# Persian: حالا خوبه



## seitt

Greetings,

Again, courtesy of Morteza:
حالا خوبه یه پاره استخوان بیشتر نیستیا، اینقدر رو داری! اگه یدونه بزنم توی گوشِت، ٦ تا معلق می‌زنی!

I think this must be idiomatic as I can't see how it can be good (حالا خوبه) that someone is so thin. What is the rôle of “اینقدر رو داری” – just to emphasize the sentence?

All the best, and many thanks,

Simon


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## Ben422

حالا خوبه means something like "*It's a good thing*" , "*It's lucky*", "*Thank Goodness*" , "*I'm glad*".

It's a good thing you're nothing but skin and bone!
  Thank goodness you're nothing but skin and bone!
I'm glad you're nothing but skin and bone!

Synonyms:
باز خوبه
حالا/باز جای شکرش باقیه
حالا/باز خدا رو شکر

اینقدر رو داری here means '(And still) you've got so much nerve!' (i.e. God only knows how rude you could be if you were more than skin and bone!)


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## seitt

Thank you!

So, presumably, the idea is that the unconscious fear of being beaten up makes this unpleasant person less nasty than he might otherwise be. 

Have I understood correctly, please?

Btw, according to your description of the meaning of حالا خوبه, I would recommend this expression: "It's just as well..."


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> Thank you!
> 
> So, presumably, the idea is that the unconscious fear of being beaten up makes this unpleasant person less nasty than he might otherwise be.
> 
> Have I understood correctly, please?


 
Yes, in my example the meaning is exactly the same. Another example for more clarification:

Suppose that when you are passing the street, your body impacted with a 10 years old boy's body accidentally.

"مرتيكه چرا چشاتو باز نمي‌كني! بزنم دماغ مماغتو داغون كنم؟", the rude boy is shouting you coarsely.

Of course not only you, but also the bad boy himself know that you can punish him easily, but you don't want show him the reality.
"برو بچّه پررو! حالا خوبه يه وجب بيشتر قد نداريا! اگه واقعا زور داشتي ديگه چي مي‌شدي؟!ا", so you will say amazed.



seitt said:


> Btw, according to your description of the meaning of حالا خوبه, I would recommend this expression: "It's just as well..."



That looks really accurate. Can you give us an example, please?


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## Ben422

seitt said:


> Thank you!
> 
> So, presumably, the idea is that the unconscious fear of being beaten up makes this unpleasant person less nasty than he might otherwise be.
> 
> Have I understood correctly, please?
> 
> Btw, according to your description of the meaning of حالا خوبه, I would recommend this expression: "It's just as well..."




  Thank you so much Simon for the very helpful recommendation. You've understood correctly, but what makes the unpleasant person less nasty than he might otherwise be is, in my opinion, "*the fear of being confronted with an unthinkable rudeness*".

The sentence "حالا خوبه یه پاره استخوان بیشتر نیستی و اینقدر رو داری" is a bit too hard for me to render. The whole idea is a combination of the following two sentences:

1- You are so rude despite being all skin and bone!
2- It's just as well you're all skin and bone (Otherwise Heaven knows what you would be like!)

I wish I could avoid repeating the phrase "all skin and bone" and write only one sentence!


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## searcher123

In other word:
Now that you are so languid you are so rude, what was happened with you if you were powerful and strong?!


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## seitt

Many thanks - after weighing up your excellent answers carefully, I have concluded that what is the case with this particular unpleasant person is that his assertiveness is lessened by his poor physical condition.

Re حالا/باز جای شکرش باقیه, is شکر shekar (sugar) or shokr (thanks)? I think it must be the latter but I would like to be sure.

And as for 'It's just as well', I heartily recommend this excellent thread:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=219361
and also
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic26285.html
and
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/it-s-just-as-well-that

That should give you plenty of examples. If you require more, please let me know.


