# Persian: قلمِ مرا پیدا کردند



## Jamshed Aslam

"They found my pen" is qalam-e maraa paydaa kardand according to my textbook.
Shouldn't it have been qalam-e maraa yaaftand instead? I think the first sentence would mean "They gave birth to my pen" since پیدا means "birth".


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## puya

Both are correct and common.
پیدا کردن = to find, to reveal (but not to give birth)
یافتن = to find (among other meanings)

birth = تولد, زایمان


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## truce

Jamshed Aslam said:


> "They found my pen" is qalam-e maraa paydaa kardand according to my textbook.
> Shouldn't it have been qalam-e maraa yaaftand instead? I think the first sentence would mean "They gave birth to my pen" since پیدا means "birth".


قلم مرا را یافتند is very formal in Farsi and it is never used in spoken Farsi.


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## James Bates

truce said:


> قلم مرا را یافتند is very formal in Farsi and it is never used in spoken Farsi.



Would it be used in newspapers and magazines and other types of written material?


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## puya

> Would it be used in newspapers and magazines and other types of written material?



Yes یافتن is pretty common in all sorts of written texts, but as truce mentioned, not very common in speech.


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## Stranger_

There is also the verb "جُستن" which, as many other genuine Persian verbs and for no apparent reason, has fallen into the hellhole of archaism! In many regional dialects, جستن or its other forms "واجستن/واجوختن" is the primary verb used for "to find".


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## James Bates

Actually, I think that jostan means "to search" while yaaftan means "to find". In other words, first you do the former, then you hopefully do the latter.


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## Stranger_

_jostan _can mean both "to search" and "to find".


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## colognial

Of course there is بچه پیدا کردن, which refers to a person or couple having a child or children.


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## PersoLatin

Stranger_ said:


> _jostan _can mean both "to search" and "to find".


Does it though? I thought it only meant, to look for, or search.

So if you say آنرا جستم, which do you mean, 'I looked for it' or 'I found it'?

Maybe there's a context in which it means, to find, but that can't be the primary meaning of jostan.


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## Stranger_

Yes it does mean "to find". Haven't you ever heard someone say "هر چی گشتم نجستم" or "هر چی دنبالش گشتم نجسمتش"? As I said, in many dialects, its primary meaning is "to find".



> So if you say آنرا جستم, which do you mean, 'I looked for it' or 'I found it'?


If I say or write this in formal Persian then sure I mean "I looked for it" but if I say it in my own dialect or some other close dialects then my intended meaning will be "I found it".

By the way, you can find this meaning in dictionaries too.


> جستن . [ ج ُ ت َ ] (مص ) یافتن . (بهارعجم ) (آنندراج ) (برهان ). یافتن و پیدا کردن . (فرهنگ فارسی معین ). یافتن و گم کرده را پیدا کردن . (ناظم الاطباء). در تداول عوام ، یافتن و یافتن چیزی گمشده . (یادداشت مؤلف )



But of course, in classical, formal and standard Persian the primary meaning of it is "to search/to look for".

گفتند یافت می‌نشود جسته‌ایم ما
گفت آن که یافت می‌نشود آنم آرزوست

They said: "he cannot be found, we have (already) searched"
He answered: "he who cannot be found is indeed my desire"


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## Asadullah

Stranger: What does هر چی گشتم نجستم mean? "Everything I looked for I didn't find"? I know that har che/chi means "everything".


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## puya

> As I said, in many dialects, its primary meaning is "to find".



Generally, when non-native speakers ask for help in a foreign language, they don't look for meanings that happen to be  applicable only in certain dialects of the language, they look for the standard meanings so that they can use them everywhere without the worry of being misunderstood.
So while I confirm your point that جستن means both 'to search' and 'to find' in certain Iranian dialects, since it is not the case in standard Farsi, the hint is irrelevant for the OP.


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## Stranger_

> Stranger: What does هر چی گشتم نجستم mean? "Everything I looked for I didn't find"? I know that har che/chi means "everything".


No. هر چی here means هر چه قدر

@puya
Well, I think I mentioned in my post that it is a regional usage and not a standard one. Anyway, you cannot call it "irrelevant" because the subject concerns Persian language which includes regional dialects too. Granted, it is not what the OP was looking for, but it still presents some information for those who love Persian and its varieties.


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## truce

James Bates said:


> Actually, I think that jostan means "to search" while yaaftan means "to find". In other words, first you do the former, then you hopefully do the latter.


There is a known proverb in Farsi which says:
عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود


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## PersoLatin

برويد و بنگريد و آنچه بيابيد بياريد

هر كه باشد تشنه و چشمه نيابد هيچ جاى
بى گمان راضى بباشد گر بيابد آبگند


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## James Bates

عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود

Translation please!


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## truce

James Bates said:


> عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود
> 
> Translation please!


Searcher will be finally the finder.


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## truce

James Bates said:


> عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود
> 
> Translation please!


Note : In this proverb "بود" is pronounced "bovad" not "bood" and means (will be) not (was).


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## Stranger_

"جستن" in this _beit _is used in both senses:

جوانی شمع ره کردم که *جویم *زندگانی را
*نجستم *زندگانی را و گم کردم جوانی را
شهریار

Also, could someone tell in what sense it is used in this famous _beit _of Maulana?

هر کسی از ظن خود شد یار من
از درون من *نجست *اسرار من

What does it mean here? to "search" or "find"?


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## PersoLatin

Stranger_ said:


> هر کسی از ظن خود شد یار من
> از درون من *نجست *اسرار من


We have had a thread covering جستن/جوئيدن. jost & ju are the past & present stems of juŷdan, to search/to look for.

But, jostan seems to have developed from the past stem, into a fully fledged verb, meaning, to 'find' but after a 'search', so technically, if you 'find' a coin in the street, you shouldn't use jostan, but people may do.

I would say, here, it means 'search': 'anyone who became my companion/friend, by their own will (voluntarily), didn't search for the secret(s) in my inner soul'. I believe môlânâ is saying, you cannot find the 'secret' by asking me about it, you will find your own, with devotion, in time.


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