یکی

What it means

یکی (yeki) is the spoken form of یک (yek, one) with the suffix ی attached, and it serves several grammatical roles simultaneously. As a numeral it means one of something: یکی بده (give me one). As an indefinite pronoun it means someone or a certain person: یکی زنگ زد (someone called). As a light indefinite article before nouns it is interchangeable with یه (ye): یکی از دوستام (one of my friends). The word is enormously frequent in spoken Persian and is one of the first items learners need because it covers the communicative ground that English spreads across the words one, someone, a certain, and anybody. In formal written Persian یک is more common, but yeki dominates every register of spoken Farsi.

How to use it

• یکی اومد در زد. (yeki umad dar zad.) “Someone came and knocked on the door.”
• یکی از اینا رو برام بیار. (yeki az inâ ro barâm biâr.) “Bring me one of these.”
• یکی هست که می‌خوام بهت معرفی کنم. (yeki hast ke mikhâm behet mo’arrefi konam.) “There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”
• فقط یکی موند. (faghat yeki mund.) “Only one (person) stayed.”

Cultural note

یکی بود، یکی نبود (yeki bud, yeki nabud) is the classic Persian fairy-tale opening, equivalent to once upon a time in English. Literally it means there was one, there was not one, a paradox that signals the story is entering an unreal, imaginative space. Every Iranian child grows up hearing this phrase at the start of stories, and it makes یکی one of the earliest and most emotionally resonant words in the language. Using it correctly in context instantly signals to an Iranian listener that you understand the rhythms of spoken Persian.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab