Contents

The following Help Topics are available:

Overview of Farsi

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Nouns

Number and Agreement

Pronouns

Adjectives

Adverbs

Verb Conjugations

To Be

Conjunctions

Questions

The Ezâfe

For Help on Help for Windows, press F1.

For Help on Help for Macintosh, select Help with Quick Help from the [image] menu .


Overview of
 Overview of Farsi

Welcome and congratulations on your choice to learn Farsi!  This Grammar Basics help file will serve as your introduction to the most basic aspects of Farsi grammar.  This overview will give you some more information about this exciting language.

Farsi, also known as Persian, is currently the official language of Iran.  Persian reigned as the language of culture and education for centuries throughout the Middle East and has a literary tradition that dates back to the 10th century.  Farsi belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, and, like Arabic, is written from right to left in script.

Transparent Language's Successful Immersion Method utilizes transliteration in this presentation of the Farsi language.  Transliteration is the writing of a language's script using a Roman alphabet.  Please see the Alphabet and Pronunciation section to familiarize yourself with the Farsi transliteration system.

Farsi grammar is fairly simple.  There is no gender, noun inflection, agreement of adjectives, nor irregular verb conjugations.  But the syntax (ordering of words in a sentence) of Farsi is important


Alphabet
 Alphabet and Pronunciation

In this program, Farsi is transliterated, that is, written with letters from the Roman alphabet. The following chart shows the symbols used for transliteration, and an example of the pronunciation for each.  The examples given below are meant as an approximate guide to pronunciation; since many of the sounds of English and Farsi are so different, the audio component of this program should be used to get a more precise feel for the pronunciation of Farsi.

Alphabet:

Letter name	Transliteration	Approximate pronunciation
alef
be	b	as in boy
pe	p	as in pot
te	t	as in tip
se	s	as in say
jim	j	as in jump
che	ch	as in church
he-jimi	h	as in husband
khe	kh	as in Bach
daal	d	as in dog
zaal	z	as in zoo
re	r	as in the Spanish pero, or butter said rapidly with a tapped t
ze	z	as in zoo
zhe	zh	as in beige
sin	s	as in say
shin	sh	as in ship
saad	s	as in say
zaad	z	as in zoo
taa, tayn	t	as in tonic
zaa	z	as in zoo
ayn	'	glottal stop
qayn	q	like "k" but farther back in the throat
fe	f	as in fame
qaaf	q	like "k" but farther back in the throat
kaaf	k	as in came
gaaf	g	as in get
laam	l	as in line
mim	m	as in made
nun	n	as in no
vaav	v	like English v or w
he	h	as in hush
ye	y	as in yes


Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing.

Nouns in Farsi exist in an absolute or non-specific state.

The absolute state can express the definite singular and the generic. There are no suffixes attached to the noun.

ketaab   "the book" or "books in general"

The non-specific state can express indefinite singular.  The indefinite suffix "-i" or "ye" is attached to the noun.

ketaab-i   "a book"

See Also:

Direct Object

Number and Agreement


Number
Number and Agreement

There are two numbers in Farsi: singular and plural.

Plural nouns are formed by attaching the plural marker "haa" to the abolute state of the noun.

ketaabhaa   "the books"

There is also a non-specific plural that indicates "some" or "several".  It is formed by attaching the suffix "-i" to the plural.

ketaabhaa-i   "some books"

Animate beings might also take the suffix "-aan" to form the plural.

See Also

Nouns

Pronouns

Adjectives

Verb Conjugations


Pronouns

Personal pronouns:

English	Farsi		English	Farsi
I	man		we	maa
you (informal)	to		you (formal)	shomaa
he,she	u		they	ishaan
he, she, it	aan		they	aanhaa

Pronomial enclitics are also used for possessive pronouns,direct objects and complements of a preposition:

English	Farsi		English	Farsi
my, me	-am		our	-emaan
your, you	-at, -et		your	-etaan
his, her, its; him, her ,it	-ash, -esh		their	-eshaan

Reflexive Pronouns

Khod is the only true reflexive pronoun.

