Word A Day

чарх задан

чарх задан: to spin, to rotate, to circle

Замин дар гирди офтоб чарх мезанад.
The earth rotates around the sun.

Самолёт дар болои қишлоқ ду-се бор чарх заду поён фуромад.
The plane circled above the village two or three times and landed.

Bonus:
Synonyms: гирд гаштан, давр задан
Something else that spins – чархофалак. This word is used for all kinds of spinning rides found at amusement parks.

нимкура

нимкура: hemisphere

Фасли тобистон дар Нимкураи Шимолӣ аз 21 июн то 21 сентябр, дар Нимкураи Ҷанубӣ аз 21 декабр то 20 март давом мекунад.
Summer in the northern hemisphere lasts from 21st of June to 21st of September, and in the southern hemisphere from 21st of December to 20th of March.
Bonus:
ним (half) + кура (sphere) = нимкура
This word can also be used to refer to the left and right half of the brain – нимкураи чап and нимкураи рост.

тобистон

тобистон: summer

Тобистон баъд аз фасли баҳор ва пеш аз фасли тирамоҳ меояд.
Summer comes after spring and before autumn (fall).
Имсол тобистон хеле гарм мешавад.
This year summer will be very hot.
Bonus:
If you need to learn or practice words related to months and seasons you can check out this:
Memrise – Tajik Months and Seasons.
(You have to join Memrise, but it’s completely free.)
You can change this noun to an adjective by adding the letter а to get тобистона.
e.g. либоси тобистона – summer clothes

тавонистан

тавонистан: to be able

Шумо шино карда метавонед? Ҳа метавонам.
Сan you swim? Yes I can. (Are you able to swim. Yes, I am able.)
Ман метавонам ба шумо пул диҳам.
I can give you money. (I am able to give you money.)
Bonus:
The second sample sentence could also be written like this:
Ман ба шумо пул дода метавонам.
Colloquially, the letters ав are often dropped. So the first example would be:
Шумо шино карда метонед? Ҳа метонам.
From the same root, тавоно is an adjective that means “able”, and is sometimes translated as “powerful” or “capable”.

фасл

фасл: season

Сол ба фаслҳо тақсим мешавад.
A year is divided into seasons.
Дар як сол чор фасл ҳаст.
There are four seasons in one year.
Bonus:
If you need to learn or practice words related to months and seasons you can check out this:
Memrise – Tajik Months and Seasons.
(You have to join Memrise, but it’s completely free.)
Notice from the second sentence above, that when a noun comes after a number it does not have the plural ending as it would in English.

бегона

бегона: stranger

Гӯсфандон аз паси бегона намераванд.
The sheep will not follow (go behind) a stranger.
Меҳмонро, хоҳ дӯст бошаду хоҳ бегона, иззату икром бикун.
Respect and honour the guest, whether he is a friend or a stranger.
Bonus:
Here is a great phrase. Challenge – use this today. In a nice, joking way of course.
Ту аз ақл бегона шудӣ! – Literally: You have become a stranger to wisdom (or reason)! or You’re crazy!
Бегона can also be an adjective as in алафи бегона – weed.

баргаштан

баргаштан: to return, to come back

Онҳо дирӯз ба хона баргаштанд.
Yesterday they came back home.
Ба Тоҷикистон бармегардам.
I will return to Tajikistan.
Bonus:
The verb баргаштан is one of a few, where when putting it in future tense the prefix ме- is not at the beginning of the word. Here are a couple more verbs that work in a similar way.
даргирифтан – to catch on fire
баркашидан – to weigh
If you know of others please leave a comment.

мусобиқа

мусобиқа: competition

Асп бо номи «Робин Гуд» ғолиби мусобиқа шуд.
A horse with the name “Robin Hood” was the winner of the competition.
Дар ин мусобиқа 30 нафар шиноварон иштирок карданд.
30 swimmers participated in this competition.
Bonus:
A common pattern for Arabic loan words is му*о*и*а where the * stands for a consonant. Here are some more examples:
мубориза – fight, struggle;
муқобила – opposition;
муболиға – exaggeration;
муҳокима – discussion;
мулоҳиза – consideration, opinion

кунҷ

кунҷ: corner

Писараш дар кунҷи ошхона бозӣ мекард.
Her son would play in the corner of the kitchen.
Бедона ба кунҷи хона парида рафта, дар рӯи кӯрпача нишаст.
The quail flew to the corner of the room and sat on the korpacha (floor mat).
Bonus:
Кунҷ and кунҷа are used to make several compound words.
секунҷа – triangle
росткунҷа – rectangle
And my favourite:
кунҷков – curious; (ков is from the verb кофтан, to look for)

булбул

булбул: nightingale

Марям булбул барин месарояд.
Mariam sings like a nightingale.
Булбул паррандаи хурдакаки зебо ва хушовоз мебошад.
A nightingale is a small, beautiful and sweet-singing bird.

Bonus:
Here is a proverb. Feel free to discuss the meaning and when you could use this proverb in the comments below.
Шахси беватан – булбули бечаман.
A person without a homeland is like a nightingale without a meadow.
Tajik Wikipedia has a short article about nightingales that is not too difficult to read.