قاشق و چنگال
“قاشق و چنگال” (kâshâg va chengâl) — cutlery in Persian. Noun, level A1. Literally "spoon and fork": there is no separate word for cutlery. The waiter is asked for them exactly as a pair. On the table, says the example. In a live sentence: “قاشق و چنگال روی میز است.” — The cutlery is on the table. Written with the characters ق, ا, ش, ق, و, چ, ن, گ, ا, ل. A word from the everyday Persian course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Persian | قاشق و چنگال |
| Read in Latin letters | kâshâg va chengâl |
| Translation | cutlery |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "spoon and fork": there is no separate word for cutlery. The waiter is asked for them exactly as a pair. On the table, says the example
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- قاشق و چنگال روی میز است.kâshâg va chengâl ru-ye miz ast.The cutlery is on the table.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “cutlery” in Persian?
«قاشق و چنگال», read “kâshâg va chengâl”. In a live sentence: “قاشق و چنگال روی میز است.” — The cutlery is on the table. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ق, ا, ش, ق, و, چ, ن, گ, ا, ل.
How is “قاشق و چنگال” written in Latin letters?
kâshâg va chengâl. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "spoon and fork": there is no separate word for cutlery. The waiter is asked for them exactly as a pair. On the table, says the example. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.