Compounds

New words can often be formed in Persian by compounding. A common compound is that of a noun or adjective with the present stem of a verb:

Some phrases of the bound conjunction “e” have become compound nouns. They can usually be recognized by assuming one stress:

The same applies to the bound conjunction “o”:

Often the past and the present stem of a verb are compounded using the bound conjunction “-o”:

There are some adjectives that are found as the first component of a compound in many cases:

Conversely, there are some nouns that are found as the second component of a compound in many cases:

Many nouns and adjectives are formed by compounding simple nouns, adjectives and numbers:

A compound may be extended:

Compounds may also include derivatives as components:

Derivatives

Another way of forming new words in Persian is the derivation of a word by a prefix or suffix. However, there is also the so-called zero-derivation, by which a word can be changed to another part of speech without any further actions:

Some prefixes and suffixes are words that have developed to a prefix or suffix due to common compounding.

Prefixes indicate a more general aspect and thus operate each on a relatively large amount of words:

Although suffixes are more numerous, however, they usually operate on a smaller number of words:

An exception is the suffix “-i”, which is used both for nominalization and adjectival and thus has a fairly large operation radius:

There are also suffixes forming a noun or an adjective from the present stem of a verb:

The suffix “-e” forms the participle from the past stem of a verb, which can be simultaneously interpreted as an adjective:

Also compound words can be derived:

Word order

In Persian, the word order is basically subject – object – verb. If the object is direct and definite, it is followed by râ (direct object marker):

However, the word order can vary, depending on which word is emphasized.

The adverbials occur usually in a certain order too, similar to the adverbs: “time – manner – place”. However, the word order can also be changed in this regard depending on what is important for the speaker. The most important adverbial occurs first:

Narrative sentences

Narrative sentences usually have the order: subject – object – verb, whereby the direct definite object is followed by the postposition râ:

If the object has a general and not a specific meaning, then it occurs in singular:

Questions

If the answer to a question is yes or no the question has the same word order as a narrative sentence. What is asked for is emphasized. More formally the question begins with the question particle âyâ:

If the answer to a negative question is yes, then it begins with cerâ (but; why):

If a contrarian answer is expected, then one begins the question with magar:

In an indirect yes-no question the questioning clause begins usually with âyâ or ke âyâ. Both of them can often be dropped. The questioning clause can be terminated with yâ na (or not):

If the question is not a yes-no question, then the interrogative pronouns, adverbs or adjectives (together with their described nouns) are used. While ki/ke (who) and cerâ (why) usually begin the sentence, the others usually precede the verb or its accompanying adverb:

Exclamatory sentences

In Persian, an exclamatory sentence usually begins with ce (how; what a). If ce precedes a noun, the noun is indefinite. If the noun is followed by an adjective, the adjective is given the postposition “i” instead of the noun:

Indirect speech

While in a direct speech what has been said is narrated 1-1, the inflection of the verb matches the original speaker in the indirect speech. An indirect speech is initiated with ke:

Relative sentences

In a relative clause, the noun is identified or described. The postposition “i” is added to the noun and followed by ke. If the noun is a direct object, then râ is pushed in between:

Conditional sentences

In Persian, conditional sentences are initiated with agar (if, when). If there is a possible condition, then a subjunctive mood is used depending on when the condition refers to. If it refers to presence or future, the present subjunctive is used. Otherwise the past subjunctive is applied:

If the condition is impossible, however, you can use the past progressive or the past perfect tense:

Concessive sentences

Concessive sentences are almost the opposite of conditional sentences. Here, the action will take place in any case, regardless of whether a condition is satisfied or not. The concessive sentences usually start with one of the following conjunctions:

The verb tense is determined by the chronological sequence of the actions. The following main sentence begins with vali or ammâ (but):

Cardinal, ordinal and fractional numbers

Cardinal numbers less than 100 are written in the solid form. While the bound conjunction “o” stands for “and”, the suffix “-om” or “-omin” are used to form the ordinals depending on whether the number occurs before or after a noun:

The following table provides an overview of the structure of cardinal and ordinal numbers:

After the numbers 2 and 3, “vv” is inserted before “om”:

The corresponding questions, whose answer includes a cardinal or an ordinal number, are formed ​​using cand (how many) or candom/candomin (umpteenth). Like all other ordinals numbers, candom is used before the noun, which is followed by the bound conjunction “-e”. In constrast, candomin is used after the noun:

However, cand can also be used with the meaning “a few”, “a couple of” or “some”:

If you want to emphasize the uncertainty of a statement, you use an indefinite noun or category word, which is formed by the postposition “i”:

While the numerator of a fraction is a cardinal number, the denominator is an ordinal number:

In addition the following fractions are also used:

Counting

Depending on what category the noun is, different category words are used, whereby the category word tâ (piece) plays a special role and can almost always be used from 2 pieces on:

As you can see from the above examples, the noun stays always in singular after a category word.

Category words can be omitted:

If you omit the noun, then you have to use a category word for numbers from 2. yeki is used for 1 instead of yek:

Percentages and decimals

Percentages are expressed using darsad (in hundred):

The decimal places of a decimal number are expressed in dahom (tenth), sadom (hundredths), hezârom (thousandths) …:

Calculations

The arithmetic operations can be expressed as follows:

Instead of miŝavad (gets) you can also use barâbar ast bâ or mosâvi ‘st bâ (is equal to).

Times

Sâ’at (hour, clock) can be dropped in time expressions. Daqiqe (minute) is given only after a cardinal number. To refer to a specific time, the bound conjunction “e” is used:

The bound conjunction “e” is not used if you want to tell what time it is:

When asked about the time the word sâ’at is necessary. You have two options available:

Month names

The Iranian calendar is a solar calendar and begins on the first day of spring (March 21):

The names of the months of the Christian calendar come from the French:

Weekdays

The week starts on Saturday (ŝanbe) and ends on Friday (jom’e; âdine).The days of the week are:

Depending on whether you have the night before or the night after a weekday in mind, ŝab (evening, night) plays a different role:

Dates

The ordinals are usually used for dates:

Ages

The following expressions/questions are usually used for ages:

Simple conjunctions

Simple conjunctions are:

Bound conjunctions

We have “o” and “e” as bound conjunctions. Both are unstressed and are pronounced immediately after the word they follow. While “o” is as synonymous of va (and), “e” has several applications. Among others it corresponds to English “of” and thus forms the genitive:

If a word ends with a vowel (except i), then a “y” is inserted before “e” and a “v” before “o”:

Compound conjunctions

There are also compound conjunctions:

 Many compound conjunctions are formed with ke:

Conjunctions and subjunctive mood

There are conjunctions which often, if not exclusively, require the subjunctive mood:

The versatile conjunction ke

The conjunction ke is not only a popular component of compound conjunctions. It can even take on different meanings and can therefore be considered a “universal conjunction”:

Basic prepositions

In Persian there are different prepositions regarding time, location, direction and manner. There are a few basic prepositions:

Nouns followed by the bound conjunction “e” as prepositions

A number of Persian prepositions can be formed from a noun followed by the bound conjunction “e”:

Compound prepositions

The basic prepositions together with a noun can form another preposition:

There are also prepositions consisting of a basic preposition and a noun followed by  the bound conjunction “e”, partly to express “where to” or “where from”:

Other parts of speech as adverbs

Many words of other parts of speech may also occur as adverbs. For example, several Persian adverbs are identical to the adjectives of corresponding meaning:

Some adjectives have already been derived from a noun by the suffix “-âne” is. A few still need the suffix “”-âne” to become an adverb:

Also, some nouns occur as adverbs:

Pure adverbs

But there are also pure adverbs. They do not occur as a different part of speech:

Some Arabic loan words ending with “-an” and possibly their counterparts, which are formed by the assistance of a prefix and the associated noun, belong to the pure adverbs, as well:

Comparative and comparison

Adverbs whose meaning permits it can be treated like adjectives in terms of the comparative and comparison:

The counterpart to the English “as … as” and “the … the …” is formed by harce (whatever). In both cases the comparative is used:

Interrogative adverbs

You can ask for time, place, and manner by interrogative adverbs:

Order of adverbs

If there are adverbs of various types in a sentence, then their order is as follows: time – manner – place:

