# Persian: زیادی



## seitt

Greetings,

My Oxford dictionary gives او دوستان زیادی دارد as meaning ‘she's got a lot of friends’.

However, زیادی as a single word seems to mean ‘excessive’.

So could this particular زیادی actually be زیاد plus indefinite ی? Do you pronounce زیادی stressing the ا or stressing the ی?

All the best, and many thanks,

Simon


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## seitt

I.e. ziyAAdi or ziyadEE?


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## searcher123

Another very very hard question  I must confess that I can not give you a formula for recognizing where زيادي means 'a lot of' and where means 'excessive' (another meaning of زيادي is 'not binding' or 'futile' too). The pronunciation of زيادي in both meaning is the same for me and I recognize the right meaning just by the sentences! (I hope others can help you more). I just can give you some examples:

او دوستان زيادي دارد = He/She have a lot of friends
دوستان او زيادي هستند = Her/His friends are excessive/not binding.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
همان يك سيب بس است، اين يكي ديگر زيادي است = One apple is enough,  another more will be excessive.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
كاشكا دعوتش نمي‌كرديم!. گفتم او در اين جشن زيادي است! ولي تو گوش نكردي
I hoped he/she was not invited. I told you his/her presence is futile in this party, but you don't believe me .
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
زر زيادي نزن!ا (Zer-e) = Don't say gossip! (it is a bad language)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
دوست بد، يكيش هم زيادي است
Bad friend will be excessive, even if you have just one.


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## turkcurious

I think Siett is on to something.
At first glance, it seems as if we pronounce them the same. Come to think of it, I see the following differences:
زیادی ( a lot of) : zi'yaadi.
زیادی ( excessive): ziyaa'dee


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## seitt

many thanks for two excellent, complementary contributions


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## seitt

PS Just two quick questions, please.

1. Does كاش =كاشكی = كاشكا ?
 
2. Re "دوستان او زيادي هستند = Her/His friends are excessive/not binding.", what exactly do you mean? That they are shallow?


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> PS Just two quick questions, please.
> 
> 1. Does كاش =كاشكی = كاشكا ?



Yes. Please add ايكاش to them too.



seitt said:


> 2. Re "دوستان او زيادي هستند = Her/His friends are excessive/not binding.", what exactly do you mean? That they are shallow?



This sentence is ambiguous and you can extract two different meaning of it (the real meaning will be revealed itself just by its next or previous sentences). For example:

ما فقط به دوكارگر نياز داريم، بقيه دوستان او زيادي هستند i.e. We just need two worker, other friends of him are more that our need. (زيادي in the meaning of 'excessive')

دوستان او زيادي هستند. به درد لاي جرز هم نمي‌خورند i.e. his friends are unsuitable. No one of them are useful even to be used as a stanchion. (زيادي in the meaning of 'no binding' or 'futile')


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## searcher123

Oh dear *Simon*, your question engaged my mind hardly! I think I found a formula for it finally, however, *turkcurious* answer is a better answer, but I believe there is not a clear difference between his two pronunciation in practice..

Every time there is a 'kasre' at the end of the word before of زيادي, the meaning of زيادي will be as 'a lot of'. But if there is not a 'kasre', its meaning will be as 'excessive' or 'futile'. I didn't fount any contra for my formula to now and I hope you don't found too 

Examples:
فقط من توي اين خونه زيادي هستم!ا (There is not any kasre at the end of خونه)i
تمام كتاب‌هاي او زيادي هستند (There is not any kasre at the end of او)i
اين ماشين، دود زيادي دارد (There is a kasre at the end of دود)i
در بدن اين بيمار، ويروس‌هاي زيادي خوابيده‌اند (There is a kasre at the end of ويروس‌هاي)


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## seitt

many thanks all clear now


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## damavand

I say the place of stress is different. 
او کتابهای زیادی دارد = He has a lot of books. (زیادی/ 'ziyadi/ )
من توی این خونه زیادی هستم = I am redundant/excessive in this house ( ziaa'dee)
In the first example, the stress is on the first syllable but in the second, on the last syllable.
we can also distinguish the differene this way:
Apart from that, in the second meaning, ی is stretched but in the first, it is short.
گذشته از آن ، در مثال دوم ی کشیده تلفظ می شود ولی در اولی کوتاه است


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## seitt

excellent contribution, thanks very much.


