Word A Day

вақт

вақт: time

Вақтам нест.
I have no time.
Вақтеро, ки Замин дар гирди меҳвараш давр мезанад, шабонарӯз мегӯянд, ки 24 соат аст.
The time in which Earth rotates on its axis is called a day, which is 24 hours.

Bonus:
As in English, вақт (time) has many uses. It can mean time of day, or time in a general sense. For example-
вақти баҳор: spring time
вақти холӣ: free time
вақти шаб: evening time
вақти тутпазӣ: the time when the mulberries are ripening
кадом вақт: which time, when
ҳеҷ вақт: never
ҳама вақт: always

To see lots more ways to use the word вақт check out the Tajik Dictionary. (Scroll down to page 261.)

бештар аз

бештар аз: more than

Покистон дорои бештар аз 8823 километр роҳи оҳан мебошад.
Pakistan has more than 8823 kilometers of railroads.
Дар Туркия бештар аз ҳафтод дарсади ахолӣ дар шаҳрҳо зиндагӣ менамояд.
In Turkey more than seventy percent of the population lives in cities.

Bonus:
Synonym: зиёдтар аз

камтар аз: less than

тайёр кардан

тайёр кардан: to prepare

Меравам, то барои шумо ҷой тайёр кунам.
I will go to prepare a place for you.
Барои соҳибҷашн ва меҳмонони фахрӣ дар ҷои ба ҳама намоён ҷо тайёр мекунанд.
They prepare a place for the host of the banquet and the honoured guests that is visible to everyone.

Bonus:
Synonyms: омода кардан, муҳайё кардан

This verb is also used for doing homework, for example
Дарсро тайёр кун.: Prepare your lesson. Do your homework.

тайёркунанда: the one who does the preparations; the administrator

нафар

нафар: person

Панҷ нафар ба мактаб рафтанд, се нафар дар хона монданд.
Five people went to school, three people stayed at home.
Ду нафар коргар ин корро анҷом дода наметавонанд.
Two workers can not complete this work.

Bonus:
Tajik has some counting words that are just used to show that you are counting and don’t always translate very well into English. Some examples are дона, сар, нафар.
Нафар is a counting word for people. In the first sentence it can be translated as people.
But when it is used in combination with a type of person, as in the second sentence, it isn’t translated. It is just there to show that you are counting people. Here are some more examples –
ҳафт нафар донишҷӯ: seven students
ду-се нафар моҳигир: two to three fishermen
Note, that when combining a noun with a number the plural ending ҳо is not added to the noun.

дидан

дидан: to see

Ҳеҷ чизро надидам.
I didn’t see anything.
Омадам, то ки туро бинам.
I came to see you.

Bonus:
If you need to learn more verbs, you can download a pdf with about 100 verbs, showing the future stems, here: Most Common Verbs. You can also see all the verbs that have appeared in Word of the Day here: verbs.

The verb дидан is also a helper verb. Here are some examples –
нағз дидан: to like, to love
ганда дидан: to dislike, to hate
рӯз дидан: to live
ҷазо дидан: to be punished
тайёрӣ дидан: to prepare, to get ready

харбуза

харбуза: melon

Мо аз бозор се дона харбуза харидем.
We bought three melons from the bazaar.
Мо аз сабзавот, мева, харбузаю тарбуз ҳеҷ камӣ надоштем.
We had no shortage of vegetables, fruit, melons and watermelons.

Bonus:
Because the word харбуза ends in a vowel, you can’t just put у on it for “and”. You either have to say “харбузаю тарбуз” or “харбузаву тарбуз”. Both ways are used.

There is a good article about харбуза and all its uses here: Tiroz website – харбуза

Need to practice your fruit and nuts vocab? You can do it at Memrise: Tajik Fruit and Nuts.

якчанд

якчанд: several

Ман аз дӯкон якчанд китоб харидам.
I bought several books from the shop.
Дар Тоҷикистон якчанд намуди тортанакҳои калон вомехӯранд.
In Tajikistan you can find several types of large spiders.

Bonus:
Synonyms: як миқдор, чандин
якчанд рӯз пеш: several days ago
якчандсоатӣ: several hours (2-3 hours) at a time

The verb вохӯрдан in the second sentence means “to meet” or perhaps better, “to come across”.

ва ғайра

ва ғайра: etc., and so forth

Аз шир бисёр маҳсулоти ширӣ ба монанди маска, панир, қаймоқ, ҷурғот, ва ғайра ҳосил мекунанд.
From milk a lot of dairy products are produced like butter, cheese, cream, yoghurt etc.
Ороиши дастархон якчанд намуд дорад: ҳаррӯза, тантанавӣ, барои рӯзи таваллуд, идона ва ғайра.
There are several ways to decorate a table: every day, ceremonial, for birthdays, holidays and so forth.

Bonus:
synonyms: ва монанди инҳо, ва дигарон

Review October’s Words of the Day (and all previous months) at Memrise: Tajik Word of the Day, October 2017

оҳанг

оҳанг: tune, melody

Оҳанг форам буд.
The tune was pleasant.
Ин оҳангро шумо бисёр шунидаед.
You have heard this tune a lot.

Bonus:
Оҳанг is also sometimes used for song.
оҳангсоз: composer, song-writer
оҳангсозӣ: composing
ба оҳанг бастан: to put to music, as in to put a poem to music

Review October’s Words of the Day (and all previous months) at Memrise: Tajik Word of the Day, October 2017

пеш аз милод

пеш аз милод: BC

Арасту дар синни 63-солагӣ, дар соли 322 пеш аз милод вафот кард.
Aristotle died at the age of 63, in the year 322 BC.
Дар Ҳиндустон се ҳазор сол пеш аз милод пахтаро кишт карда, аз он матоъ мебофтанд.
In India three thousand years BC they cultivated cotton and wove material from it.

Bonus:
63: шасту се
322: сесаду бисту ду
Alternative spelling: мелод
Another way to say this is то милод (or то мелод), for example: асри 4-уми то мелод (4th century BC).
милодӣ: AD
For example: дар асри X милодӣ (in the tenth century AD)