# Persian: I watched him working.



## seitt

Hi

Please could you translate this for me?
I watched him working.

And also this, please:
I heard him singing.

Many thanks

Simon


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## searcher123

My effort:

I watched him working
در حال كار ديدمش
ديدمش سرگرم كار بود
داشت كار مي‌كرد، ديدمش

I heard him singing
شنيدم داشت آواز مي‌خوند
آواز خوندنشو شنيدم


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## Qureshpor

Is this possible?

uu-raa kaar-kunaan diidam

I saw him working

uu-raa aavaaz-xvaanaan shiniidam

I heard him singing


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## searcher123

QURESHPOR said:


> Is this possible?
> 
> uu-raa kaar-kunaan diidam
> 
> I saw him working
> 
> uu-raa aavaaz-xvaanaan shiniidam
> 
> I heard him singing



Yes, but in literature not daily life.


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## Aryamp

searcher123 said:


> I watched him working
> در حال كار ديدمش = "I saw him working" or " I saw him while I was working"! (could work both ways , depends on context) also for _to watch نگاه کردن or تماشا کردن _works better .
> ديدمش سرگرم كار بود
> داشت كار مي‌كرد، ديدمش
> 
> I heard him singing
> شنيدم داشت آواز مي‌خوند = "I heard that he was singing" which is quite different in meaning from "I heard him singing"
> آواز خوندنشو شنيدم = "I heard his singing"  there's a subtle difference in meaning here



Some other possible versions :

I watched him working
در حالی که کار می کرد نگاش کردم
وقتی کار می کرد تماشاش کردم

I heard him singing
وقتی آواز می خوند صداش رو شنیدم
در حالی که آواز می خوند صداش رو شنیدم


(In english it's normal to say a phrase like " I can't hear you please speak louder" however in Persian it's somewhat strange to say "نمی‌شنومت" ! instead we say *صدات *رو نمی شنوم or نمی‌شنوم چی میگی   hence I don't tranlsate as : در حالی که آواز می خوند _*شنیدمش*_)


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## Treaty

QURESHPOR said:


> Is this possible?
> 
> uu-raa kaar-kunaan diidam
> 
> I saw him working
> 
> uu-raa aavaaz-xvaanaan shiniidam
> 
> I heard him singing



As searcher123 said, in (old) literary texts. However, the second one is rare in literary writing. Although it is possible to use a person as the direct object of شنیدن, its object is usually the voice of a person:
صدای او را شنیدم
او را شنیدم


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## darush

QURESHPOR said:


> ...-xvaanaan...



خوانان /xaanaan/ 
خواندن /xaandan/
خواستن /xaastan/
خواهر /xaahar/
خوار /xaar/
.
.
.


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## Qureshpor

darush said:


> خوانان /xaanaan/
> خواندن /xaandan/
> خواستن /xaastan/
> خواهر /xaahar/
> خوار /xaar/
> .
> .
> .


aaqaa-ye-darush. We live in a very unjust world. When you write the words in Persian and show the vaa'o, it is fine. Yet when I show the same words in Latin script and show the vaa'o, it is wrong! Who is talking about the pronunciation, anyway? Besides, in my pronunciation we still keep the vaa'o!


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## Aryamp

QURESHPOR said:


> aaqaa-ye-darush. We live in a very unjust world. When you write the words in Persian and show the vaa'o, it is fine. Yet when I show the same words in Latin script and show the vaa'o, it is wrong! Who is talking about the pronunciation, anyway? Besides, in my pronunciation we still keep the vaa'o!



Indeed when it comes to different dialects no one can say one is better or more correct than the other and when I read your transliteration I can easily tell you're using an eastern Persian dialect and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.


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## seitt

Many thanks, truly most informative.


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## searcher123

Aryamp said:


> ﴾...﴿
> 
> I watched him working
> در حالی که کار می کرد نگاش کردم
> وقتی کار می کرد تماشاش کردم
> ﴾...﴿



Thanks for your correction. What about the follow:

I watched him working
مشغول كار كه بود زير نظر داشتمش/گرفتمش
حين كار زير نظر داشتمش/گرفتمش


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## Aryamp

searcher123 said:


> Thanks for your correction. What about the follow:
> 
> I watched him working
> مشغول كار كه بود زير نظر داشتمش/گرفتمش
> حين كار زير نظر داشتمش/گرفتمش




زیر نظر گرفتن رو می‌شه ترجمه کرد 
(to watch (over
to keep under surveillance
to keep an eye on

اما به طور عادی در همچین کاربردی 
to watch 
معنی نگاه کردن یا تماشا کردن می ده مگر اینکه مفهوم متن ترجمه‌ی(زیر نظر گرفتن ) رو توجیه کنه.


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## seitt

> در حالی که کار می کرد نگاش کردم


I was just wondering: is it correct to change the word order and say the following?
نگاش کردم در حالی که کار می کرد


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## Aryamp

seitt said:


> I was just wondering: is it correct to change the word order and say the following?
> نگاش کردم در حالی که کار می کرد



Yes you can change the order and it will still be understandable, though normally there's a tendency to have the main verb at the end of the sentence.


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## seitt

Many thanks, excellent!


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