Infinitive

The infinitive of Persian verbs consists of the past stem and the suffix “ân”. The past stem ends with d or t:

Past tense

To form the past tense, the personal endings are added to the past stem. The subjective pronouns must match the conjugation of the verb and are therefore not absolutely necessary:

The conjugation of the third person plural is also used to express “somebody …”:

Present tense

In order to form the present tense, the present stem is used, which is irregular in most cases:

Furthermore, the personal ending “ad” is added to the third person singular. Finally, the preverb “mi-”is added to the stem as a sign of the durability of the action:

If the present stem ends with â or u, then a “y” is inserted:

Negation

The negation of a verb is achieved by the preverb “na-”. Normally, “na-” becomes the only preverb. Only “mi-” is not replaced by “na-”. In this case,”na-”is shifted to “ne-”:

The preverb “na-” may be confused with the word na, which can mean no, not, neither and nor:

To have & to be

As in other Indo-European languages, the verbs have (dâshtan) and be (budan) play a special role. They are used to form other or compound tenses. The preverb “mi-” is added to none of them, as they signal the durability of the action by their meanings:

Budan has a full and a short form. The negation is irregular:

Budan has another presence stem (bâsh), which is used in other tenses. For the third person singularhastis usually used only when the existence of something is emphasized.

As you can see in the example above, the noun is, in contrast to English, always definite. Also, the noun occurs always in singular unless it is described by an adjective:

If a word ends in a vowel, then ast can be shortened to “st”. If the word ends with e, then a shift of the sound takes place to a:

If the word ends with â or u, a “y” is inserted:

Future tense

In colloquial language, the present tense is also used for future actions. Formally, thefuture tense is formed using the conjugation of the present stem of xâstanfollowed by the past stem of the actual verb:

Compound verbs

There are a limited number of simple Persian verbs. In contrast, there are a variety of compound verbs. They consist of a non-verbal part and a simple verb. The following verbs are often found as the verbal part:

The non-verbal part is:

• a prefix, such as “dar-” in darraftan (to flee)
• a noun or an adjective, such as dast (hand) in dast keshidan (to stop),
• a combination of the above cases, such as sar (head) and “dar-” in sar darâvardan (to understand) or
• a phrase that begins with a preposition and results together with the verb in an imaginary meaning, such as az pâ darâmadan (to be defeated).

The prefixes are:

The conjugation applies only to the verbal part of a compound verb. The prefix is separated from the verbal part while conjugating:

An exception is the impersonal constructions, in which the verbal part always appears in the third person singular and instead the non-verbal part is given a pronoun suitable to the subject:

Another exception is the constructions with words like mitavân, miŝavad and bâyad. Here, only the past stem of the main verb appears:

Progressive tenses

In order to form the progressive tenses, the verb dâŝtan (to have) is taken to help. Both verbs (dâŝtan and the main verb) are conjugated, accordingly. The preverb “mi-” is used for the main verb:

If you want to express a certain durability of an action in the past, then you can omit dâŝtan:

Participle

The participle of a verb is used in forming some of the tenses. It results from the past stem and the suffix “-e”:

Perfect tenses

To form the perfect tenses, one has to build the participle of the main verb first. Now the verb budan (to be) is taken to help. The short form of the presence of budan is used for the present perfect. The past tense of budan is used for the past perfect:

Imperative

The imperative mood for the second person singular consists of the preverb “be-” and the present stem:

The preverb “be-” is shifted into “bi-” for present stems ending with a, â, o and y:

The preverb “be-” is often shifted into “bo-” for monosyllabic stems of the form cvc (c) – consonant + vowel + consonant (+ consonant) – containing the vowel o:

If the sounds “av” are in one syllable, then “av” is generally converted into “ow”. This is particularly true for the present stems:

The imperative mood for the second person plural is further conjugated with the corresponding personal ending “-id”:

Subjunctive

The present subjunctive differs from the present tense only in having the preverb “be-” instead of “mi-”. It is used after modal verbs and expressions indicating desire, obligation and possibility:

The present subjunctive is also used to express recommendations or questions for approval/comments:

The present subjunctive of budan (to be) is irregular:

In order to form past subjunctive, one has to build the participle of the main verb first. The participle is now followed by the present subjunctive of budan (to be):

Passive

In order to form passive construction, one has to build the participle of the main verb, first. The participle is now usually followed by the suitable tense of ŝodan (to become):

In Persian, there are also compound transitive verbs, for which the active and passive construction match each other:

Causative

In the causative construction, the object is made by the subject to do something. This construction is often used as a counterpart for infinitives that end with “-idan”. In order to form the causative construction, the suffix “-ândan” is added to the present stem:

Subjective pronouns

The subjective pronouns must match the verb conjugation and are therefore not absolutely

A subjective pronoun is often used to emphasize the subject:

Ân is used for objects, and usually animals, instead of u:

While ŝomâ is used as the polite form of to, iŝân is used as the polite form of u and ânhâ:

Objective pronouns

Objective pronouns follow a preposition (to whom object) or precede râ (direct object marker). In these cases, they are identical with the subjective pronouns. However, they can also occur as bound pronouns after a conjugated verb:

Note: The plural forms are mân, tân, and ŝân. If they follow a word ending with a consonant, they are preceded by “e”.

In case of a compound verb, the pronoun follows the non-verbal part:

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are identical to the objective pronouns. In contrast to the objective pronouns they follow nouns:

If a word ends with â or u, then the singular pronouns are preceded by ”y” and the plural pronouns are preceded by “ye”. If a word ends with a different vowel, then the original forms are used:

The possession can also be expressed using mâl (possession) together with the bound conjunction “e“:

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns precede the noun. While in and inhâ point to near nouns, ân and ânhâ point to distant nouns:

Reflexive and emphatic pronouns

Reflexive and emphatic pronouns are both formed using xod (self, own). The endings are identical to the objective or possessive pronoun endings and can be dropped.

Reflexive pronouns refer to the same entity as the subject:

Emphatic pronouns occur immediately after the subject and are used to emphasize the subject:

Reciprocal pronouns

The most widely used reciprocal pronouns in Persian are yekdigar (each other) and hamdigar (each other):

Distributive pronouns

The distributive pronouns are often compounds in which the words har, hic and hame occur, whereby the compounds with hic (literally “nothing”) are associated with negative verbs:

Note the difference between a distributive adjective and a distributive pronoun in the following examples:

Interrogative pronouns

With interrogative pronouns, you can ask about the subject or the object of an action:

Grammatical gender and definite article

In Persian, the nouns have no gender designation and no definite article:

Plural building

The plural is built for the majority of nouns by the suffix “-hâ”. The suffix “-ân” can also be used for living objects and body parts:

If a living object ends with â or u, then a “y” is inserted. For those living objects ending with e, a “g” is inserted. If a living object end with u, then sometimes u is shifted into o and a “v” is inserted:

For some Arabic loanwords Arabic plural forms are used, as well. These forms are usually made by either “ât” or “in”:

If a word ends with e or i, then a “j” is inserted before “ât”. If a word ends with i, then “-in” is shifted into “-un”:

There are also Arab irregular plural forms:

Adjectives as nouns

Adjectives / participles can also be interpreted as nouns:

Mutual derivation of nouns and adjectives

Nouns and adjectives can usually be derived mutually by the addition of the suffix “-i”:

If a word ends with â, o or u, then a “y” is inserted. If a word ends with e, then a “g” is inserted for resulting nouns. If the result is an adjective, then “g” is inserted in a few exceptional cases, such as haftegi (weekly) and xânegi (domestic):

Description of nouns (ezâfé)

Nouns can be described/specified using the bound conjunction “e”. This construction, also known as ezâfé has several applications.One of the applications corresponds to the English of and thus forms the genitive:

The same construction is used to describe a noun by a following adjective:

A noun can also be further specified by another noun:

The construction may include several nouns and adjectives:

Another application of this construction is the connection of a preceding form of address to a last name:

Although often pronounced, the construction may not appear between first and last names:

If a noun ends with a vowel (except i), a “y” is inserted:

Definiteness and indefiniteness

The indefiniteness of a noun can be expressed either by preceding yek (one) or the following of the postposition “i”. One can also combine both methods:

If a word ends with â, o or u, then a “y” is inserted:

If the noun is described by an adjective, then the adjective can take the indefiniteness marker instead of the noun, as well:

If a noun takes the position of a definite direct object, then the postposition râ is used:

Several adjectives describing a noun can also be connected with the bound conjunction “o” (and). The indefiniteness marker follows the last adjective. In expressions with definite nouns, the postposition râ succeeds the last adjective:

If a word ends with a vowel (except i) before the bound conjunction “o”, then a “v” is inserted:

Comparative, superlative and comparison

The comparative and superlative of an adjective are each formed with the suffix “-tar” or “tarin”. Superlative adjectives precede a noun without the bound conjunction “e”:

There are a handful exceptions to this rule, such as xub (good), but behtar (better).

We use az (from, than) or less commonly tâ (until, than) for the comparison. Tâ follows a verb:

The counterpart to the English “as … as ” is formed by harce (whatever). Here, the comparative form is used:

The preposition, followed by a corresponding derived noun and the bound conjunction “e” is usually used for the equality comparison as follows:

Demonstrative adjectives

The words in (this) and ân (that) are used in Persian before a noun as demonstrative adjectives. They always remain singular independently of the number of nouns, although they occur in plural as demonstrative pronouns inhâ (these) and ânhâ (those):

An emphasis is achieved by the attachment of the particle ham:

Other demonstrative adjectives are conin and conân (such a). They require an indefinite noun:

Interrogative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives precede a noun as well:

Some of them require the noun in the indefinite form:

Distributive adjectives

Distributive adjectives precede a noun, too:

The distributive adjective hic (literally “nothing”) is often used with an indefinite noun and always with a negative verb:

Sound-letter mapping

The table below shows the letters with some examples and their corresponding phonetic value with regard to the International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA:

Vowels

The short vowels are: a, e and o. The long vowels are: â, i and u. The most important diphthong is ow.

Diphthong ow

If the sounds of “av” are in one syllable, then “av” gets converted to “ow”:

If w occurs syllable-initially in the course of derivation, usually either “ow” is reconverted to “av” (present stem), or “ow” is converted to “ov” (otherwise):

Mul (‘)

Mul (derived from the Old Persian mulidan) means “pause” and corresponds to the letter Eyn or Hamze in the Persian-Arabic script. It is a weak and unstable glottal stop and is shown with an apostrophe. Mul occurs especially in Arabic leanwords:

Mediator consonants

Sounds are sometimes modified (omitted, moved, inserted) in Persian. This is often motivated by a tendency of facilitating pronunciation. One of the most common modifications is the insertion of a consonant between two vowels:

The following tables summarize some important cases of sound modifications:

Gemination (taŝdid)

Gemination occurring normally in Arabic loanwords, is represented by doubling a consonant. Usually, the first one ends a syllable whereas the second one begins the following syllable.

A gemination is indicated, whenever it is pronounced:

Stress

If a word has more than one syllable, then one of the syllables (usually the last one) is stressed more than the others. Stress pattern is regular in Persian.

Personal endings of verbs are usually unstressed. The stress falls on the last syllable of the stem:

An exception is the future form, in which the personal ending of the modal verb is stressed:

If a verb takes one or more preverbs, then the first or only preverb is stressed:

In compound verbs, the non-verbal part is stressed in the positive tense, while the negation preverb is stressed in the negative tense:

Interjections, conjunctions and vocative nouns are stressed on the first syllable:

If a word has one or more suffixes, then the last or only suffix is stressed:

The following enclitics are always unstressed:

For all other types of words, the stress usually falls on the last syllable:

Colloquial Persian

The colloquial language shows some differences in comparison with the literary language. It mainly occurs in informal bilateral communications (e-mail to friends etc.) and is possibly used in the retelling of authentic dialogues and stories in modern literature. The Tehranian dialect is the most widely used dialect and can be considered as a “standard”. In this dialect words are often abbreviated or “abraded“.

The main differences are typically:

In addition, the present tense forms of many verbs are abbreviated. For example, if the flexion of a present stem includes a “v” or “y” between two vowels, then “v” or “y” is omitted along with the left-vowel:

Furthermore double consonants are often simplified, with the second consonant often being assimilated:

Finally, some words have their own abbreviated or “abraded” form: