Persian Language and Literature (AHSEC)
The Assam Higher Secondary Persian paper tests two linked skills: control of Persian grammar (صرف و نحو) and the ability to read, translate and comment on the prescribed prose and verse. Grammar marks are the most recoverable; literature marks depend on naming author, work and theme precisely.
Grammar: word classes and the ezāfe
Persian words are اسم (noun/adjective), فعل (verb) and حرف (particle/preposition). The ezāfe (-e) links a noun to a following noun or adjective: کتابِ خوب 'a good book'; درِ خانه 'the door of the house'. It is a short kasra and has nothing to do with the Arabic article. Human plurals usually take -ān (مردان), non-human nouns -hā (کتابها); Arabic broken plurals such as کتب and علوم are learnt as vocabulary.
Verbs: two stems, six endings
The past stem is the infinitive minus -an: رفتن → رفت. The present stem must be memorised: رفتن → رو. Endings are -am, -i, -ad, -im, -id, -and. From رفت: رفتم 'I went'; میروم 'I go'.
Worked example
Translate: من دیروز به مدرسه رفتم و دوستم را دیدم. Reasoning: دیروز is a time adverb; به مدرسه is 'to school'; رفتم is past simple, 1st singular of رفتن, so 'I went'. دوستم = دوست + -am, 'my friend'; را marks a definite direct object, so it belongs to دوستم, not to مدرسه. دیدم is past simple, 1st singular of دیدن, 'I saw'. Answer: 'Yesterday I went to school and saw my friend.'
Literature answers
For a prescribed anecdote (Gulistan, Bostan) or poem, give the author and the work, state the theme in one sentence, then quote one short Persian line with its translation. A retelling without author and moral loses the content marks.
Traps
- Omitting the ezāfe when reading aloud or translating.
- Using -hā with human nouns where -ān is required.
- Mixing present and past stems: میروم vs رفتم.
- Translating را as 'to'; it marks the definite direct object.
- Naming a poet without the book, or the book without the poet.