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## searcher123

First of all, yes, that is Shokr. But next:

Thank you very much for your examples, dear Simon. As Einstein had told, giving example is not an alternative way of learning, it is the only way  Now after your kindness, I can decisively say that 'It's just as well...' is not the equivalent of 'حالا خوبه كه' or 'حالا خوب شد كه', however, the meanings are very close to each other. If we want give an equivalent to 'It's just as well...', that will be خوب شد ﴿كه﴾ا or خوبه كه. When there is an حالا before خوبه كه, the meaning is so different. For example the translation of some of your instances are as follow:



It's beginning to rain - it's just as well that we brought our umbrellas.
داره بارون مي‌گيره. خوبه/خوب شد با خودمون چتر آورديم! ﴿وگرنه اگر چتر نياورده بوديم، خيس مي‌شديم﴾ا

It's just as well that you looked before you leaped.
خوبه/خوب شد قبل از اينكه بپري، نگاه كردي! ﴿وگرنه به عنوان مثال چاله را نمي‌ديدي و به داخل آن مي‌افتادي﴾ا

Perhaps it is just as well that there was no escape clause in David Beckam's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy.
چه خوب مي‌شد اگه راه فراري براي عقد قرارداد "ديويد بكهام" با "لوس‌آنجلس گالاكسي" وجود نداشت ﴿يعني اگه مي‌شد كاري كرد كه بكهام چاره‌اي جز امضاي قرارداد نداشته باشد، خيلي خوبي ميدشد و جاي خوشحالي داشت﴾ا
​
In none of above sentences, you cannot use حالا خوبه كه instead of خوبه كه. Really I don't know how must I clarify my means, but I hope if I change the above examples to a sentence with حالا خوبه كه, you will help us to found a good equivalent for حالا خوبه كه  in English.



حالا خوبه/خوب شد مي‌دونستيم مي‌خواد بارون بياد و با خودمون چتر آورديم ﴿و با وجود اين توجهي كه داشتيم، باز هم اينقدر خيس شديم!﴾ا
i.e. Now that we brought our umbrellas, we are so wet because of the rain! What worse situation was happen on us if we were not brought our umbrellas?! (there is a critic satirize in this sentence)
حالا خوبه/خوب شد قبل از اينكه بپري نگاه كردي ﴿و با وجود اينكه نگاه كردي، باز هم افتادي توي چاله﴾!ا
i.e. Now that you looked before you leaped, you (for example) was unable to see the ditch and so you fall at it! What a worse situation was happen on you if you were not looking before your jump (there is a critic satirize in this sentence)
حالا خوبه/خوب شد راه فراري براي عقد قرارداد "ديويد بكهام" با "لوس‌آنجلس گالاكسي" وجود نداشت!ا ﴿و با وجود اينكه راه فراري وجود نداشت، باز هم او امضا نكرد﴾ا
i.e. Now that there was not any escape clause in David Beckam's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy, he (for example)  is not put his signature to the contract and asked some more money for this work, what worse he was asked if there was an escape clause existed too?! (there is a critic satirize in this sentence)

حالا خوبه كه is really common and usual in modern Persian, so I suggest you don't trifle it before you understand completely.


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## Ben422

seitt said:


> Re حالا/باز جای شکرش باقیه, is شکر shekar (sugar) or shokr (thanks)? I think it must be the latter but I would like to be sure.


Sorry I forgot to answer this! As you said, it's *شُکر* (*shokr*). "*جای شکر*" means a *bright side* or a *saving grace* which prevents a thing or a situation from being completely bad and for which you feel grateful to God.
"*باز جای شکرش باقیه که*" is used to add a positive comment about a negative situation. The simplest and most basic translation for it is "*at least*". Here's an example:

!اون خیلی آدم کندیه،* ولی باز جای شکرش باقیه* که قابل اعتماده
She's very slow, but at least she's reliable.
She's very slow, but she has the saving grace of being reliable.
She's very slow, but the bright side is that she's reliable.


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## seitt

Many thanks, very helpful indeed.

As for the English equivalent of حالا خوبه, well, it's very difficult.

How about 'the one good thing in all this is that...'? 'the one thing we can be thankful for is that...'?


