A Separation: Farsi Breakdown of 5 Scenes, With Vocabulary

Asghar Farhadi's A Separation won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, and it might be the single best Farsi listening exercise ever made. Not because it was designed for learners. Because every scene is a masterclass in how Iranians actually argue, negotiate, lie, and tell the truth.

I've watched it probably fifteen times. Each time I catch something new in the language: a shift in register when a character gets angry, a formal word dropped into casual speech to gain authority, a silence that says more than dialogue. Here are five scenes broken down for what they teach you about real Persian.

Scene 1: The Courtroom Opening (Formal Persian Under Pressure)

The film opens with Simin and Nader sitting before a judge, arguing about whether they should be allowed to divorce. This scene is pure gold for learners because you hear formal courtroom Farsi, the register Iranians use with authorities.

Key vocabulary from this scene:

طلاق | talâq | divorce دادگاه | dâdgâh | court حق | haqq | right (legal right) اجازه | ejâze | permission قاضی | qâzi | judge

Notice how both Simin and Nader address the judge: they use شما (shomâ), the formal "you," and their verbs are all in the formal conjugation. Nader says:

من اجازه نمی‌دهم بچه‌ام را از این کشور ببرد. Man ejâze nemidaham bache-am râ az in keshvar bebarad. "I won't allow her to take my child out of this country."

In casual Farsi, this would be man ejâze nemidam bache-amo az in keshvar bebare; notice the contractions and dropped endings. In court, every syllable is pronounced. The formality isn't just politeness: it's a power move. Speaking correctly signals education and authority.

What to practice: Listen for the difference between how characters talk TO the judge versus how they talk to each other. The register switch happens mid-scene and it's dramatic.

Scene 2: Nader and Razieh (Class Tension in Word Choice)

When Nader hires Razieh as a caregiver for his father, the class difference between them shows up immediately in their language. Nader is educated, upper-middle-class Tehran. Razieh is working-class, religious, less formally educated.

Key vocabulary:

حقوق | hoquq | salary/wages نگهداری | negahdâri | caregiving/looking after شرط | shart | condition اعتماد | e'temâd | trust

Nader speaks in clean, educated Tehran Farsi. Razieh's speech is more hesitant, uses simpler vocabulary, and includes religious expressions that signal her background:

انشاالله درست میشه. Inshâ'allâh dorost mishe. "God willing, it'll be fine."

Versus Nader's:

این موضوع ربطی به شما نداره. In mowzu' rabti be shomâ nadâre. "This matter has nothing to do with you."

موضوع (mowzu', matter/subject). ربط (rabt, connection/relevance). These are the kinds of words educated Iranians drop into arguments: semi-formal Arabic-origin terms that assert intellectual authority. It's a subtle form of verbal dominance.

What to practice: Pay attention to which characters use Arabic-origin words and which use pure Persian ones. It maps to their social position.

Scene 3: The Argument on the Stairs (When Register Collapses)

The turning-point scene where Nader physically pushes Razieh out of his apartment. In the moments before, during, and after the push, every character's careful language falls apart.

This is the most linguistically valuable scene in the film. When Iranians get angry, the formal register collapses. The real spoken language erupts.

Key vocabulary:

دروغ | dorugh | lie دزدی | dozdi | theft بیرون | birun | out / outside ولش کن | velesh kon | let it go / leave it alone گمشو | gomesho | get lost (very rude)

Nader's controlled courtroom Farsi from scene 1 is gone. He's yelling:

گمشو برو بیرون! Gomesho boro birun! "Get lost, get out!"

گمشو (gomesho) is deeply insulting. It literally means "become lost." No educated person uses this in calm conversation. The fact that Nader, a man who speaks carefully in court, uses it here tells you everything about his emotional state.

Meanwhile, Razieh switches to defensive, rapid-fire speech full of repetitions:

من دزدی نکردم! من دزدی نکردم! به خدا نکردم! Man dozdi nakardam! Man dozdi nakardam! Be khodâ nakardam! "I didn't steal! I didn't steal! I swear to God I didn't!"

That به خدا (be khodâ, "by God") is the emergency sincerity marker in Farsi. When someone invokes God, they're signaling that ta'arof and social performance are over. This is real.

What to practice: Rewatch this scene three times. First for comprehension. Second for the register shift: compare how characters spoke 10 minutes earlier. Third for the emotional vocabulary: anger, denial, accusation.

Scene 4: Hojjat's Interrogation (Working-Class Persian Under Threat)

Hojjat, Razieh's husband, is volatile, proud, and economically desperate. His language when confronting Nader is a different beast from anything in scenes 1-3.

Key vocabulary:

ناموس | nâmus | honor (specifically family/female honor) حساب | hesâb | account / reckoning حقم | haqqam | my right / what I'm owed غیرت | gheirat | male pride / protective jealousy

Hojjat speaks in short, aggressive bursts:

حساب این کارو پس میدی. Hesâb-e in kâro pas midi. "You'll pay for this."

This is textbook lower-register Tehran Farsi. Note: کارو (kâro) instead of the formal کار را (kâr râ). That contraction of را (râ) to و (-o) is one of the defining features of colloquial Farsi. Every textbook teaches râ; every Iranian says -o or -ro.

What to practice: Hojjat is your listening practice for understanding working-class, emotional, fast Tehran Farsi. If you can follow his dialogue, you can follow most real-world spoken Persian.

Scene 5: Termeh's Decision (The Silence That Speaks)

The final scene. The judge asks eleven-year-old Termeh which parent she wants to live with. She whispers something we can't hear. Then silence.

For language learners, this scene matters because of what ISN'T said. Farsi, like much of Iranian culture, communicates through implication and silence. The things characters don't say in this film are as important as what they do say.

Key vocabulary from the courtroom revisit:

تصمیم | tasmim | decision انتخاب | entekhâb | choice حضانت | hezânat | custody

تصمیمتو گرفتی؟ Tasmim-eto gerefti? "Have you made your decision?"

Note the colloquial تصمیمتو (tasmim-eto) instead of formal تصمیمت را (tasmimat râ). Even in court, when speaking to a child, the register softens.

What to practice: Watch how the entire film's language arc resolves. Characters who started formal become informal. Characters who started rough become quiet. The language mirrors the emotional destruction.

How to Use This Film for Language Learning

Step 1: Watch the full film once with English subtitles. Understand the plot. Step 2: Watch again with Persian subtitles (available on most platforms). Read while listening. Step 3: Watch the 5 scenes above without subtitles. Focus on catching the vocabulary listed. Step 4: Shadow individual lines. Pause, repeat, match the intonation.

For building your vocabulary from films systematically, our app ZabanYar (coming soon) is built to save words and phrases from what you watch and drill them with spaced repetition.

The Bigger Lesson

A Separation teaches you that Farsi isn't one language: it's a spectrum. Courtroom formal, educated casual, working-class direct, emotional breakdown, childhood innocence. Every character in this film speaks differently, and those differences carry meaning about who they are, what power they hold, and what they're hiding.

This is why watching Iranian films is one of the best things you can do for your Farsi. Read about the gap between spoken and written Persian. For ten spoken-versus-written differences you will hear in Iranian films, see why Iranian movies sound nothing like your Farsi textbook.

Complete Vocabulary Reference

Every key word from the five scenes above, organized by category. Save this table for review.

5 Grammar Patterns You'll Hear in This Film

1. The رأ (râ) contraction: را → و / رو
Textbooks teach: کار را (kâr râ). In the film you hear: کارو (kâro) or کارو (kâro). This contraction of the direct object marker is the single most common difference between written and spoken Farsi. Hojjat uses it constantly; Nader uses it when angry.

2. Verb ending drops in colloquial speech
Formal: می‌دهم (midaham, "I give"). Spoken: میدم (midam). The middle syllable disappears. In the courtroom (Scene 1), Nader says اجازه نمی‌دهم (ejâze nemidaham). Outside court, he'd say اجازه نمیدم (ejâze nemidam). This pattern applies to almost every verb.

3. است (ast) becomes ه (e) or disappears
Written: این موضوع مهم است (in mowzu' mohemm ast, "this matter is important"). Spoken: این موضوع مهمه (in mowzu' mohemme). The verb "to be" (است) shrinks to a suffix. You hear this in every single scene.

4. Ezafe chain in formal register
Scene 1 courtroom language uses full ezafe chains: اجازه‌ی خروج از کشور (ejâze-ye khoruj az keshvar, "permission to leave the country"). In casual speech, these get shortened or restructured. Tracking ezafe usage tells you how formal a character is being.

5. به خدا (be khodâ) as a sincerity intensifier
Not grammar exactly, but a discourse pattern. When Razieh says به خدا نکردم (be khodâ nakardam, "I swear to God I didn't"), invoking God signals she's dropped all social performance. This formula (به خدا + claim) appears in emotional moments across the film and in everyday Iranian speech.

Where to Watch

A Separation (جدایی نادر از سیمین, Jodâi-ye Nâder az Simin) is widely available:

• Amazon Prime Video: Rental or purchase (most regions)
• Criterion Channel: Included in subscription (US/Canada)
• MUBI: Available in select territories (rotates)
• Apple TV / Google Play: Rental or purchase

Look for versions with both English AND Persian subtitle options. Watching with Persian subtitles on your second viewing is the fastest way to connect the spoken contractions you hear with the written forms.

FAQ

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