Now we are going to talk about the interrogatives in Persian, and how
it's possible to express many of them by using the word "چه". So as you
know, "چه" itself is one of the interrogative words. It means "what." So
another interrogative word that we use is "چطور," means
how. And also we had "چقدر", means how much. So we have "چه." And other ones
are unique combinations of "چه".
Another one is the the interrogative "کجا", means where,
and it's used a lot. But sometimes you hear another way to express "کجا", which
is using the combination of "چه" and "جا". As I said the nouns after
"چه" should have a "ی" at the end.
"کجا" can be expressed by using "چه جایی".
Another interrogative is "کی", means when. It's more colloquial. It is
mainly used in spoken Persian. In written Persian, mainly people use this:
There's kind of synonym for "کی", which is a combination of "چه" and another word.
It's "چه وقت", means what time. Or "چه زمانی" As we
talked about, "وقت" is one of the exceptions after "چه". I said that
all the nouns should have a "ی" at the end. That is optional here. You can say "چه وقت"
Or "چه وقتی". Both of them are fine. So "کی", the synonyms
are "چه وقت" and "چه زمانی". Another one is "چی". Again, the
main usage is in colloquial Persian. In written Persian, mainly people use the
combination of a "چه" and another word
"کس".
And as I said, after "چه", the noun should have a "ی" at the end.
It's "چه کسی". So in written Persian, instead of using
the "کی", people use "چه کسی". So "کی" is more colloquial and "چه کسی" is more
written. Like another one is "چند". It's used colloquially and in written
Persian. There is a no problem to use it in spoken or
written. But sometimes instead of "چند", you hear this combination: چه تعداد
The word "تعداد" means numbers. So "چه تعداد". Instead of saying"چند کتاب داری", I can
say, "چه تعداد کتاب داری". So as you can see, we are able to express many
interrogatives by using the "چه" and
the combination of "چه" and another word. So "چه" means what. "چطور" is "how," and "چقدر" is
how much. "کجا" is colloquial and formal. You can use it in
written Farsi too. But "چه جایی" is used also. And "کی" means when and it's just used in
colloquial Persian. In written Persian we use "چه وقت" or "چه زمانی".
Another one is "کی", means who. It is colloquial. In written Persian, they
use the combination of "چه" and "کس". So "چه کسی". And "چه کسی آمد" is who came. In
written Persian. In spoken Persian, you can easily say "کی آمد" and the last
one "چند". That means how many, which is formal and colloquial. But the other way
to express "چند", using the combination of "چه" and the word "تعداد".
So "چه تعداد" is how many. "چه تعداد کتاب داری" is how many books do you have.
And "چه تعداد روزنامه خردیدی" is how many newspaper did you buy. So that was the
lesson on Farsi interrogatives and the way you can express them by using "چه"
and another word.