میتونم بپرسم؟
“میتونم بپرسم؟” (mi-tunam bepârsam؟) — may I ask? in Persian. Phrase, level A2. The same "I can": a polite request begins with "may I ask". After the excuse-me it is the most courteous pair of words. Excuse me, may I ask? says the example. In a live sentence: “ببخشید، میتونم بپرسم؟” — Excuse me, may I ask? Written with the characters م, ی, ت, و, ن, م, ب, پ, ر, س, م. A word from the everyday Persian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Persian | میتونم بپرسم؟ |
| Read in Latin letters | mi-tunam bepârsam؟ |
| Translation | may I ask? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
The same "I can": a polite request begins with "may I ask". After the excuse-me it is the most courteous pair of words. Excuse me, may I ask? 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.
- ببخشید، میتونم بپرسم؟bebakhshid, mi-tunam bepârsam؟Excuse me, may I ask?
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 “may I ask?” in Persian?
«میتونم بپرسم؟», read “mi-tunam bepârsam؟”. In a live sentence: “ببخشید، میتونم بپرسم؟” — Excuse me, may I ask? Phrase, level A2; written with the characters م, ی, ت, و, ن, م, ب, پ, ر, س, م.
How is “میتونم بپرسم؟” written in Latin letters?
mi-tunam bepârsam؟. 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?
The same "I can": a polite request begins with "may I ask". After the excuse-me it is the most courteous pair of words. Excuse me, may I ask? 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.