تماشا کردن

What it means

تماشا کردن (tamâshâ kardan) means “to watch, to behold, to enjoy looking at.” Compound verb. Used for films, theatre, sports, sunsets, and any spectacle that holds attention. A1 vocabulary. The noun تماشا (tamâshâ) is Arabic in origin; کردن makes it a Persian compound verb.

How to use it

• فیلم تماشا می‌کنم (film tamâshâ mikonam) “I am watching a movie”
• بیا تماشا کن! (biyâ tamâshâ kon!) “Come look!”
• تماشای فوتبال (tamâshâ-ye futbâl) “watching football” (noun phrase)

Common pairings

• تماشاچی (tamâshâ-chi) “spectator, viewer”
• تماشاخانه (tamâshâ-khâne) “theatre” (literary)
• دیدنی است (didani ast) “it is worth seeing” (parallel construction)
• نگاه کردن (negâh kardan) “to look at” (more general)

Compound verb structure

This is a کردن (kardan, “to do”) compound: تماشا (the noun, “viewing, spectacle”) + کردن. Conjugates by inflecting only کردن, تماشا می‌کنم (I watch), تماشا کردم (I watched), تماشا خواهم کرد (I will watch). تماشا comes from Arabic تَمَشّى (tamashshâ, “stroll, leisurely walk”), Persian shifted the meaning from walking-around to looking-around.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Wiktionary