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Persian phrases, by meaning
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Common questions about Persian
What does this Persian page cover?
Twenty-two functional categories with worked Persian examples: tense and aspect (the present in mi-, the past, the perfect, the progressive dâram), modality (mitavânam for ability, bâyad for must, mikhâham for want), negation through prefixed na-/ne-, questions (with âyâ or just intonation), comparison with -tar and -tarin, the object marker râ, and 16 others. Every example shows Perso-Arabic script, romanization, and a word-by-word gloss.
What is ezafe and why doesn't it appear in writing?
Ezafe is a tiny -e (or -ye after vowels) that links a noun to a following modifier — adjective, possessor, or another noun. ketâb-e man 'my book' is just ketâb + man with the linking -e in between. Persian script doesn't write short vowels by default, so ezafe is heard but not seen. Learners who only read at first miss it; the page marks it explicitly in romanization so the structure stays visible.
Why do most Persian verbs come in two parts?
Because Persian leans heavily on compound verbs: a noun or adjective plus a light verb like kardan (to do), shodan (to become), dâshtan (to have), zadan (to hit), khordan (to eat). kâr kardan 'to work' is literally 'work-doing'. fekr kardan 'to think' is 'thought-doing'. The light verb carries tense and person; the nominal element carries the lexical meaning. Once you know the half-dozen common light verbs, vocabulary opens up quickly.
When does the object marker râ appear?
After a direct object that's specific or definite. man ketâb mikhânam 'I read books / a book (generic)' has no râ. man ketâb-râ mikhânam 'I'm reading the book' adds râ to mark a known referent. Bare râ doesn't appear with indefinite generic objects; it's the closest thing Persian has to a definite-object marker.
Is this Iranian Persian, Dari, or Tajik?
Iranian Persian (Fârsi) — the Tehran-based standard used in Iran. Dari (Afghanistan) and Tajik (Tajikistan, written in Cyrillic) share most of this grammar but diverge in pronunciation, some lexicon, and a few morphological details. The structures shown here are intelligible across all three; learners of Dari or Tajik can adapt with small adjustments.
Sources for Persian
The grammatical descriptions on this page are informed by the following published reference and descriptive grammars. Grammatical facts themselves are not subject to copyright; the scholars who documented them deserve attribution.
- Mahootian, Shahrzad. 1997. Persian (Descriptive Grammars). London: Routledge.
- Yousef, Saeed. 2018. Persian: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge.
- Lazard, Gilbert. 1992. A Grammar of Contemporary Persian. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers.
- Windfuhr, Gernot L. 1979. Persian Grammar: History and State of its Study. The Hague: Mouton.