صحبت

What it means

صحبت (sohbat) means conversation, talk, speech, or the matter at hand. The word comes from Arabic صُحبَت (suhbat), meaning companionship, fellowship, or close association, from the root ص-ح-ب (s-h-b) relating to companionship and accompaniment. In classical Arabic, the word emphasized the closeness between people who kept each other’s company; Persian inherited it and shifted the focus to the verbal exchange between companions. In modern Persian, صحبت is used in two main ways. First, as a noun in the phrase صحبت کردن (sohbat kardan), meaning to talk or to have a conversation. Second, as a near-synonym for حرف (harf), meaning a word, topic, or matter: صحبتش نشد (sohbat-ash nashod), “It didn’t come up,” or بریم سر صحبت (berim sar-e sohbat), “Let’s get into it.”

How to use it

• باهاش صحبت کردم (bâhâsh sohbat kardam) “I talked to him.”
• صحبت‌هات رو شنیدم (sohbat-hât ro shenidam) “I heard what you said.”
• صحبتش رو نکن (sohbat-ash ro nakon) “Don’t even bring it up.”
• یه صحبت کوتاهی باهاتون دارم (ye sohbat-e kutâhi bâhâtun dâram) “I have a brief word I’d like to have with you.”

Cultural note

Iranians use صحبت کردن and حرف زدن (harf zadan) largely interchangeably in speech, though صحبت کردن carries a slightly more formal or deliberate tone. If someone says باید باهاتون صحبت کنم (bâyad bâhâtun sohbat konam), “I need to have a word with you,” the formality of صحبت signals that the conversation will be serious. The phrase صحبتش نشد, meaning “it wasn’t brought up” or “we didn’t get to talking about it,” is extremely common and useful for explaining why a topic did not come up in a conversation.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab