Introduction to Persian/Verbs

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The prefix "be"

The subjunctive-marker be- is used:

So you see that when you have to use "to" before the second verb in English you have to use "be-" in Persian.

So the correct forms are:

About your question: "in the past tense, can you also say "Xastæm" instead of "Mixastæm" for I wanted"

Xâstam and mixâstam are two different tences.

Adding mi- to the simple past tence makes it durative. For many verbs like "mi-did-am" you can always translate it in English as "I used to see" but for the sense-related verbs like "mixâstam" depending on the context both "I want" or "I used to want" can serve as English translation.

I hope I have been able to help you. I am at your service for other questions, (we can follow here in my user page). Take care. --Mani1 21:04, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification. Then can we use the prefix "be" in all the following examples(?):

and so on...

Khâesh mikonam (you're welcome).

As you see for VERBing we use normally the infinitive form in Persian.

Can, may, should, must

I already learnt these before, but now that I have a clearer picture of the usage of the prefix "be," I would just like to ask one example for each auxillary verb to make sure that I am using it right. Thanks in advance.

Can:

May, might:

I know how to say "might have VERBed"

But I do not know how to say "might VERB":

Should, must:

Again I know how to say "must have VERBed"

But I do not know how to say "must VERB"

It is:Bayæd an sib ra behkhoram.

This was a bit long, but thanks a lot for taking your time to answer them. I really appreciate it.

Can:

Be- is used here because it is the second verb. (In literature and some instances of the spoken language be-can be omited, whenever you see a verb without a be- or mi- you can be sure it has been the be- which is omited thus it is subjunctive, mi- is never omited).

Like in English the present tence is used for "go".

May, might:

xorde bâsham is the subjunctive from for the past tences. In the past tence -bâsh- (historically be+ast) is used for making the subjunctive form.

Should, must:

It's bedtime here now, I hope I can be at your service tommorow. Iyi Geceler, --Mani1 23:30, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

If

Teshekkor mikonam.

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The first be- is because of (uncertainty), the second because it is the second verb.

Past subjunctive:

Iyi Gunler. --Mani1 10:51, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Negation of subjunctive: The be- is replaced by na-.


The durative past tense (mixordi) has as subjunctive the same form (mixordi). Ehtemâlan means possibly.

Ne-mi-âvardi is the subjunctive of the durative (repeatetive) form mi-âvardi (you brought during a certain time). Bâlâ means up.


Tækrar (that means "again"(?)) teshekkor mikonæm. Correct form: Dobâreh (again) tashakkor mikonam. Taekrar means more like repeat, dobâreh is a better way of saying 'again'. Active voice:

Indicative --> Subjunctive:

Passive voice:

Indicative --> Subjunctive:

Khâhesh mikonam (You're welcome). --Mani1 11:31, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Future perfect tense

Again thanks a lot. Maybe you should corporate some of the material here into the main article "Persian grammar." These are very helpful.

How about the future perfect tense:

Is the second part is like "terk kerdeh khahed bud" ?

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I am happy it has been helpful to you. Yes I think I will add the tences, moods and voices to that article in the future.

We use just the tence based on "present participle" i.e. "rafte ast" for "Will have VERB-ed".

Movaffaq bâshid. --Mani1 16:59, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Just a quick question. Why don't you say "Bahâr ke mi-ây-ad", but say "Bahâr ke be-ây-ad," in the example here?

"Bahâr ke be-ây-ad" means: "When (in the case/if) spring comes"

You can say Bahâr ke miâyad" and this actually probably fits your translation of 'When spring comes' better than "Bahâr ke be-ây-ad" which means when (in it's own time) spring would come.

Imperatives

I have learnt that imperatives can be built in two ways: with or wihout the prefix "bo":

Is this the case for all verb imperatives? Does the prefix "bo" have an additional meaning?

Thanks.

-- Basically all the imperatives are made as; be+present stem, whithout personal endings (except for 2nd person plural). using imperative without be- is found in literary works and in spoken Persian in the case of much used verbs be- is omited in combinations. like: Behtar (be-)sho! "become better". bâz (be-)kon! "Open"!

Next thing you should know is that under the influence of "o" in some frequently used verb stems preffix be- is pronounced bo- in standard spoken Persian. Thus: Boro, Boxor, bokon but: begu, beshuy (Wash!), bedân (Know!). The same happens to be- becoming bi- in spoken language in some cases like: bi-yâ (come!), bi-âr (be-âvar) )bring!) etc.

When, While

Are all the sentences that are constructed with "when" and "while" in English are expressed with "ke" in Persian? And do we place this particle right before the verb? (just like "Bahar ke beayed")

And do we always use the prefix "be" in sentences of "when" and "while"

Just two examples:

It is better to say at the end instead of, (bo)saz chai, which literally means actually create tea, dorost kon chai, which means just prepare it, make it.

Again, this makes sense but 'chai saxt' means he actually created the tea, it's better to say, chai dorost kard.

When is expressed in two ways:

Take care. --Mani1 21:16, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Causatives

The source that I used to learn Persian never taught causatives. How would you, for example, build this sentence in Persian:

-I am happy to help you. This would be, 'majbooresh kardam keh kaaresho bekoneh.

And how about this other kind of causative:

-Naameharo ferestoondam beh kaareht.

--Nonewmail 23:19, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

For the causative you should use the causative forms of the verb stems. The rest is the same as normal. Causative form of a stem is made by adding -ân to the normal present or past stem:

But you can not do that with just any verb. For many verbs you should use another verb which has the causative meaning of the same action:

(Vâdâr kardan means "making somebody doing something, forcing", the causative stem -kon-ân- does not exist)

For the form "had him doing ..., we say in Persian "I gave ...":

(Literally: "I gave, they bring the letter to your office".

--Mani1 13:53, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

Although, despite

Thanks for the explanation of the causatives. My next question is about building sentences with "although" and "despite":

Again, unfortunately I never learnt this. But I am sure one example of each will give me a good idea how these constructions are generally used. Teshekkor mikonam.

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You can also say: "Sar-e vaqt be istgâh residam, vali qatâr rafteh-bud".

Keep in mind that in written text, this structure will always have an amâ or vali between the clauses much like the latter example.

Exhortations

How would you say things like "let's verb!", "let me verb!"? For example with the verb "write"? Do you use the past participle ("nevesht") or the present particle ("nevis") for this kind of exhortations?

Thanks.

--- For the first form we use "Biyâ" (come). For the second one: "be-gozâr" (Let).

"*Let's write!" : "Biyâ be-nevis-im". "Let me write" : "Be-gozâr benevisam".

Khâhesh mikonam.

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