Persian grammar
Encyclopedia
Persian grammar is the body of rules describing the properties of the Persian language
. Persian grammar is similar to that of many other Indo-European languages
, especially those in the Indo-Iranian
family. Middle Persian
had become more analytical
, having no grammatical gender and few case
markings, and Persian has inherited such characteristics.
in written Persian, appears at the beginning of a sentence. Modifier
s normally follow the nouns they modify, although they can precede nouns in limited uses. The language uses prepositions, uncommon to many SOV languages. The one case marker, rā (را), follows the definite direct object noun phrase.
Normal sentences are ordered subject–preposition–object–verb. If the object is specific, then the order is "(S) (O + "rā") (PP) V". However, Persian can have relatively free word order, often called "scrambling
." This is because the parts of speech are generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the accusative marker help disambiguate the case of a given noun phrase. This scrambling characteristic has allowed Persian a high degree of flexibility for versification and rhyming.
only for the specific accusative case
; the other oblique cases are marked by prepositions. Possession is expressed by special markers: if the possessor appears in the sentence after the thing possessed, the ezāfe may be used; otherwise, alternatively, a pronominal genitive enclitic is employed. Inanimate
nouns pluralize with -hā, while animate nouns generally pluralize with -ān (with variants -gān and -yān), although -hā is also common. Special rules exist for some nouns
borrowed from Arabic.
, or pro-drop
language, so personal pronouns (e.g. I, he, she) are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for all cases. The first-person singular accusative form mæn rā "me" can be shortened to mærā. Pronominal genitive enclitics (see above) are different from the normal pronouns, however.
Possession is often expressed by adding suffixes to nouns. These are added after inflection for number.
Note that when the stem to which these are added ends in a vowel, a "y" is inserted for ease of pronunciation.
In colloquial speech, the personal pronouns can be used in conjunction with verbs to incorporate a direct object. For example: "Yesterday I saw him."
s typically follow the nouns they modify, using the izāfa construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns in compounded derivational forms, such as khosh-bækht (lit. good-luck) 'lucky', and bæd-kār (lit. bad-deed) 'wicked'.
Comparative
forms ("more ...") make use of the suffix tær (تَر), while the superlative
form ("the most ...") uses the suffix tærin (تَرین).
Comparatives used attributively follow the nouns they modify, while superlatives precede their nouns.
With respect to comparison, "than" is expressed by the preposition "از" (az), for example:
( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC
singular
form of khordæn "to eat".
s such as kærdæn "to do, to make" are often used with nouns to form what is called a compound verb
, light verb construction, or complex predicate. For example, the word "sohbæt" means "conversation", while "sohbæt kærdæn" means "to speak". One may add a light verb after a noun, adjective, preposition, or prepositional phrase to form a compound verb. Only the light verb (e.g. kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example:
As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb kærdæn is conjugated. They may be compared to English
verb particle constructions
, such as hand down (leave as an inheritance) and set up (arrange), or German
compound verbs, such as radfahren (to ride by bicycle) and zurückgehen (to go back).
Some other examples of compound verbs with kærdæn are:
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
. Persian grammar is similar to that of many other Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
, especially those in the Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...
family. Middle Persian
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
had become more analytical
Isolating language
An isolating language is a type of language with a low morpheme-per-word ratio — in the extreme case of an isolating language words are composed of a single morpheme...
, having no grammatical gender and few case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
markings, and Persian has inherited such characteristics.
Word order
While Persian has a subject–object–verb (SOV) word order, it is not strongly left-branching. The main clause precedes a subordinate clause. The interrogative particle āyā (آیا), which asks a yes/no questionYes-no question
In linguistics, a yes–no question, formally known as a polar question, is a question whose expected answer is either "yes" or "no". Formally, they present an exclusive disjunction, a pair of alternatives of which only one is acceptable. In English, such questions can be formed in both positive...
in written Persian, appears at the beginning of a sentence. Modifier
Modifier
Modifier may refer to:* Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning* Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an ambiguous manner...
s normally follow the nouns they modify, although they can precede nouns in limited uses. The language uses prepositions, uncommon to many SOV languages. The one case marker, rā (را), follows the definite direct object noun phrase.
Normal sentences are ordered subject–preposition–object–verb. If the object is specific, then the order is "(S) (O + "rā") (PP) V". However, Persian can have relatively free word order, often called "scrambling
Scrambling (linguistics)
Within transformational grammar, scrambling is a common term for pragmatic word order. In the Chomskian tradition, word orders of all languages are taken to be derived from a common source with a fundamental word order, so languages which do not follow a set pattern can be said to be "scrambled"...
