# Persian: to seize



## kalilah wa dimnah

Is "to take" gereftan or setaadan? As far as I know, setaadan is the correct way of saying "to take", e.g. می ستانم (I am taking).
gereftan, on the other hand, means "to seize", not "to take".
This is all in classical Persian, but in modern Persian both ستادن and گرفتن mean "to take". I wonder how to say "to seize" in modern Persian.


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## colognial

kalilah wa dimnah, hi. I suppose the first English equivalent that comes to mind when thinking of 'gereftan' is in fact 'to take'. But it does depend on what sense you're using the English verbs 'take' and 'seize' in. 

As for setadan, and not "setaadan", this verb also means 'to take' and is still in use though it does have an old-language ring to it.


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## kalilah wa dimnah

خیلی ممنون
Yes, you're right; the infinitive is ستدن setadan, at least in Iranian Persian. In other forms of Persian it is ستادن setaadan though.


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## لوامنّ

I have recently learned مصادره کردن meaning seize, confiscate.


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## farasso0

The only verb I can remember we still use in formal writing is بازستاندن. We don't use ستدن anymore.


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## kalilah wa dimnah

farasso0 said:


> The only verb I can remember we still use in formal writing is بازستاندن. We don't use ستدن anymore.



setaadan ستادن means "to stand", so باز ستادن would mean "to stand back (from something)". Am I right?
I guess ستادن is a variation of ایستادن eestaadan "to stand".

But we were talking about ستادن in the sense of "to take". I don't think this is used in this meaning. Only ستدن is used in this meaning.


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## farasso0

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> setaadan ستادن means "to stand", so باز ستادن would mean "to stand back (from something)". Am I right?
> I guess ستادن is a variation of ایستادن eestaadan "to stand".
> 
> But we were talking about ستادن in the sense of "to take". I don't think this is used in this meaning. Only ستدن is used in this meaning.


In the sense of گرفتن we use  ستاندن. for example بازستاندن و جان ستاندن. (in modern Persian- formal writing)
business داد و ستد
seize  گرفتن، دستگیر کردن، به تصرف درآوردن etc.


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## kalilah wa dimnah

I see. My dictionary gives several infinitives (infinitive = مصدر) for the verb می ستانم ("I am taking"):

ستدن setadan
ستادن setaadan
استدن estadan
ستاندن setaandan

But the most common seems to be ستدن setadan.


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## farasso0

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> I see. My dictionary gives several infinitives (infinitive = مصدر) for the verb می ستانم ("I am taking"):
> 
> ستدن setadan
> ستادن setaadan
> استدن estadan
> ستاندن setaandan
> 
> But the most common seems to be ستدن setadan.


Kalile va demne,I have never said these are wrong. In your first post you asked about the correct way of saying 'to take'. I just meant we don't use می ستانم in speaking. I think it is used in some dialects, but it is not relevant to your question.
I think I misunderstood your question. You can find different meanings of ستدن، استادن and ستادن here, and ستاندن here.


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## kalilah wa dimnah

Okay. By the way, the dictionary gives داد و ستاد ("giving and taking") as well as what you mentioned above.


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## truce

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> Okay. By the way, the dictionary gives داد و ستاد ("giving and taking") as well as what you mentioned above.


It is "داد و ستد" not "داد و ستاد".


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## kalilah wa dimnah

Okay. Maybe "giving and taking" is داد و ستد while داد و ستاد is something else.


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## truce

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> Okay. Maybe "giving and taking" is داد و ستد while داد و ستاد is something else.


I have never heard "داد و ستاد" before.
In Persian the word "ستاد" has a different meaning that is: an organization. There are some examples below:
ستاد نيروهاي مسلح - ستاد اجرايي - ستاد اسكان فرهنگيان


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## kalilah wa dimnah

Yes, my dictionary says setaad means "army staff headquarters".
It also gives the example of setaad-e farmaandehee (farmaandahee?) "command headquarters".


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## deathmarker

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> Yes, my dictionary says setaad means "army staff headquarters".
> It also gives the example of setaad-e farmaandehee (farmaandahee?) "command headquarters".



I think it should be farmaandahee, not farmaandehee. The latter would be colloquial. Similarly, Iranians pronounce می دھم (I am giving.) as midaham when speaking formally but mideham when speaking colloquially.


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## truce

deathmarker said:


> I think it should be farmaandahee, not farmaandehee. The latter would be colloquial. Similarly, Iranians pronounce می دھم (I am giving.) as midaham when speaking formally but mideham when speaking colloquially.


No it is pronounced "farmaandehi". Some other examples:
نوبت دهی >>> nowbat dehi
نور دهی >>> noor dehi


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## deathmarker

But don't you say "midaham" (I am giving.) and "bedahid!" (Give!) when speaking formally?


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## truce

deathmarker said:


> But don't you say "midaham" (I am giving.) and "bedahid!" (Give!) when speaking formally?


Yes are you right. But "دهی" as a suffix is pronounced "dehi" and as a Persian native speaker I do not know why it is like this.


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## kalilah wa dimnah

I have never heard an Iranian pronounce بدہ (meaning "Give!") as bedah. But maybe in formal Persian one would say "bedah" rather than "bedeh".


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## truce

kalilah wa dimnah said:


> I have never heard an Iranian pronounce بدہ (meaning "Give!") as bedah. But maybe in formal Persian one would say "bedah" rather than "bedeh".


I have never heard anyone pronouncing it "bedah" I have always heard it "bedeh" and "ده" (deh) is the present stem of the verb "دادن" and now that I think more deeply "دهی" (dehi) is derived from "ده" (deh).


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## kalilah wa dimnah

It seems that where دہ is used without anything after it, it is always pronounced "deh", even in formal Persian: فرماندہ farmaandeh, بہ من بدہ! be man bedeh!
But if there is something following دہ, then دہ is pronounced dah in formal Persian: بہ من بدھید! be man bedahid!


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## truce

ده (deh) >>> present stem of دادن (to give)
ده (deh) >>> village
ده (dah) >>> ten - 10


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## The Pathan

truce said:


> ده (deh) >>> present stem of دادن (to give)
> ده (deh) >>> village
> ده (dah) >>> ten - 10



So bedaheed and midaham are not possible, even in literary Persian? I know that bedah is not possible.


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## truce

The Pathan said:


> So bedaheed and midaham are not possible, even in literary Persian? I know that bedah is not possible.


"bedaheed" and "midaham" are the correct and accepted pronunciation for بدهيد and ميدهم


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## Treaty

The present stem of ستدن is _setān-_ (or _[e]stān-_ and has been in Middle Persian). However, there are several variants including regional _esten- _for present stem, and mainstream _setānd_- for past stem/infinitive (and its colloquial _setūnd_-).

_setād _(as for 'organization') is a revival of an archaic version of _īstād_- ('stand').

The pronunciation of _deh/dah_ is discussed in this thread. In general, in Iranian Persian, only when it is in a verb with an inflectional suffix (e.g., in _bedaham_) it is pronounced _dah_. In all other cases (in nouns, in un-suffixed verbs) it is pronounced _deh_. As also mentioned in that thread, there maybe differences between Persian and Tajik or even Dari in this case.


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