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## searcher123

Near, but yet different. The best equivalent for 'at least' is حداقل, دست‌كم or هرچي باشه. For a suitable equivalent we must found a word in the meaning of 'I'm very glad that at least...' or حالا خوبه حداقل، حالا خوبه دست‌كم or حالا خوبه هرچي باشه

Some other examples:
حالا خوبه حداقل/دست‌كم هنوز من رو يه كم قبول داري، ﴿وگرنه فكر كنم اصلا توي خانه هم راهم نمي‌دادي﴾
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حالا خوبه هرچي باشه هنوز شوهرتم! ﴿وگرنه فكر كنم اصلا محل هم به من نمي‌گذاشتي﴾
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حالا خوبه هرچي باشه يه ماشين قراضه داريم، ﴿وگرنه فكر كنم هرجا مي‌رفتيم بايد كولت مي‌كردم﴾ا


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## seitt

Many thanks, very useful as always.

How about 'the one good thing in all this is that...'? 'the one thing we can be thankful for is that...'?

(I think you must have missed this edit of mine as I had originally suggested 'at least'.)


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## Ben422

^ I googled your two suggestions to see some examples and tried to examine the contexts carefully. At least the examples I saw show that that your suggestions (particularly the second one) can be good equivalents for 'جای شکرش باقی است" and in many cases for "حالا خوبه که". Many thanks for that! What I like the most about your suggestions is the use of "the one ...".

  I don't think "حالا خوبه" is anything unusual in itself. We only have to see what "حالا" means in all of this. The fact is that the word "حالا" has very different shades of meanings in Persian. But for no apparent reason, the only meaning we usually see in dictionaries is "now". Its other meanings include:

*now, just, at least, soon, still, yet, just, in all of this, anyway, etc.*

*حالا* تو این جعبه چی هست؟ (= anyway)
*حالا* خیلی مونده (= still)
*حالا* معلوم میشه (= soon)
*حالا* برادرت یه ماشین داره! تو چی داره؟ (= at least)
*حالا* من یه چیزی گفتم (= just)
*حالا* تا ببینیم (= still, yet)

  The idea that 'حالا' in 'حالا خوبه' conveys is almost like 'at least'. I, for one, think that all of the phrases and idioms discussed in this thread (+ at least) can be used to translate 'حالا خوبه که'. But that depends on the contexts too!


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## searcher123

Oh yes.
After googling some examples with your new suggestions, unfortunately I think I should say "NO" again. First of all, I should mention that the last examples of *Ben422* was for شكر (Shokr), not for حالا خوبه كه.

'_the one good thing in all this is that_' means 'هر بدي كه داشته باشه، اين حُسن را هم داره كه' or 'با وجود تمام بديهاش، اينش خوبه كه' and '_the one thing we can be thankful for is that..._' means 'خوبيش اينه كه'.

Yes, your equivalents are very nice for خوبه كه, خدا رو شكر كه and جاي شكرش باقيه كه, but just without حالا or باز at the beginning of them. When there is a حالا or باز at the beginning of them, the meaning is so different.

Sometime you might use a positive sentence, but you meant a negative meaning of it. For example suppose that you see a pygmy man. "what is your name", you will ask him. "My name is Hercules", he will answer. "You are a real Hercules!", you will reply.

As you see, in above example, "you are a real Hercules!" itself is a positive sentence with a really nice meaning, but when you use it for a pygmy, the meaning will be completely negative to make merry over his name. Using حالا or باز at the beginning of خوبه كه or جاي شكرش باقيه كه exactly have the same usage. In other word, when you use حالا or باز at the beginning of خوبه كه or جاي شكرش باقيه كه, you want to animadvert and criticize of a situation, although your sentence might be appeared as a positive sentence.

In above meaning, حالا خوبه كه always is used at the beginning of a sentence (I cannot remember any example in contra with my saying). Even when it is used in the second part of a bisection sentences, if you have a look at it, you can see that the first part is a complete sentence and the second part itself is is another complete sentence. If I want give you a formula for clarifying the meaning of a sentence with حالا خوبه كه, maybe I can say:

حالا خوبه كه ﴿_وقوع وضعيت بد اوّل_﴾، در غير اينصورت ﴿_حتمي بودن وقوع وضعيت بد ديگري بدتر از وضعيت بد اوّل_﴾ا​
I'm agree that my explanation is a little distractive, but sorry if I cannot explain better. I hope others can clarify our discussion more.


