# Persian: نگه vs نگاه



## ali likes the stars

Hello everybody, 

does نگه (to keep) derrive from نگاه (look)?

Though I am asking, it is actually written at vajehyab.

But why then are there two words?

نگه داشان > to keep
نگاه داشتن > ?

Thank you.


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## PersoLatin

ali likes the stars said:


> does نگه (to keep) derrive from نگاه (look)?



نگه داشتن is the same as نگاه داشتن and means to keep, to keep watch, hold, also to stop
نگه کردن is the same as نگاه کردن and means, to look or to take a look

نگه is another form of نگاه, the same as کوته & کوتاه or گنه & گناه etc.

نگه and نگاه on their own, mean look, attention



ali likes the stars said:


> نگه داشان > to keep


There's no such word as نگه داشان


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## ali likes the stars

Thank you for this insightful answer.
So, in terms of pronounciation, does it not make a difference whether I say نگه or نگاه?



PersoLatin said:


> There's no such word as نگه داشان



Why would you think that? There is lots of dictionary entries, articles, etc. on the web that use this form.
On loghatnameh.de there is an entry for نگه داشتن and it even has an audio recording for it.


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## fdb

In early New Persian the syllable /āh/ can in principle always be shortened to /ah/, for example šāh vs šah, or māh vs mah, etc. In modern Persian the forms with long /ā/ generally prevail.


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## ali likes the stars

fdb said:


> In early New Persian...



Wow, I had no idea. Since my Persian is so basic, I'm focussing on improving my colloquial Farsi and my reading skills. But I might end up digging into the language's history at a later point.


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## PersoLatin

ali likes the stars said:


> does it not make a difference whether I say نگه or نگاه?


Yes, one is negah the other is negāh/نگاه. As fdb said the forms with /ā/ (long a), are used in modern formal Persian, the other type with short a, is still used in poetry/song lyrics.

BTW - The colloquial for negah/نگه is nigar/نیگر (nigar dār/stop) and for negāh is nigā/نیگا (nigā kon!/look!)


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## PersoLatin

ali likes the stars said:


> Why would you think that? There is lots of dictionary entries, articles, etc. on the web that use this form.
> On loghatnameh.de there is an entry for نگه داشتن and it even has an audio recording for it.


In your original post you have used داشان, maybe it is a typo you haven't noticed, there's no *داشان*, of course *داشتن *is fine.


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## ali likes the stars

PersoLatin said:


> ...maybe it is a typo...



That was a typo, sorry! (I find the default font size for Farsi very hard to read.)




PersoLatin said:


> Yes, one is negah the other is negāh/نگاه.



Mmm.. I'm not quite sure, wheter I am making myself understood, or maybe I am not getting it.

1. You have established that نگاه and نگه are two forms of the same term.
2. Both of you have established that نگه is a rather old form used in poetry/song, while نگاه is the modern form.
3. You said that نگه has a colloquial form نیگر. I.e., instead of saying نگه بدار one would say نیگر دار.

All in all I am under the impression, that you are not using نگه at all in daily conversations. Is that correct?
I am irritated because

a) In my family we constantly say sentences like for example این را نگه بدار برای آینده.
b) I found this sentence on a web page: .اگر مایلید که فرزند دلبندتان در محیطی گرم و دوستانه، بدور از جنجالهای سیاسی و مذهبی و بدون تاثیرات منفی آموزگاران وابسته زبان مادری خویش را بیاموزد و فرهنگ مادران و پدرانشان را زنده نگاه دارد، با ما همکاری کنید. 
The usage of نگاه داشتن as in "keep" is completely new to me. All my life I have known نگاه only as "look/view" and only in combination with کردن or انداختن.
When speaking to somebody, I would have phrased this sentence more or less like this: ...اگر مایلد که فرزندتون فرهنگ را نگه بداره

Or maybe I am misunderstanding something?


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## PersoLatin

ali likes the stars said:


> a) In my family we constantly say sentences like for example این را نگه بدار برای آینده.


You are right and I wasn't very clear, نگه is used in modern Persian in terms such as نگهداری ,نگهبان ,نگه داشتن, but نگه کردن as in, to look, isn't, but I feel I might be confusing it even more, I hope not.



ali likes the stars said:


> The usage of نگاه داشتن as in "keep" is completely new to me.


But you say:


ali likes the stars said:


> a) In my family we constantly say sentences like for example این را نگه بدار برای آینده.


نگه بدار is derived from نگاه داشتن so it can't be new to you,  'Keep/look after this for the future'


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## PersoLatin

An amended version:
نگه داشتن is the same as نگاه داشتن, the latter is not used in modern Persian, and means to keep, to look after, also to stop
نگاه کردن is the same as نگه کردن, the latter is not used in modern Persian, and means, to look


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## ali likes the stars

Perfect! Now I got it! Thank you so much for your patience.


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## ali likes the stars

Oh, maybe one last thing:


ali likes the stars said:


> اگر مایلید که فرزند دلبندتان [...] فرهنگ مادران و پدرانشان را زنده نگاه دارد، با ما همکاری کنید.



Do you find the usage of نگاه instead of نگه in this case uncommon, since you said, نگاه داشتن is not used in modern Persian?


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## PersoLatin

ali likes the stars said:


> Do you find the usage of نگاه instead of نگه in this case uncommon, since you said, نگاه داشتن is not used in modern Persian?


Well spotted , depending on the tone of the the rest of the text, نگاه can work but I think in that short sample نگه would also fit.

Yet another version:
نگه داشتن is the same as نگاه داشتن, in modern times, the latter is used for literary/very formal purposes, and means to keep, to look after, also to stop
نگاه کردن is the same as نگه کردن, in modern times, the latter is used for literary/very formal purposes, and means, to look


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## ali likes the stars

haha, alright, I think I got it now XD

While I do have Iranian family (only few and no friends or acquaintances, though), non of them has the knowledge, interest, or intellectual basis for answering all my questions. In fact I asked one of them some while ago what the tentacles of jelly fish are called in Farsi. They looked at me as if I was crazy even thinking about such nonsense.

In this regard, thank you for your efforts! And please do help answer my silly questions in the future, too


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## PersoLatin

You are welcome, this is a two-way process I always learn something new myself.


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