Word order[edit]

While Persian has a standard subject-object-verb (SOV)

word order, it is not strongly left-branching. However,
because Persian is a pro-drop language, the subject of a
sentence is often not apparent until the end of the verb, at
the end of a sentence.
ket b-e bi-r didam 'I saw the blue book'
ket b-e bi-r didid 'you saw the blue
book'
The main clause precedes a subordinate clause, often
using the familiar Indo-European subordinator ke ("that").
be man goft ke emruz nemiy d 'he
told me that he wasn't coming today'
The interrogative particle y ( ), that asks a yes-no
question, in written Persian, appears at the beginning of a
sentence. Grammatical modifiers, such as adjectives,
normally follow the nouns they modify by using the ezfe,
but they occasionally precede nouns. Persian is one of
the few SOV languages to use prepositions. The only
case marker in the written language, r (( )in the spoken
language, ro or o), follows a definite direct object noun
phrase.
ket b-e bi-r az ket bx ne
gereft 'she got the blue book from the library'
Normal sentences are subject-preposition-object-verb. If
the object is specific, the order is '(S) (O + r ) (PP) V'.
However, Persian can have a relatively free word order,
often called scrambling, because the parts of speech are
generally unambiguous, and prepositions and the
accusative marker help to disambiguate the case of a
given noun phrase. The scrambling characteristic has
allowed Persian a high degree of flexibility for versification
and rhyming.
Articles[edit]
In the literary language, no definite article (the) is used;
rather, it is implied by the absence of the indefinite article
(a, an). However, in the spoken language, the stressed
suffix -e is often used as a definite article.
Literary: ket b ru-ye miz ast 'the book is
on the table'.
Spoken: ket be ru-ye miz e 'the book is on

the table'
For plural nouns, the definite plural marker h functions
as both the plural marker and the definite article.
The indefinite article in both spoken and literary Persian is
the number one, yek, often shortened to ye.
ru-ye miz yek ket b ast 'on the table
there is a book'
Nouns[edit]
Main article: Persian nouns
Gender[edit]
Persian nouns and pronouns have no grammatical
gender. Arabic loanwords with the feminine ending -
reduce to a genderless Persian -, which is pronounced -
e.
Many borrowed Arabic feminine words retain their Arabic
feminine plural form - t, but Persian descriptive adjectives
modifying them have no gender. Arabic adjectives also
lose their gender in Persian.
Plural[edit]
All nouns can be made plural by the suffix -h , which
follows a noun and does not change its form. Plural forms
are used less often than in English and are not used after
numbers or zi d 'many' or " ) (besyr(). -h is
used only when the noun has no numbers before it and is
definite.
se t ket b 'three books'
besy r ket b 'many books'
" ketb-hye-besyr" 'many books'
ket b-h 'the books'
man ketab-o dust d ram 'I like the
book'
un d neshju hastan 'They are students'
un d neshjuh hastan 'They are the
students' (the ones I mentioned before)
In the spoken language, when nouns or pronouns end
with a consonant, -h is reduced to - .
Written: nh 'they'
Spoken: un 'they'

In the literary language, animate nouns generally use the

suffix - n (or variants -g n and -y n) for plurals, but -h is
more common in the spoken language.[1]
Literary: parandeg n 'the birds'
Spoken: parandeh 'the birds'

Nouns borrowed from Arabic usually have special plurals,

formed with the ending - t or by changing the vowels.
Arabic nouns can generally take Persian plural endings,
but the original form is sometimes more common. The
most common plural form depends on the individual word.
Cases[edit]
There are two cases in Persian: nominative (or subject)
case and accusative (or object) case. The nominative is
the unmarked form of a noun, but when the noun is
followed by a r or suffix -o, it is in the accusative. The
other oblique cases are marked by prepositions.
Nominative: ket b nj st /
ket bh nj yand ('the book is there/ the books
are there')
Inanimate subjects do not require plural verb forms,
especially in the spoken language: ket bh unj st ('the
books "is" there').
accusative: ket b-o (ket b-r ) bede be
man 'give me the book'
possession using ezfe: ket b-e
rash 'Arash's book'
Pronouns[edit]
Subject pronouns[edit]
Persian is a null-subject, or pro-drop, language so
personal pronouns (e.g. 'I', 'he', 'she') are optional.
Pronouns add r when they are used as the object but
otherwise stay the same. The first-person singular
accusative form man r 'me' can be shortened
to mar or, in the spoken language, mano. Pronominal
genitive enclitics (see above) are different from normal
pronouns, however.

Literary forms

Person Singular Plural

 1st man m

2nd to shom

u ( human) n nh ( non-
(non-human), human/human),
3rd
vey ( * human only, ishn ( human only
literary) and formal)

* rarely used

Spoken forms

Person Singular Plural

1st man m

2nd to shom

u unh/un ( normal),
3rd
ishun ( * honorary) ishun ( honorary)

* uses 3rd person plural verb form

Persian resembles French in that the second person
plural pronoun 'shom' is used as a polite form of
address. Persian 'to' is used among intimate friends (the
so-called TV distinction). However, Persian also
resembles North Indian languages like Hindustani in that
the third person plural form, with the pronoun ishun, is
used for politeness to refer to one person, especially in
the presence of that person:[2]
bebakhshid, shom mrik yi
hastin? 'excuse me, are you an American?'
ishun be man goftan, berim tu 'he
said to me, "Let's go in." '
Possessive determiners[edit]
Possession is often expressed by adding suffixes to
nouns. The same suffixes are used as object pronouns.

Possessive Determiners (Literary Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -emn

2nd -at -etn

3rd -ash -eshn

Possessive Determiners (Spoken Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -emun

2nd -et -etun

 3rd -esh -eshun

Examples:
ket betun ru-ye miz e 'your book is on the
table'
ket bam ru-ye miz ast 'my book is on

the table'
When the stem to which they are added ends in a vowel,
a y is inserted for ease of pronunciation. However, with
the plural marker , it is also common to drop the -a/-e
stem from the possessive marker. For example, 'my cars'
could be translated as either ( m shinh yam) with
the y-stem or ( m shinh m). It can be simplified
even more to the colloquial spoken form by dropping h,
for ease of pronunciation, to ( m shin m).
Sometimes, is written attached to the word: .
Ezfe[edit]
Another way of expressing possession is by using subject
pronouns or a noun phrase with ezfe.
ket b-e shom ru-ye miz e 'your book is
on the table'
ket b-e man ru-ye miz e 'my book is on
the table'
ket b-e ost d ru-ye miz ast 'the
professor's book is on the table'
Object pronouns[edit]
The object pronouns are the same as the possessive
pronouns but are attached to verbs instead of nouns:
'Yesterday I saw him.'
 Direct object incorporation

diruz u r didam Yesterday I saw him.

diruz didamesh Yesterday I saw him.

Adjectives[edit]
Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify, using
the ezfe construct. However, adjectives can precede
nouns in compounded derivational forms such as khosh-
bakht (literally 'good-luck') 'lucky', and bad-k r(literally
'bad-deed') 'wicked'. adjectives can come in any different
orders after a noun and in this case adjectives that come
at the end have more emphasis on.[3] Comparative forms
('more ...') make use of the suffix -tar(), and
the superlative form ('the most ...') uses the suffix -
tarin ().
Comparatives used attributively follow the nouns they
modify, but superlatives precede their nouns.
The word 'than' is expressed by the preposition ( az):
sag-e man az gorbe-ye to
kuchektar ast 'my dog is smaller than your cat'
Verbs[edit]
Main article: Persian verbs
Normal verbs can be formed using the following pattern:
NEG - DUR or SUBJ/IMPER - root - PAST - PERSON -
OBJ
 Negative prefix: na, which changes to ne before the
Imperfective prefix (mi)
Imperfective or durative prefix: mi
Subjunctive/Imperative prefix: be
Past suffix: d, which changes to t after unvoiced
consonants
Personal suffix: e.g. -am 'I', -i 'you (sg.)' etc.
Object suffix: the most commonly used is -ash or -
esh 'him/her/it'

Person Suffixes (Literary Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -im

2nd -i -id

3rd -ad* -and

* In the past tense, the past stem alone is used without

any ending (e.g. raft , not *raftad )

Person Suffixes (Spoken Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -im

2nd -i -id/-in
 3rd -e* -an

* In the past tense, the past stem alone is used without

any ending (raft , not *rafte )

Object suffixes (Literary Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -emn

2nd -at -etn

3rd -ash -eshn

Object suffixes (Spoken Forms)

