Persian Grammar and Applied Syntax
Verb forms you must control
Persian builds most tenses from two stems: past (خواند-) and present (خوان-). Learn the irregular present stems: کردن→کن-, دادن→ده-, رفتن→رو-, گفتن→گو-, بودن→باش-, آمدن→آ-. Person endings are -م, -ی, -د, -یم, -ید, -ند. Compound verbs carry the meaning in the noun or adjective and inflect the light verb: کمک کردن, تصمیم گرفتن, خوش آمدن.
Sentence structure and markers
The unmarked order is Subject–Object–Verb. را marks a specific direct object. Ezafe links nouns to adjectives, possessors and genitives: درِ خانه, مردِ بزرگ. Plural is usually -ها; formal or classical words take -ان. Comparatives use -تر and superlatives -ترین.
Worked example
Active: «من نامه را نوشتم.» Passive: «نامه نوشته شد.» Reasoning: Make the object نامه the subject and delete را. Use the past participle نوشته plus the appropriate form of شدن. The active past first person becomes passive past third singular شد. Do not write «نامه را نوشته شد»; را must go. For present passive: «نامه نوشته می‌شود.»
Subjunctive and negation
After باید, می‌خواهم که, تا, and purpose که, use the subjunctive: باید بروم; می‌خواهم که بخوانی. Negate with نـ/نه: نمی‌روم, ننوشتم, نرو. Note the negative subjunctive نروم.
Traps
- Using شدن with an intransitive verb: رفت is not passivised.
- Keeping را in a passive clause.
- Forgetting the past participle's -ه.
- Using a past stem after باید: باید رفتیم is wrong; باید برویم.
- Agreement errors when a plural noun is followed by an adjective.