Yes and No in Farsi: 10 Answers, From Bale to Taarof No

Short answer: Yes in Farsi is bale (polite) or âre (casual), and no is na. Nakheyr is a firmer, more formal no. Cheshm is the respectful yes you give a parent or an elder, and bâshe means okay. Watch for taarof: a first no to tea or food is often just good manners.

Two words, four if you count the casual versions. That's the easy part. The harder part is that Iranians use yes and no for more than yes and no. A yes can be a promise, a no can be a courtesy, and a click of the tongue can replace both.

Below is every form you need, with who you say it to. If you want the grammar of negative verbs (naraftam, nemidunam), that lives in my Farsi negation guide. This post is about the words you answer with.

Yes and no in Farsi at a glance

Bale or âre: which yes?

Bale is never wrong. It's what you say to a shopkeeper, a teacher, your partner's father, and anyone who calls you. Pick up the phone, hear your name, and the answer is بله، خودم هستم (bale, khodam hastam), "yes, this is me."

Âre is the yes of the kitchen table. Use it with friends and with people who already use it with you. Said to an older relative you've just met, it sounds a bit like answering "yep" in a job interview. Not a disaster, but they'll notice.

• بله، درسته (bale, doroste): "yes, that's right"
• آره، می‌دونم (âre, midunam): "yeah, I know"
• آره، حتماً (âre, hatman): "yes, definitely"
• آره دیگه (âre dige): "yeah, exactly"

You'll also hear bale with a rising tone, as a question. On the phone or when someone calls your name, it means "yes? what is it?"

Cheshm: the yes that means "I'm on it"

چشم means eye. As an answer it means "consider it done", and it carries respect. A mother asks her son to pick up bread on the way home; he says cheshm. It's much more than âre, which only confirms you heard. Cheshm promises you'll act. (I go through it in more detail in the apology scene, where it rescues a dinner.)

The glossary entry has a nice minimal pair: "می‌توانی این کار را انجام دهی؟" "چشم!", "Can you do this?" "Yes, of course."

Cherâ: yes to a negative question

Most learners know چرا as "why". It has a second job. When someone asks a question with a negative in it, and the true answer is yes, Persian uses cherâ where English stumbles. Someone asks "you're not coming?" and you are coming: cherâ. It works like French si or German doch. Answering bale here is ambiguous; cherâ isn't.

Na, nakheyr and aslan: three strengths of no

Na is the plain no. One thing that confuses learners reading Persian: نه is also how you write the number nine (noh). Same letters, different vowel, and context always tells you which.

نخیر (nakheyr) is a fuller, more formal no. It's polite in an office. Between friends it can sound sharp, the way "no, it is not" sounds sharper than "nope".

اصلاً (aslan) turns a no up to full volume:

• اصلاً نمی‌خوامش (aslan nemikhâmesh): "I absolutely don't want it"
• این اصلاً درست نیست (in aslan dorost nist): "this is not right at all"

Inside a sentence, no usually isn't a separate word. It's a prefix on the verb: na- or nemi-. That's the job of the four negation patterns, and it's worth learning alongside the answer words above.

The taarof no: when no doesn't mean no

Here's where yes and no stop being vocabulary. In an Iranian home, the first answer to an offer of tea or food is often a polite refusal, and everyone in the room knows it. The host offers, you decline, the host offers again. The standard pattern, as I explain in the house visit guide, is to refuse twice and accept on the third offer.

1. Host: châyi mikhori? ("want tea?"). You: نه ممنون (na mamnun), "no thanks."
2. The host asks again. You decline again, a little softer.
3. Third offer. You: bâshe, mersi ("okay, thanks"). Tea arrives.

When a host says تعارف نکن (ta'ârof nakon), "don't do taarof", they're telling you to skip the dance and eat. Ironically, saying it is itself a bit of تعارف.

It runs the other way too. A host who says نه بابا راحت باش (na bâbâ râhat bâsh, "no, be comfortable") about your shoes at the door doesn't really mean keep them on. Take them off.

The practical rule for learners: if a no is about food, drink, a gift or who pays, expect a second round. If it's about facts ("is the shop open?"), no means no.

No without words: the tongue click

Ask for something a shopkeeper doesn't have and you may get a single click of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, often with the head tipped slightly back. That's a no, or "we're out". It's informal, not rude. I cover it with the other sounds in the Persian interjections post.

Quick practice

Say the right answer out loud before you read it.

1. Your friend's grandmother asks you to pass the bread. (Cheshm.)
2. A receptionist calls your name. (Bale?)
3. A friend asks "you don't eat meat?", and you do. (Cherâ!)
4. The host offers fruit for the first time. (Na mamnun, and wait.)
5. A stranger asks if this is the bus to the bazaar, and it isn't. (Na, or nakheyr if you want to be formal.)

For the words that come right after yes and no, like thanks and please, the 37 everyday greetings post is the next stop.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.