What it means
سوال (soāl) is a question. The word covers everything from a child’s curiosity to an exam item to a journalist’s probe at a press conference. It is A1 vocabulary because you cannot get through a single Persian classroom, conversation, or shop visit without it.
The pronunciation has two forms. The careful pronunciation is so-āl with a clear glottal stop between the syllables. The fast spoken form smooths to soʾāl or even sool in very casual speech. The spelling سوال is the modern simplified form; you will also see the older سؤال with the hamza, especially in older books and formal writing.
How to use it
Three core patterns. سوال داشتن (soāl dāshtan, to have a question): یه سوال دارم (ye soāl dāram, I have a question). سوال پرسیدن (soāl porsidan, to ask a question): میتونم یه سوال بپرسم؟ (mitunam ye soāl beporsam, can I ask a question). سوال کردن (soāl kardan, to question or interrogate): پلیس ازش سوال کرد (polis azash soāl kard, the police questioned him).
moʿallem yek soāl-e sakht porsid.
The teacher asked a difficult question.
معلم یک سوال سخت پرسید.
age soāli dāri, bopors.
If you have a question, ask.
اگه سوالی داری، بپرس.
in soāl-e khubi-ye.
This is a good question.
این سوال خوبیه.
The plural and the formal cousin
Persian uses both سوالها (soāl-hā, questions) and the Arabic broken plural سؤالات (soʾālāt, questions). The Arabic plural shows up in formal contexts (exam papers, official forms, news writing); the Persian plural is the default in speech. The pure-Persian alternative پرسش (porsesh, question) is pushed by the Farhangestan and used widely in academic and literary Persian, especially as the title of question-and-answer columns and philosophical works.
Where it comes from
Soāl is Arabic in origin, from the root s-ʾ-l (س-أ-ل), which means to ask, to request. The Arabic verbal noun سُؤَال (suʾāl) names both the act of asking and the question itself. Persian borrowed it early and it sits among the most-used Arabic loanwords in the modern language.
References
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