Adding the pronomial enclitics further identifies it, khod-am

Khod can also be further identified as a possessive, khod-am-raa

See Also

Direct Objects


Adjectives

The adjective in Farsi usually follows the noun it qualifies.  An adjective does not agree in number with the noun it qualifies.

riaal-e Iraan	Iranian Rials

See Also:

Number and Agreement


Adverbs

Adverbs precede an adjective in Farsi.

otaagh-e yeknafar-e kheili khoob	very nice single room

An adjective can be made into an adverb by adding the suffix "-(g)aane".

See Also:

Adjectives


Verb Conjugations:  Tense and Mood
Verbs

Present stems should be learned as you learn each new verb as they cannot be readily identified from the infinitive.

The majority of verbs in Farsi are compound (a noun, adjective or adverb will precede a verb).

bozorg shodan	to grow up

To form the negative of a compound verb, the negative prefix "na-" is placed before the verbal portion of the compound.

The continuous prefix

"Mi" is prefixed to any tense to express a continuous action or state.

The negative continuous is formed by attaching the negative particle to the continuous particle.  This changes the negative particle to "ne-"

Present Indicative

attach the continuous marker "mi" to the present stem

attach the appropriate ending

-am		-im
-i		-id
-ad		-and

The negative is formed by adding the negative prefix which becomes "ne-" before "mi-" to the verb.

Past Absolute Tense

The Past Absolute expresses a completed action, like the English simple past.  To form this tense:

drop the infinitive -an ending

add -d or -t to the stem to form a past stem

attach the appropriate ending

am		im
i		id
no ending		and

Negative Past Absolute is formed by adding the stressed prefix "na-" to the past absolute.

The past participle

add stressed '-e" to the past stem.

Future Tense

take the present tense of "khastan" (without continous prefix)

followed by the past stem of your verb

khaaham	khaahim

khaahi	khaahid

khaahad	khaahand

With compound verbs, the auxiliary comes between the two parts of the compound

The negative future is formed by adding the negative particle "na" to the auxiliary.

NOTE:  Plural animate nouns (people) generally take verbs in the plural.

Plural inanimate nouns(things) generally take verbs in the singular.  An exception is the verb "to be".  In this instance, it usually takes the plural.

See Also:

To Be


Conjunctions

The coordinate conjunction "and" can be either "va" or "o".

loobiaa va goosht	beans and meat


Questions

Interrogative words (who, what, where, when) usually follow the subject of the sentence and precedes the predicate.

che	what
ki	who
kojaa	where
kay	when

Ch-e goftid?	What did you say?

The exception is "why" which precedes the subject and predicate.

cheraa	why
chand	how many

When followed by "-ast" or "-and", "che" and "ki" become "chist(and)" and "kist(and)".

Saa'at-e kaar-e baank chist?	What are the bank's hours?


The ezâfe

The ezâfe is a special construction in Farsi.

The attributive adjective ezâfe links nouns and adjectives that go together.  The ezâfe "-e" is suffixed to the absolute noun.

dollar-e Aamrikaa	American dollars

The possessive ezâfe links nouns or nouns and pronouns. Subject pronouns further emphasize possession.

Piraahan-e man va kot va shalvaar-e shoharam otoo laazem daarad.

My dress and my husband's suit need pressing.

This type of construction also ranges beyond "possession" as perceived in English, to include any relationship between nouns

Khaanom-e Malihi  	Mrs. Malihi


To Be  (Present Copula)

The English verb "to be" is expressed as a suffix in Farsi.  This suffix is joined to the predicate.

Bebakhshid, man raaham raa gom kard-e-am.

Excuse me, I am lost.

English	Farsi		English	Farsi
I am	-am		we are	-im
you are	-i		you are	-id
he/she/it is	-ast		they are	-and

Negative Copula

I am not	nistam		we are not	nistim
you are not	nisti		you are not	nistid
he/she/it is not	nist		they are not	nistand

Long Copula (existential state and there is, there are)

I am	hastam		we are	hastim
you are	hasti		you are	hastid
he, she, it is	hast		they are	hastand


Direct Object

Specific direct objects are noted by the suffix "-raa" in Farsi. A specific direct object is a proper name, personal or demonstrative pronoun, or a noun qualified by a demonstrative adjective.