Person Singular Plural

1st -am -emun

2nd -et -etun

3rd -esh -eshun

Tenses[edit]
Main article: Persian verbs
Here are the most common tenses:
Infinitive[edit]
The infinitive ending is formed with - (-an):
(khordan) 'to eat'. The basic stem of the verb is formed by
deleting this ending: ( khord).
Past[edit]
The past tense is formed by deleting the infinitive ending
and adding the personal endings to the stem. In the third
person singular, however, there is no personal ending so
( khordan) would become ( khord), 'he/she/it ate'.
Imperfect[edit]
The imperfect tense is made by taking the past tense as
described above and prefixing it with '( 'mi-), thus
(mikhordam) 'I was eating', 'I used to eat'. This tense can
also have a conditional meaning: 'I would eat', 'I would
have eaten'.
Perfect[edit]
The perfect tense is formed by taking the stem of the
verb, adding ( e) to the end and then adding the different
persons of the present tense of 'to be'. So ( khordan)
in the perfect first person singular would be
(khorde am) 'I have eaten' and the 3rd person singular
would become ( khorde ast). However, in the
spoken form, ast is omitted, making ( khorde) 's/he
has eaten'.
Pluperfect[edit]
The pluperfect tense formed by taking the stem of the
perfect, e.g. ( khorde), adding ( bud), and finally
adding the personal endings: ' ( ' khorde budam), 'I
had eaten'. In the third person singular, bud is added
(with no ending).
Future[edit]
The future tense is formed by taking the present tense
form of '( ' khstan), to want, and conjugating it to the
correct person; this verb in third person singular is ''
(khhad). Next, it is put in front of the shortened infinitive
of the verb, e.g. ( khord), thus ( kh had
khord) 'he/she/it will eat'. For compound verbs, such as
( tamiz kardan) 'to clean', goes in between
both words, and is reduced to its stem, thus
( tamiz kh had kard) 'he/she/it will clean'. In the
negative, ' ' receives . na- to make
nakh had khord 'he will not eat'. The future tense is
generally avoided in colloquial Persian.
Present[edit]
The present tense is formed by taking the present stem of
the verb, adding the prefix '( 'mi-), and conjugating it.
The present stem is often not predictable from the
infinitive and so is to be learnt separately. The present
stem of the verb ( khordan) 'to eat' for example, is
( khor), so the present first person singular would be
( mikhoram) 'I eat, am eating, do eat'. The third
person singular ending is - (-ad). The negative - is
pronounced ne before m, but in all other tenses, it is
pronounced na. Frequently the present tense is used
together with an adverb (for example:
fard 'tomorrow') instead of the future tense described
above.
- fard be sinem miravad 'tomorrow
he will go to cinema'
Present subjunctive[edit]
The present subjunctive is made by changing the
prefix mi- of the present tense to be- or bo- (before a verb
with the vowel o): bokhoram 'I may eat', 'let me eat',
benevisam 'I may write', 'let me write'.
Compound verbs[edit]
Light verbs such as ( kardan) '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 ( goftegu) means 'conversation',
while ( goftegu kardan) 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. kardan) is conjugated; the word
preceding it is not affected:
d ram goftegu mikonam ( '( ) I am
speaking')
goftegu karde am ( '( ) I have spoken')

goftegu kh ham kard ('( ) I will speak')

Other examples of compound verbs with kardan:

far mush kardan () , 'to forget'
gerye kardan () , 'to cry'
telefon kardan () , 'to call, to telephone'
b zs zi kardan () , 'to fix'
Auxiliary verbs[edit]

b yad ( ) - 'must': Not conjugated. Dependent clause

is subjunctive
sh yad ( ) - 'might': Not conjugated. Dependent
clause is subjunctive
tav nestan ( ) - 'can' (literally 'to be able to'):
Conjugated. The dependent clause is subjunctive
kh stan ( ) - 'want': Conjugated. Dependent clause
is subjunctive
 kh stan ( ) - 'will': Conjugated. Main verb is
tenseless
Simplified spoken verbs[edit]
In the spoken language, certain commonly used verbs are
pronounced in a shortened form:
raftan, 'to go' (Literary present form -rav-) Spoken
present form -r-. E.g. mi-r-am 'I go.' mi-r-i 'You go.' be-r-
im 'Let's go.'
d dan, 'to give' (Literary present form -deh-)
Spoken present form -d-. E.g. mi-d-am. 'I give.' mi-d-im.
'We give.'
goftan, 'to say' (Literary present form -gu-) Spoken
present form -g-. E.g. mi-g-am. 'I say.' mi-g-in 'You say.'
madan, 'to come' (Literary present form - y-)
Spoken present form --. E.g. mi-y -m, 'I am coming'
kh stan, 'to want' (Literary present form -kh h-)
Spoken present form -kh-. E.g. mi-kh -m 'I want'
Prepositions[edit]
Prepositions in Persian generally behave like in English
and precede their object. They come in two kinds: the
basic prepositions such as dar 'in', which are placed
directly before the noun or pronoun without an ez fe, and
a more numerous class, made from nouns or adverbs
joined to the following noun by an ez fe (-e or -ye). They
include the following:
az (' )from'
b ( ' )with'
bar' (' )on'
bar -ye (' )for'
be (' )to'
bi (' )without'
 dar (' )in'
m nand-e (' ) like'
mesl-e (' )like'
ru-ye (' ) on'
t ( ' )till, until'
tu-ye (' ) in'
zir-e (' )under'