers”
- سهشنبه (se-shanbe) “Tuesday” (literally “third day”)
- ساعت سه (sâ’at-e se) “three o’clock”
How counters work
Same rule as دو: number + classifier + singular noun. Three apples is se tâ sib, three people is se نفر. Note that the Persian week names use se as the day-counter root: shanbe (Saturday, day 1), yek-shanbe (Sunday, day 2), do-shanbe (Monday), se-shanbe (Tuesday). The whole calendar is built from these numerals.
Cultural note
Se anchors one of Iran’s most famous landmarks: سی و سه پل (Si-o-se Pol), the 33-arch bridge in Isfahan, built in 1602. The number also appears in Sizdah Be-dar (“the thirteenth outdoors,” Nowruz day 13), where the prefix si is the multi-of-three. In daily speech, se sotun (“three pillars”) is a common cooking-portion size, and se ruz (“three days”) is the typical mourning period after a funeral.
References
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