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## searcher123

Oh, my answer was at the same time as *BEN422*. I think if you have a look at his excellent definitions of حالا, you will found the answer so sooner.


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## seitt

Many thanks, very much clearer now.

Just a final suggestion, which, I appreciate, probably won't fit all cases: "At least we can be thankful that..."
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22at+least+we+can+be+thankful+that%22&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7;&rlz=1I7SKPT_en#sclient=psy&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SKPT_en&source=hp&q=%22at+least+we+can+be+thankful+that%22&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=4287dfd63891046d


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## Ben422

Let's take Morteza's examples:

 حالا خوبه هنوز من رو يه كم قبول داري
 حالا خوبه هرچي باشه يه ماشين قراضه داريم

 Your suggestion fits the above examples very well.

 At least I can be thankful that you still trust me a bit!
 At least we can be thankful that we have this rattletrap!

 The meaning in the following examples is basically the same, but the connotation is bit different, because these sentences are sarcastic and the speaker is trying to show the irony of the situation.

 حالا خوبه یه پاره استخوان بیشتر نیستی و اینقدر رو داری
 حالا خوبه شوهرتم
 حالا خوبه بهت گفتم (و این کارو نکردی


The word خوب in the above examples can be replaced with جالب (= ironically interesting) and حالا خوبه with جالب اینجاست که


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## searcher123

seitt said:


> Many thanks, very much clearer now.
> 
> Just a final suggestion, which, I appreciate, probably won't fit all cases: "At least we can be thankful that..."
> http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22at+least+we+can+be+thankful+that%22&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7;&rlz=1I7SKPT_en#sclient=psy&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SKPT_en&source=hp&q=%22at+least+we+can+be+thankful+that%22&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&fp=4287dfd63891046d



However, we have an exact equivalent for above sentence in Persian that is حداقل خوبيش اينه كه or حداقل جاي شكرش باقيه كه and as you told, can not be used instead of حالا خوبه كه in any situation, but we are very closer to the main meaning of حالا خوبه كه now.

First, again I should thank you so much because of your very usable equivalent. I think I learned many more of you   

Then I don't know how many do you are took the real meaning of حالا خوبه كه. Now the problem is its 'meaning' or founding an equivalent for it in English?

Well, I suppose that the problem is the meaning. So I think if I give some other examples, all thing will be more clearer.

Example1:
What do you think when you see a bodybuilding person? Of course you will though he is very strong, brave and insuperable. Okay? You are lived with this idea all of your life and now you found a bodybuilt friend and you are in picnic with him. During dinner,  a very small beetle will be droped on his hand. Suddenly your friend will get the wind up and begin to cry hardly. You will say:

حالا خوبه گردن كلفتي و اين طوري از يك حشره به اين كوچكي ترسيدي!ا

I.e. You that have so strong body, should not be afraid of anything, even if it is a lion! but now you are afraid of such a small bug so sever?!!

Example2:
Suppose that I like painting. I will enroll in a painting class. When I am graduated, I will enroll in another better painting class. After graduating in that class too, I will enroll in an advanced painting class again. In one word, two years after migrating of one class to another class, you will ask me to paint a leaf for you. I will paint, but when you give a look at my painting, you cannot understand what I am painted!: A leaf, a dog, a home, a computer or any other things! you will say:

حالا خوبه دوساله داري كلاس نقاشي مي‌ري!ا

I.e. now after two years learning panting, you must be Davinchi, but you cannot paint even a leaf!. What a big painter are you!!

Example3:
Suppose that one of your friends borrowed some money of you. After two month, he will ask you some more money and you will loan him again (at the present, he is not reimbursed his previous loan). One day you need a tools and you know that friend have it. You will ask him give you that tools for a short run, but your friend will show a bold front and is answered "I will not give you that tools, because you might demolish my tools." Now you will say:

حالا خوبه كلي به من بدهكاري و اينو مي‌گي!ا

I.e. Don't forget that when I loan you my money, I was not afraid that you might don't reimburse my money. Also Suppose that I demolished your tools, what is the problem? You can expiate the damage by my money.


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## seitt

Many thanks, really superb.


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