Persian verbs
Encyclopedia
The infinitive form of the verb is constructed by adding the suffix æn to the past root of the verb. Ex: Khærid+æn= to buy
Normal Persian verbs can be formed using the following morpheme pattern:
( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC
singular
form of خوُردَن/khordæn "to eat". It is important to know that the following(In both active and passive voices) are never used in modern Persian: Indicative: Imperfective perfect, Imperfective pluperfect ;Subjunctive: Imperfective preterite, Imperfective pluperfect
s such as کَردَن/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 "صُحبَت/sohbæt"(Originally from Arabic) means "conversation", while "صُحبَت کَردَن/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. کَردَن/kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example:
صُحبَت می‌کُنَم/sohbæt mikonæm ("I speak" or very near future "I will speak")
As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, صُحبَت/sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb کَردَن/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) or in Spanish
Poner la mesa (to set the table) or Faire attention (to pay attention) in French
. In present progressive tense, the verb داشتن is used which means "to have" (I have=دارم). In future tense, the verb خواستن is respectively used which means "to want", just the same as the English cognate Will (خواهم).
Some other Light verb
s are: Dādæn (to give) as in Rokh Dādæn= to happen, Gereftæn (to take) as in Pā Gereftæn= to start to grow , Zædæn (to hit) as in Hærf Zædæn= to talk, to speak , Khordæn (to eat) as in Sogænd Khordan= to take a vow, Shodan (to become) as in Arām Shodan= to calm down, Budæn (to be) as in Amāde Budæn= to be ready etc.
Some other examples of compound verbs with کَردَن/kærdæn are:
Other equivalents for فِکر کَردَن/fekr kærdæn and گَریه کَردَن/gerye kærdæn are پنداشتن/Pendāshtæn and گریستن/Geristæn that are normally used in literary context rather than daily conversations.
Normal Persian verbs can be formed using the following morpheme pattern:
( NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER ) - root - PAST - PERSON - ACC-ENCLITIC
- Negative prefix: نه/næ - changes to نه/ne before the Durative prefix, نه/næ itself is used for negative imperative by adding it to the present root of the verb, ex: Næ+Gu= Nægu= Do not say
- Durative prefix: می/mi
- Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: به/be as in برود=Berævæd= That he go & برو=Bero(Boro)= Go!, both Ro or Rav being the present root of the infinitive Ræftan
- Past suffix: د/d - changes to ت/t after unvoiced consonants
- Optative identifier (archaic): an ا/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 some contemporary 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 | ـَم/æm | یم/im |
| 2nd | ی/i | ید/id |
| 3rd | ـَد/æd | ـَند/ænd |
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ـَم/æm | /ـِمانemān |
| 2nd | ـَت/æt | ـِتان/etān |
| 3rd | ـَش/æsh | ـِشان/eshān |
Conjugations
Example verb conjugations for first-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 خوُردَن/khordæn "to eat". It is important to know that the following(In both active and passive voices) are never used in modern Persian: Indicative: Imperfective perfect, Imperfective pluperfect ;Subjunctive: Imperfective preterite, Imperfective pluperfect
| Active Voice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mood | Tense | Romanization | Perso-Arabic |
| 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... |
mi-khoræm | می‌خورم |
| Indicative | Preterite Preterite The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past... |
khordæm | خوردم |
| Indicative | Imperfective preterite | mi-khordæm | می‌خوردم |
| Indicative | Perfect | khorde æm | خورده‌ام |
| Indicative | Imperfective perfect | mi-khorde æm | می‌خورده‌ام |
| Indicative | Pluperfect | khorde budæm | خورده بودم |
| Indicative | Imperfective pluperfect | mi-khorde budæm | می‌خورده بودم |
| 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,... |
khāhæm khord | خواهم خورد |
| Indicative | Present progressive | dāræm mi-khoræm | دارم می‌خورم |
| Indicative | Preterite progressive | dāshtæm mi-khordæm | داشتم می‌خوردم |
| 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 | bekhoræm | بخورم |
| Subjunctive | Preterite | khorde bāshæm | خورده باشم |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective preterite | mi-khorde bāshæm | می‌خورده باشم |
| Subjunctive | Pluperfect | khorde bude bāshæm | خورده بوده باشم |
| Subjunctive | Imperfective pluperfect | mi-khorde bude bāshæm | می‌خورده بوده باشم |
| Passive Voice | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mood | Tense | Romanization | Perso-Arabic |
| 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 | daræd khorde mishævæd | دارد خورده می‌شود |
| Indicative | Preterite progressive | dasht 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 کَردَن/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 "صُحبَت/sohbæt"(Originally from Arabic) means "conversation", while "صُحبَت کَردَن/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. کَردَن/kærdæn) is conjugated; the word preceding it is not affected. For example:
صُحبَت می‌کُنَم/sohbæt mikonæm ("I speak" or very near future "I will speak")
- دارَم صُحبَت می‌کُنَم/dāræm sohbæt mikonæm ("I am speaking")
- صُحبَت کَرده‌اَم/sohbæt kærde æm ("I have spoken")
- صُحبَت خواهَم کَرد/sohbæt khāhæm kærd ("I will speak")
As can be seen from the examples, the head word (in this case, صُحبَت/sohbæt) remains unchanged throughout the conjugation, and only the light verb کَردَن/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) or in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Poner la mesa (to set the table) or Faire attention (to pay attention) in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. In present progressive tense, the verb داشتن is used which means "to have" (I have=دارم). In future tense, the verb خواستن is respectively used which means "to want", just the same as the English cognate Will (خواهم).
Some other Light verb
Light 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 are: Dādæn (to give) as in Rokh Dādæn= to happen, Gereftæn (to take) as in Pā Gereftæn= to start to grow , Zædæn (to hit) as in Hærf Zædæn= to talk, to speak , Khordæn (to eat) as in Sogænd Khordan= to take a vow, Shodan (to become) as in Arām Shodan= to calm down, Budæn (to be) as in Amāde Budæn= to be ready etc.
Some other examples of compound verbs with کَردَن/kærdæn are:
- فِکر کَردَن/fekr kærdæn, "to think"
- فَراموش کَردَن/færāmush kærdæn, "to forget"
- گَریه کَردَن/gærye kærdæn, "to cry"
- تِلِفُن کَردَن/telefon kærdæn, "to call, to telephone"
- تَعمیر کَردَن/tæmir kærdæn, "to fix"
Other equivalents for فِکر کَردَن/fekr kærdæn and گَریه کَردَن/gerye kærdæn are پنداشتن/Pendāshtæn and گریستن/Geristæn that are normally used in literary context rather than daily conversations.
Auxiliary Verbs
- بایَد/bāyæd - 'must': Not conjugated
- شایَد/shāyæd - 'might': Not conjugated
- تَوانِستَن/tævānestæn - 'can': Conjugated
- خواستَن/khāstæn - 'want': Conjugated. Subordinating clause is subjunctive
- خواهَد/khāhæd - 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is tenseless