Badini help - please

[Benny]

Hi everybody,

I´m new here. Perhaps somebody can help me with translation. A girl ( a colleague) who speaks the badini dialect has offered to prepare some food for me, as a celebration of the Newroz. This is of course very nice of her, so I would like to be able to write "thank you for the food" when I thank her. Perhaps also with an extra nice word to say to a girl e.g "thank you for the food, beautiful" or "sweety" or something like that. It´s rather important that it´s in badini, so that I´m sure of that she understands it , or it can get rather awkward! I`m Scamdinavian myself, so I don´t have a great knowledge about the Kurdish language, but I understand that there are several dialects and she has mentioned that sometimes it can be a bit difficult for the different speakers to understand each other.

All help will be highly appreciated! This is a nice website, I have learned a lot here!

All the best!/B

[Piling]

Well, to thank someone for food, there are dozen of sentences in Kurdish. Behdinî and kurmancî are quite the same, for there could have some slight differences even between Behdinî places. but they understand each others (not like with Sorani dialect).

Many words are for thanking after a meal, like 'Xwedê zêde bike' (Let God's make more) or 'Me kêm kir, Xwedê zêde ke !) (we diminish it, let's God increase it again) or (secular formula) 'destên te sax' (wish your hands – coz they made the meal– will stay in good health)

Generally, a simple thank you is spas : zor spas = thank you very much; but in Bahdinan they like to say 'memnûn' for quite all circumstances : Xeylî memnûn (thank you very much).

If you want to congratulate the cook, you can say also : siheta te xweş be ! (that is both a thank you and a bravo). You can say also 'Mala te ava' (prosperity to your home/family) or 'berxwedar be ! (be blessed) .

It is not an exhaustive list. We can write a whole book with Kurdish greetings, wishes, thanks and congralutations…

[Anthea]

Hello Benny

Welcome to Roj Bash Kurdistan

Delighted to see how swiftly the Big Boss has replied

The Big Boss = the moderator who knows much more about Kurds and Kurdish language than any average 100 Kurds put together

Sadly many Kurds do not understand their own language properly

It is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn more about your friends culture - I wish all Kurds were more sharing

[Benny]

Many thanks for your help! Now I have a general idea about it. I would like to learn more Kurdish and more about the Kurdish culture, so this website helps a lot. I just hope I get it somewhat right so I don´t look like a complete fool! Perhaps you can help me with this too? Now that it´s Newroz - how do I wish her a happy new year in badini? And perhaps something like "all the best for the coming year"?

Big thanks in advance/Benny

[Piling]

Newroz wish is easy, in all parts of Kurdistan, people could understand that :

Newroza te pîroz be ! to one person or Newroza we pîroz be (for many) or in all cases : Cejna Newrozê pîroz be ! (cejn = feast, celebration).

I advice to a beginner to learn the Kurdish alphabet (the Latin one, though most people from Bahdinan use the Arabic's). It is commonly written in all publications and websites :

phpBB [video]

[Benny]

Zor spas (you see, it´s working already) for all your help. I´ll check out the link about the alphabet.

Have a nice weekend!
/B