." This is because the parts of speech are generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the accusative marker help disambiguate the case of a given noun phrase. This scrambling characteristic has allowed Persian a high degree of flexibility for versification and rhyming.
Nouns
Persian nouns have no grammatical gender. Persian nouns mark with an accusative markerNota accusativi
Nota accusativi is a grammatical term meaning "denoting accusative case". It generally is applied to linguistic indicators of the accusative case, such as the use of the prefix "et" in Hebrew, for nouns in the accusative, which are indicated by use of the definite article .To continue with the...
only for the specific accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
; the other oblique cases are marked by prepositions. Possession is expressed by special markers: if the possessor appears in the sentence after the thing possessed, the ezāfe may be used; otherwise, alternatively, a pronominal genitive enclitic is employed. Inanimate
Animacy
Animacy is a grammatical and/or semantic category of nouns based on how sentient or alive the referent of the noun in a given taxonomic scheme is...
nouns pluralize with -hā, while animate nouns generally pluralize with -ān (with variants -gān and -yān), although -hā is also common. Special rules exist for some nouns
Broken plural
In linguistics, a broken plural is an irregular plural form of a noun or adjective found in the Semitic languages and other Afroasiatic languages such as Berber. Broken plurals are formed by changing the pattern of consonants and vowels inside the singular form...
borrowed from Arabic.
Pronouns
Persian is a null-subjectNull subject language
In linguistic typology, a null-subject language is a language whose grammar permits an independent clause to lack an explicit subject. Such a clause is then said to have a null subject. Typically, null subject languages express person, number, and/or gender agreement with the referent on the verb,...
, or pro-drop
Pro-drop language
A pro-drop language is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they are in some sense pragmatically inferable...
language, so personal pronouns (e.g. I, he, she) are optional. Pronouns generally are the same for all cases. The first-person singular accusative form mæn rā "me" can be shortened to mærā. Pronominal genitive enclitics (see above) are different from the normal pronouns, however.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | mæn من | mā ما |
| 2nd | to تو | shomā شما |
| 3rd | u او (non-human/human), vey وى (human only and formal) |
ānhā آنها (non-human/human), ishān ایشان (human only and formal) |
Possession is often expressed by adding suffixes to nouns. These are added after inflection for number.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -æm | -emān |
| 2nd | -æt | -etān |
| 3rd | -æsh | -eshān |
Note that when the stem to which these are added ends in a vowel, a "y" is inserted for ease of pronunciation.
In colloquial speech, the personal pronouns can be used in conjunction with verbs to incorporate a direct object. For example: "Yesterday I saw him."
| diruz u ra didæm | دیروز او را دیدم |
| diruz didæmæš | دیروز دیدمش |
Adjectives
AdjectiveAdjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s typically follow the nouns they modify, using the izāfa construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns in compounded derivational forms, such as khosh-bækht (lit. good-luck) 'lucky', and bæd-kār (lit. bad-deed) 'wicked'.
Comparative
Comparative
In grammar, the comparative is the form of an adjective or adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person, thing, or other entity has a property or quality greater or less in extent than that of another, and is used in this context with a subordinating conjunction, such as than,...
forms ("more ...") make use of the suffix tær (تَر), while the superlative
Superlative
In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...
form ("the most ...") uses the suffix tærin (تَرین).
Comparatives used attributively follow the nouns they modify, while superlatives precede their nouns.
With respect to comparison, "than" is expressed by the preposition "از" (az), for example:
- سگم از گربه ات کوچکتره
- (Sagam az gorbeat kuchektare, My dog is smaller than your cat.)
Verbs
Normal verbs can be formed using the following morpheme pattern:( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC
- Negative prefix: næ - changes to ne before the Durative prefix
- Durative prefix: mi
- Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
- Past suffix: d - changes to t after unvoiced consonants
- Optative identifier: an "ā" is added before the last character of the present tense of singular third person. Although there are suggestions that this inflection has been abandoned, but significant remnants of its usage can still be observed in contemporary stylish Persian compositions and colloquial proverbs, as in hærče bādā bād (هرچه بادا باد) "come what may" and dæst mærizād (دست مريزاد) lit. "May that hand not spill [what it is holding]", meaning "well done".
