یکی بود یکی نبود

Persian

Etymology

Compare the similar semantics of Azerbaijani biri var idi, biri yox idi (“once upon a time/there was, there was not”), Turkish bir varmış, bir yokmuş (“once upon a time/there was, there was not”), Georgian იყო და არა იყო რა (iq̇o da ara iq̇o ra, “once upon a time/there was, there was not”), Armenian լինում է, չի լինում (linum ē, čʻi linum) and կար-չկար (kar-čʻkar, “once upon a time/there was, there was not”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ja.keː buːd ja.keː na.ˈbuːd/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [jä.kʰeː buːd̪ jä.kʰeː nä.buːd̪]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [jä.kʰeː buːd̪ jä.kʰeː nä.buːd̪]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [jä.kʰeː bud̪̥ jä.kʰeː nä.bud̪̥]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [jekʰʲiː buːd̪̥ jekʰʲiː næ.buːd̪̥]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [jä.kʰe bud̪ jä.kʰe nä.bud̪]

Readings
Classical reading^?	yakē būd yakē nabūd
Dari reading^?	yakē būd yakē nabūd
Iranian reading^?	yeki bud yeki nabud
Tajik reading^?	yake bud yake nabud

Idiom

یکی بود یکی ن بود • (yeki bud yeki nabud)

(used at the beginnings of fairytales) once upon a time (literally One was, one wasn't.)
Synonym: روزی از روزها (ruzi az ruz-hâ)