Persian grammar

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Persian grammar (Persian: ????? ???? ??????) is the grammar of the Persian language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is similar to that of many other Indo-European languages. The language became a more analytical language around the time of Middle Persian, with fewer cases and discarding grammatical gender. The innovations remain in Modern Persian, which is one of the few Indo-European languages to lack grammatical gender.

Video Persian grammar

Word order

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 ez?fe, 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.

Maps Persian grammar

Articles

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'

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Nouns

Gender

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

All nouns can be made plural by the suffix ??-, 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 (??????) "besy?r(?). -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'
• ???????? ????? "ket?b-h?ye-besy?r" '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'

In the spoken language, when nouns or pronouns end with a consonant, -h? is reduced to -? .

• Literary: ???? ?nh? 'they'
• Informal 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.

• Literary: ??????? parandeg?n 'birds'
• Spoken: ???????? parandeh? '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

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 ez?fe: ???? ???? ket?b-e ?rash 'Arash's book'

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Pronouns

Subject pronouns

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.

* rarely used

* 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 T-V 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:

• ?????? ??? ???????? ?????? 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

Possession is often expressed by adding suffixes to nouns. The same suffixes are used as object pronouns.

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 in Iranian dialects 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: ???????.

Ez?fe

Another way of expressing possession is by using subject pronouns or a noun phrase with ez?fe.

• ???? ??? ??? ???? 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

The object pronouns are the same as the possessive pronouns but are attached to verbs instead of nouns: 'Yesterday I saw him.'

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Adjectives

Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify, using the ez?fe 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. 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'

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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'

* In the past tense, the past stem alone is used without any ending (e.g. raft ??? , not *raftad ????)

* In the past tense, the past stem alone is used without any ending (raft ???, not *rafte ????)

Tenses

Here are the most common tenses:

Infinitive

The infinitive ending is formed with ?- (-an): ????? (khordan) 'to eat'. The basic stem of the verb is formed by deleting this ending: ???? (khord).

Past

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

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

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

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

The future tense is formed by taking the present tense form of '??????' (kh?stan), to want, and conjugating it to the correct person; this verb in third person singular is '?????' (kh?had). 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

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

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

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

• 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

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'

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Prepositions

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'

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See also

• Persian language
• Tajik grammar
• Kurdish grammar

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References

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Bibliography

• Abrahams, Simin (2005). Modern Persian: A Course-Book. Routledge.
• Bleeck, Arthur Henry (1857). A Concise Grammar of the Persian Language.
• Brookshaw, Dominic Parviz (2010). The Routledge Introductory Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast. Routledge.
• Boyle, John Andrew (1966). Grammar of Modern Persian. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
• Dahlen, Ashk (2010). Modern persisk grammatik (2nd edition 2014) (Swedish)
• Doctor, Sorabshaw Byramji (1875). A New Grammar Of The Persian Tongue, Part 1, Accidence: For The Use Of The Higher Classes In Schools And Colleges (reprinted 2010)
• Elwell-Sutton, L.P. (1963). Elementary Persian Grammar
• Forbes, B. (1985). A Grammar of the Persian Language (reprinted 2003).
• Forbes, Duncan (1869). A Grammar of the Persian Language (4th edition)
• Ibrahim, Meerza Mohammad (1841). A Grammar Of The Persian Language: To Which Are Subjoined Several Dialogues; With An Alphabetical List Of The English And Persian Terms Of Grammar
• Johnson, Edwin Lee (1917). Historical Grammar of the Ancient Persian Language
• Jones, Sir William (1771). A Grammar of the Persian Language.
• Kent, Roland G. (1950). Old Persian: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon.
• Lambton, Ann K.S. (1953) Persian Grammar. Cambridge University Press.
• Lazard, Gilbert; Lyon, Shirley A. (1993). A Grammar of Contemporary Persian (Persian Studies, No 14) (paperback)
• Mace, John (2003). Persian Grammar: For Reference and Revision. Routledge Curzon.
• Mahootian, Shahrzad (1997). Persian (Descriptive Grammars).
• Obolensky, Serge; Yazdan Panah, Kambiz; Khaje Nouri, Fereidoun (1963). Persian Basic Course units 1-12. Foreign Service Institute, Washington. (Republished as Spoken Persian in 1973.)
• Phillott, D. C. (1919) Higher Persian Grammar: For The Use Of The Calcutta University, vols, 1 and 2. (reprinted 2008)
• Rafiee, Abdi (1975). Colloquial Persian. Routledge.
• Rosen, Friedrich (reprinted 2010). Modern Persian Colloquial Grammar: Containing a Short Grammar, Dialogues and Extracts from Nasir-Eddin Shah's Diaries, Tales, Etc., and a Vocabulary (originally written in German in 1890).
• St. Clair-Tisdall, William (1902). Modern Persian Conversation-Grammar; With Reading Lessons, English-Persian Vocabulary and Persian Letters
• Stilo, Donald L.; Clinton Jerome (1994). Modern Persian: Spoken and Written.
• Thackston, Wheeler M. (1993) An Introduction to Persian (3rd edition). IBEX.
• Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1979). Persian Grammar: History and State of Its Study (Trends in Linguistics State of the Art Reports, No 12)
• Windfuhr, Gernot L. (1980). Modern Persian: Intermediate level 1. University of Michigan Press.
• Yousef, Saeed & Torabi, Hayedeh (2012): Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook. Routledge.
• Yousef, Saeed & Torabi, Hayedeh (2013): Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook. Routledge.

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External links

• Persian Grammar by Navid Fazel (English; German)
• Persian Grammar and Resources
• Introduction to Persian grammar (in Persian)
• Learning Persian grammar: an introduction (in Persian)
• A brief Persian grammar course written by Ahmad Shamlou (in Persian)
• BBC's complete guide to Persian grammar (in Persian)
• Grammar and Its Standards is a manuscript, in Arabic, about Persian grammar. It dates from 1553.

Online Persian verb conjugators

• Persian Verb Conjugator
• Another Persian verb conjugator with multilingual interface
• Boyle's Persian verb classifications

Source of the article : Wikipedia