شرایط

What it means

شرایط (sharâyet) means conditions, circumstances, or terms. It is the Arabic broken plural of شرط (shart), meaning condition or stipulation, built on the root ش-ر-ط (sh-r-t) which carries the sense of setting a condition or making something contingent. Persian uses the plural form شرایط as both plural and, in many contexts, as a collective singular: «شرایط خوبه» (sharâyet khube) means the conditions are good or the situation is good, treating it as a single state rather than a list of items. Key compounds include شرایط سخت (sharâyet-e sakht, tough conditions or hard circumstances), شرایط کار (sharâyet-e kâr, work conditions), and قبول کردن شرایط (ghabul kardan-e sharâyet, to accept the terms). The singular شرط (shart) is also common on its own, meaning a condition or a bet.

How to use it

• شرایط کار خوب نیست (sharâyet-e kâr khub nist) “The work conditions are not good.”
• شرایط رو قبول می‌کنی؟ (sharâyet ro ghabul mikoni?) “Do you accept the terms?”
• شرایط سختی داشتیم (sharâyet-e sakhti dâshtim) “We had tough conditions / difficult circumstances.”
• شرایطش تغییر کرده (sharâyetesh taghyir karde) “His/her/its circumstances have changed.”

Cultural note

شرایط is one of the key words Iranians reach for when talking about the broader state of life. In everyday conversation, «شرایط» often refers implicitly to the economic or social climate: «با این شرایط» (bâ in sharâyet, given these conditions) is a common framing for any comment about prices, hardship, or political atmosphere without naming specifics. This indirectness is deliberate: شرایط becomes a container for everything that is difficult to say openly, allowing Iranians to communicate clearly with each other while staying vague enough for ambiguous situations.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab