Taarof is one of the first things you will face in Iran when you interact with Iranians. These are true stories that you will possibly experience in Iran:

You will pay the taxi driver the money and he might refuse to accept it. In case you leave the taxi unpaid at this moment, you ‘ll see the driver is disappointed, leaving you in confusion.

You want to know how much you should pay a shopkeeper for the souvenir you bought in a traditional shop, but he/she refused to give a price telling you to be his/her guest. You thank`em and leave the shop, the moment you want to get out of the shop, he/she says the price while he does not seem satisfied.

You ask for an address from a random salesman while he is eating his food at his shop, after helping you, he will invite you to join his/her food. If you accept immediately, you’ll see some signs of surprise in his face.

Another common situation that you’ll notice Taarof is when you want to leave or enter somewhere. It might take Iranians minutes to wait and ask each other to be the first.

Such situations will make you really confused about Iranian behavior. You seem like you will never understand the difference between when Iranians really mean what they say and when they are just trying to be polite. Well that all can be explained if you know about the Persian etiquette “Tarof”. Later on, we will show you how to respond politely to Taarof.