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | æm | im |
| 2nd | i | id |
| 3rd | æd | ænd |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | æm | emān |
| 2nd | æt | etān |
| 3rd | æsh | eshān |
Conjugations
Example verb conjugations for third-personGrammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
singular
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
form of khordæn "to eat".
| Active Voice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mood | Tense | Romanization | Persian |
| Indicative | Present Present tense The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb... |
mikhoræd | میخورد |
| Indicative | Preterite Preterite The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past... |
khord | خورد |
| Indicative | Imperfective preterite | mikhord | میخورد |
| Indicative | Perfect | khordeæst | خوردهاست |
| Indicative | Imperfective perfect | mikhordeæst | میخوردهاست |
| Indicative | Pluperfect | khorde bud | خورده بود |
| Indicative | Imperfective pluperfect | mikhorde bud | میخورده بود |
| Indicative | Future Future tense In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,... |
khāhæd khord | خواهد خورد |
| Indicative | Present progressive | dāræd mikhoræd | دارد میخورد |
| Indicative | Preterite progressive | dāsht mikhord | داشت میخورد |
| Subjunctive Subjunctive mood In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred.... |
Present | bekhoræd | بخورد |
| Subjunctive | Preterite | khorde bāshæd | خورده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective preterite | mikhorde bāshæd | میخورده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Pluperfect | khorde bude bāshæd | خورده بوده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective pluperfect | mikhorde bude bāshæd | میخورده بوده باشد |
| Passive Voice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mood | Tense | Romanization | Persian |
| Indicative | Present | khorde mishævæd | خورده میشود |
| Indicative | Preterite | khorde shod | خورده شد |
| Indicative | Imperfective preterite | khorde mishod | خورده میشد |
| Indicative | Perfect | khorde shodeast | خورده شدهاست |
| Indicative | Imperfective perfect | khorde mishodeast | خورده میشدهاست |
| Indicative | Pluperfect | khorde shode bud | خورده شده بود |
| Indicative | Imperfective pluperfect | khorde mishode bud | خورده میشده بود |
| Indicative | Future | khorde khāhæd shod | خورده خواهد شد |
| Indicative | Present progressive | dāræd khorde mishævæd | دارد خورده میشود |
| Indicative | Preterite progressive | dāsht khorde mishod | داشت خورده میشد |
| Subjunctive | Present | khorde shævæd | خورده شود |
| Subjunctive | Preterite | khorde shode bāshæd | خورده شده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective preterite | khorde mishode bāshæd | خورده میشده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Pluperfect | khorde shode bude bāshæd | خورده شده بوده باشد |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective pluperfect | khorde mishode bude bāshæd | خورده میشده بوده باشد |
Compound verbs
Light verbLight verb
In linguistics, a light verb is a verb participating in complex predication that has little semantic content of its own, but provides through inflection some details on the event semantics, such as aspect, mood, or tense...
s such as kærdæn "to do, to make" are often used with nouns to form what is called a compound verb
Compound verb
In linguistics, a compound verb or complex predicate is a multi-word compound that acts as a single verb. One component of the compound is a light verb or vector, which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspect, but provides only fine shades of meaning...
, light verb construction, or complex predicate. For example, the word "sohbæt" means "conversation", while "sohbæt kærdæn" means "to speak". One may add a light verb after a noun, adjective, preposition, or prepositional phrase to form a compound verb. Only the light verb (e.g. kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example:
- dāræm sohbæt mikonæm ("I am speaking")
- sohbæt kærde æm ("I have spoken")
- sohbæt khāhæm kærd ("I will speak")
As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb kærdæn is conjugated. They may be compared to English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
verb particle constructions
Phrasal verb
A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition, any of which are part of the syntax of the sentence, and so are a complete semantic unit. Sentences may contain direct and indirect objects in addition to the phrasal...
, such as hand down (leave as an inheritance) and set up (arrange), or German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
compound verbs, such as radfahren (to ride by bicycle) and zurückgehen (to go back).
Some other examples of compound verbs with kærdæn are:
- fekr kærdæn, "to think"
- færāmush kærdæn, "to forget"
- gærye kærdæn, "to cry"
- telefon kærdæn, "to call, to telephone"
- tæmir kærdæn, "to fix"
Auxiliary Verbs
- bāyæd - 'must': Not conjugated
- shāyæd - 'might': Not conjugated
- tævānestæn - 'can': Conjugated
- khāstæn - 'want': Conjugated. Subordinating clause is subjunctive
- khāstæn - 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is tenseless
Prepositions
Prepositions in Persian generally behave similarly to those in English – they precede their object. They include the following:| Persian | English |
|---|---|
| ændær (اندر) | in (literary) |
| æz (از) | from |
| bā (با) | with |
| bær (بر) | on, upon |
| bærā-ye (برای) | for |
| be (به) | to |
| bi (بی) | without |
| chon (چون) | like (formal) |
| dær (در) | at, in |
| mesl-e (مثل) | like |
| tā (تا) | till, until |
| hæm-chon (همچون) | like,as,such(formal) |
Grammar books
- A Grammar of Contemporary Persian (Persian Studies, No 14) by Gilbert Lazard and Shirley A. Lyon (Paperback - Nov. 1993)
- Modern Persian: Spoken and Written by Donald L. Stilo and Jerome Clinton (Hardcover - Dec. 1994)
- Persian (Descriptive Grammars) by Shahrzad Mahootian (Hardcover - June. 27 1997)
- Old Persian Grammar Texts Lexicon Vol. 33 (2nd Edition) by Roland G. Kent (Hardcover - Nov. 1, 1998)
- Persian Colloquial Grammar by Fritz Rosen and Fritz Rosen (Hardcover - Mar. 2000)
- Persian Grammar: For Reference and Revision by John Mace (Paperback - Oct. 18, 2002)
- Grammar of the Persian Language by B. Forbes (Paperback - Sept. 30, 2003)
- Modern Persian: A Course-Book by Simin Abrahams (Paperback - May 16, 2005)
- A Concise Grammar of the Persian Language by Arthur Henry Bleeck (Paperback - Nov. 14, 2008)
- An Introduction to Persian Revised 4th Edition by W. M. Thackston (Hardcover - Jan. 1, 2009)
- A Grammar of the Persian Language: To Which Is Added, a Selection of Easy Extracts for Reading, Together with a Copious Vocabulary by Duncan Forbes (Paperback - Mar. 2010)
- Modern Persian Conversation-Grammar; With Reading Lessons, English-Persian Vocabulary and Persian Letters by William St. Clair Towers Tisdall (Paperback - Jan. 6, 2010)
- Historical Grammar of the Ancient Persian Language by Edwin Lee Johnson (Paperback - Feb. 24, 2010)
- A Grammar of the Persian Language by Sir William Jones (Paperback - Mar. 1, 2010)
- Modern Persian Colloquial Grammar: Containing a Short Grammar, Dialogues and Extracts from Nasir-Eddin Shah's Diaries, Tales, Etc., and a Vocabulary by Friedrich Rosen (Paperback - Mar. 9, 2010)
- A Grammar Of The Persian Language: To Which Are Subjoined Several Dialogues; With An Alphabetical List Of The English And Persian Terms Of Grammar by Meerza Mohammad Ibraheem (Hardcover - May 23, 2010)
- Media Persian (Essential Middle Eastern Vocabulary) by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw (Paperback - Dec. 15, 2010)
- Modern persisk grammatik by Ashk Dahlén (Paperback - 2010) (Swedish)
Older texts
- A New Persian Grammar (1828) by Duncan Forbes and Sandford Arnot (Hardcover - reprinted on May 22, 2010)
- Higher Persian Grammar V1: For The Use Of The Calcutta University (1919) by D. C. Phillott (Hardcover - reprinted on June 2, 2008)
- Higher Persian Grammar V2: For The Use Of The Calcutta University (1919) by D. C. Phillott (Hardcover - reprinted on June 2, 2008)
- A New Grammar Of The Persian Tongue, Part 1, Accidence: For The Use Of The Higher Classes In Schools And Colleges (1875) by Sorabshaw Byramji Doctor (Hardcover - reprinted on May 22, 2010)
- Modern Persian Conversation Grammar by William Tisdall (Hardcover - June 1959)
- Elementary Persian Grammar by L. P. Elwell-Sutton (Paperback - Jan. 1, 1963)
- Persian Grammar: Students Edition by Ann K. S. Lambton (Paperback - Jan. 1, 1971)
- Spoken Persian (Spoken Language Ser) by Serge Obolensky, Kambiz Yazdan Panah, and Fereidoun Khaje Nouri (Paperback - July 1973)
- Persian Grammar: History and State of Its Study (Trends in Linguistics State of the Art Reports, No 12) by Gernot L. Windfuhr (Hardcover - June 1979)
External links
- Persian grammar encyclopedia, by Navid Fazel (English version) also available in GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and PersianPersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... - Persian Grammar Sketch (pdf)
- Persian grammar (ppt) (in Persian)
- Persian grammar: Part 1 (ppt) (in Persian)
- Introduction to Persian grammar (in Persian)
- Persian grammar (brief introduction at IRIB website)(in Persian)
- A brief Persian grammar (in Persian)
- Learning Persian grammar: an introduction (in Persian)
- A brief Persian grammar course written by Ahmad Shamlou (in Persian)
- Introduction to Persian grammar at Tebyan (in Persian)
- BBC's complete guide to Persian grammar (in Persian)
- Persian grammar: introduction and definitions (in Persian)
- Desphilic Application notes on Persian pronouns
- Desphilic Application notes on Persian Tenses