Persian edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle Persian YDOYTWN-stn' (dānistan), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ānáHti, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥néh₃ti.

Related to شناختن (šenâxtan, recognize), Northern Kurdish zanîn, Baluchi زانگ (zánag), Sanskrit जानाति (jānāti), English know.

Pronunciation edit

 
 

Readings
Classical reading? dānistan
Dari reading? dānistan
Iranian reading? dânestan
Tajik reading? donistan
  • (file)

Verb edit

Dari دانستن
Iranian Persian
Tajik донистан

دانستن (dânestan) (present stem دان (dân))

  1. to know (something)
  2. (in the simple past) to come to know; to realize
    Synonym: فهمیدن (fahmidan)
    • late 1300s, Xāja Shams-ud-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī, “Shirazi Turk”, in دیوان حافظ [Divān of Ḥāfeẓ]:
      من از آن حسن روزافزون که یوسف داشت دانستم
      که عشق از پرده عصمت برون آرد زلیخا را
      man az ān husn-i rōz-afzōn ki yūsuf dāšt dānestam
      ki išq az parda-yi ismat birūn ārad zulayxā rā
      I have learnt, from that daily-increasing beauty that Joseph had,
      That Love will bring Zoleykha out from behind the curtain of modesty.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)
  3. to consider; to deem

Usage notes edit

  • In the simple past tense, it means "learned; realized; came to know"; to mean "knew", one must use the imperfect tense with می (mi). This simple past tense use is not very common in colloquial language.
  • Similar to many European languages, Persian has two verbs used for knowing something and knowing someone. دانستن (dânestan) is used for having knowledge about places or things; but شناختن (šenâxtan) is used for recognizing and knowing people. Compare German kennen and wissen; French savoir and connaître; Spanish saber and conocer.

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

References edit