توی

What it means

توی (tuye) means “inside” or “in” and is the standard preposition for location and containment in everyday spoken Persian. Its formal written counterpart is در (dar) or the slightly more casual تو (tu). The spoken form توی is so dominant in conversation that using در in casual speech often sounds like you are reading aloud from a newspaper. توی attaches to the following noun with an ezafe-like vowel: توی خونه (tuye khune, inside the house), توی کوچه (tuye kuche, in the alley). The word covers both literal containment (inside a box) and figurative containment (inside a situation or problem).

How to use it

• توی خونه‌ام (tuye khuneam) “I’m at home / inside the house.”
• کیفم توی ماشینه (kifam tuye mâshine) “My bag is in the car.”
• توی این کار نباش (tuye in kâr nabâsh) “Stay out of this matter.”
• چی توی دستته؟ (chi tuye dastate?) “What’s in your hand?”

Cultural note

توی is a clear marker of spoken register. If you use در (dar) for every location phrase in conversation, Iranians will notice immediately that your Persian is textbook-trained. Switching to توی is one of the fastest single upgrades a learner can make to sound more natural. The word also appears frequently in figurative constructions: توی فکرم (tuye fekram, it’s on my mind, literally “inside my thought”) and توی دردسر افتادم (tuye dardesar oftâdam, I got into trouble) are phrases you will hear constantly.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab