شرط

What it means

شرط (shart) has two main uses. First, it means a condition or stipulation: a term that must be met before something else can happen. شرط گذاشتن (shart gozâshtan) means to set a condition, and the phrase به شرط اینکه (be shart inke) means on the condition that. Second, شرط means a bet or wager: شرط بستن (shart bastan) is the standard phrase for making a bet with someone. The word comes from Arabic شَرْط (shart), derived from the root ش-ر-ط (sh-r-t), which in Arabic legal vocabulary refers to a contractual condition or a binding prerequisite. Persian has kept both senses. شرط in the contractual sense appears in formal documents, legal language, and official agreements. In casual speech the bet sense is more common: شرط میبندم (shart mibandam) means “I bet” and is used freely as an emphatic expression even when no actual money is involved.

How to use it

• شرط میبندم باهام موافقی. (shart mibandam bâham movâfeghi.) “I bet you agree with me.”
• یه شرط گذاشتیم: هر کی برد، ناهار حساب میکنه. (ye shart gozâshtim: har ki bord, nâhâr hesâb mikone.) “We made one condition: whoever wins pays for lunch.”
• به شرط اینکه زود بیای، میرم. (be shart inke zud biâyi, miram.) “I will go on the condition that you come early.”
• چه شرطی؟ (che sharti?) “What is the bet? / What is the condition?”

Cultural note

In Persian conversation, شرط میبندم functions much like “I bet” in English casual speech: it signals strong confidence in a claim without implying a real financial wager. The phrase is flexible enough to be used by anyone from children to elders. In more formal cultural contexts, شرط بستن had traditional social dimensions in Iranian games and contests, and the concept of a شرط (bet or challenge) sometimes structured competitions at events like Nowruz celebrations, where winning a game of skill might carry a small symbolic شرط agreed upon beforehand.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab