یک و نیم
“یک و نیم” (yek â nim) — one and a half in Persian. Numeral, level A2. Literally "one and half": no separate word. The noun adapts: one-and-half hours. We waited one and a half hours, says the example. In a live sentence: “یک و نیم ساعت منتظر ماندیم” — We waited one and a half hours. Written with the characters ی, ک, و, ن, ی, م. A word from the everyday Persian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Persian | یک و نیم |
| Read in Latin letters | yek â nim |
| Translation | one and a half |
| Part of speech | numeral |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "one and half": no separate word. The noun adapts: one-and-half hours. We waited one and a half hours, 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.
- یک و نیم ساعت منتظر ماندیمyek â nim sâât muntazer mândimWe waited one and a half hours
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 “one and a half” in Persian?
«یک و نیم», read “yek â nim”. In a live sentence: “یک و نیم ساعت منتظر ماندیم” — We waited one and a half hours. Numeral, level A2; written with the characters ی, ک, و, ن, ی, م.
How is “یک و نیم” written in Latin letters?
yek â nim. 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 "one and half": no separate word. The noun adapts: one-and-half hours. We waited one and a half hours, 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.