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## jrios27

seitt said:


> Greetings,
> 
> My Oxford dictionary gives او دوستان زیادی دارد as meaning ‘she's got a lot of friends’.
> 
> However, زیادی as a single word seems to mean ‘excessive’.
> 
> So could this particular زیادی actually be زیاد plus indefinite ی? Do you pronounce زیادی stressing the ا or stressing the ی?
> 
> All the best, and many thanks,
> 
> Simon


Hello everyone!

This is my first time posting here. The first question was not answered, and I have the same question.

In sentences like... 

او دوستان زیادی دارد
من دوستان متفاوتی دارم
من دوستان کمی دارم

What is the ی doing? Are there other examples where ی is attached to adjectives?

Thank you very much!


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## Qureshpor

jrios27 said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> This is my first time posting here. The first question was not answered, and I have the same question.
> 
> In sentences like...
> 
> او دوستان زیادی دارد
> من دوستان متفاوتی دارم
> من دوستان کمی دارم
> 
> What is the ی doing? Are there other examples where ی is attached to adjectives?
> 
> Thank you very much!


Welcome to the Forum, jrios27.

The suffix ی equivalent to the -ii (as in bee) sound in the modern language and in the classical Persian equivalent to the sound of the letter "a" pronunciation implies indefiniteness and in some contexts "a certain". Below is a thread you might useful. But in simple terms "kamii" can be translated as "a few"/ "a little" (a small amount) and "ziyaadii" in the sense of "many" ("many", a (vague) unknown number). kitaabii = a book or "some book or other".

Persian: Difference between یک and -ی Indefinite Article


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## jrios27

Qureshpor said:


> Welcome to the Forum, jrios27.
> 
> The suffix ی equivalent to the -ii (as in bee) sound in the modern language and in the classical Persian equivalent to the sound of the letter "a" pronunciation implies indefiniteness and in some contexts "a certain". Below is a thread you might useful. But in simple terms "kamii" can be translated as "a few"/ "a little" (a small amount) and "ziyaadii" in the sense of "many" ("many", a (vague) unknown number). kitaabii = a book or "some book or other".
> 
> Persian: Difference between یک and -ی Indefinite Article


Hello again and thank you for the welcome!

So just for my clarification, my question is why is the ی there in this situation?

For example:

Why say "او دوستان زیادی دارد" and not " او دوستان زیاد دارد"? 

In this situation,  the ی just adds the idea of indefiniteness? It is because the exact number is not known?

Thank you again for your quick and helpful reply!


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## Qureshpor

jrios27 said:


> Hello again and thank you for the welcome!
> 
> So just for my clarification, my question is why is the ی there in this situation?
> 
> For example:
> 
> Why say "او دوستان زیادی دارد" and not " او دوستان زیاد دارد"?
> 
> In this situation,  the ی just adds the idea of indefiniteness? It is because the exact number is not known?
> 
> Thank you again for your quick and helpful reply!


I am not a Persian speaker. Hopefully someone else will correct me if I am wrong.

A Persian noun-adjective phrase is of two types. One which has this suffix attached to the noun itself, which is less common in Modern Persian. The second type is where this suffix is attached to the adjective.

kitaabii surx, a red book

kitaab-e- surxii, a red book

Your example is of the second type.


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## PersoLatin

jrios27 said:


> Why say "او دوستان زیادی دارد" and not " او دوستان زیاد دارد"?


This is not correct Persian: او دوستان زیاد دارد, you either say: او دوستان زیادی دارد or او دوست زیاد دارد

Both او دوست زیاد دارد & او دوستان زیادی دارد mean "he has many friends"



jrios27 said:


> In this situation, the ی just adds the idea of indefiniteness? It is because the exact number is not known?


Not in this case, in this example او دوست زیاد دارد the number of friend is unspecific too and no ی is used.

ی here is used specifically for plurals & adverbs, based on some rule which I can not quote any reference for.
Another example of the same type او دوست‌های زیاد*ی* دارد you can not say: او دوست‌ها زیاد دارد


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## PersoLatin

jrios27 said:


> In sentences like...
> 
> او دوستان زیادی دارد
> من دوستان متفاوتی دارم
> من دوستان کمی دارم
> 
> What is the ی doing? Are there other examples where ی is attached to adjectives?


من دوستان متفاوتی دارم is incomplete with or without ی, the other two are ok & I have explained the function of ی in the above post.

Here متفاوت is an adjective کم & زیاد are adverbs.


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