Adjective Complements and Valency

Some adjectives merely describe a referent; others open a semantic slot that a complement can fill. Someone is خوشحال از نتیجه “happy about the result,” آماده‌ی سفر “ready for the trip,” or وابسته به بودجه “dependent on the budget.” The adjective determines whether that slot is linked by از, به, ezafe, or a clause with که. This lexical requirement is the adjective's valency.

English-speaking learners cannot safely translate the English preposition. English happy about, ready for, and dependent on map to three different Persian patterns, and closely related Persian adjectives may select different links. There is no complete logical shortcut: store the complement pattern with the adjective and verify unfamiliar items in a dictionary.

A core valency map

The table gives lexical citation patterns, not one mandatory clause order. In predicates, a short prepositional complement often comes before the adjective: از نتیجه خوشحالم. In attributive phrases, it normally follows the adjective: دانشجویان خوشحال از نتیجه.

خوشحال از: the cause of an emotion

With a noun phrase naming the cause or occasion of happiness, خوشحال commonly selects از. The complement often precedes the predicate in neutral speech.

Putting از نتیجه before خوشحالم does not detach it from the adjective semantically. Persian predicate structure readily places complements before the adjectival head and copula.

Preposition choice also distinguishes roles. از موفقیتت خوشحالم names the success as the cause of happiness; برای تو خوشحالم means “I am happy for you,” with برای introducing the beneficiary.

آماده‌ی: an ezafe complement

آماده ends in silent ه. When it takes a following noun or verbal noun as its complement, standard spelling shows ezafe as ه‌ی: آماده‌ی سفر, آماده‌ی پاسخ دادن. This is an adjective-complement link, not possession.

Both constructions are standard, but their packaging differs. برای آغاز ... آماده است places a purpose phrase before a simple predicate; آماده‌ی آغاز ... است builds the event directly into the adjective phrase. With a verbal noun, use the infinitive-like nominal expression:

The visible ه‌ی is mandatory standard spelling. The separate page on ezafe after silent he explains the orthography.

وابسته به and علاقه‌مند به

وابسته selects به for what something depends on. The source may be an institution, resource, decision, or condition.

The contrast مستقل از “independent of” proves why semantic opposites do not necessarily share a preposition: وابسته به, but مستقل از. Preposition choice belongs to the adjective's lexical entry.

علاقه‌مند likewise selects به for the object or field of interest:

In an attributive phrase, the complement remains adjacent to the adjective:

Ezafe links پژوهشگری to علاقه‌مند; به تاریخ محلی then fills the adjective's complement slot. Long sequences are grammatical, but an editor may use a relative clause if several attachments compete.

Noun complements versus finite clauses

A finite fact is commonly introduced with که after emotion and certainty adjectives. Do not automatically retain the noun-complement preposition before که.

Compare noun از پاسخ مطمئنم “I am certain of the answer” with clause مطمئنم که پاسخ درست است “I am sure that the answer is correct.” که packages a proposition; از packages a nominal source/object of certainty.

Clause mood and که syntax are developed on the complementizer که page. Here the essential point is that complement category can change the linker.

Complement, adjunct, and word order

A complement completes a relation invited by the adjective; an adjunct independently adds time, place, manner, or circumstance. In دیروز از نتیجه خوشحال بودم, از نتیجه answers what caused the happiness, while دیروز merely locates it in time. Both can move for discourse reasons, but only the former belongs in the adjective's dictionary frame.

In dense prose, keep a selected complement near its adjective or rephrase. A remote به phrase can otherwise be mistaken for a verb argument.

Dictionary learning

Record adjectives with a miniature frame rather than as isolated translations:

• خوشحال از چیزی / خوشحال که ...;
• آماده‌ی چیزی / آماده برای چیزی;
• وابسته به چیزی;
• مستقل از چیزی;
• علاقه‌مند به چیزی;
• مطمئن از چیزی / مطمئن که ....

Corpus examples help determine whether a variant is neutral, formal, or rare. Dictionaries sometimes list only the headword, so inspect examples and common collocations. This is genuinely lexical learning: semantic similarity narrows the possibilities but does not determine the preposition.

A short exchange

Common Mistakes

1. Translating the English preposition after خوشحال

2. Omitting the linker after آماده

3. Giving وابسته the wrong preposition

4. Keeping از before a finite که clause

5. Putting an attributive adjective before its noun

Key Takeaways

• Adjective valency is lexical: learn خوشحال از، آماده‌ی، وابسته به، علاقه‌مند به as frames.
• In predicates, complements often precede the adjective; in attributive phrases, they follow the adjective.
• آماده‌ی uses visible ezafe after silent ه; وابسته به uses a separate preposition.
• A finite که clause often replaces the noun-complement preposition rather than following it.
• When formal precision matters, keep selected complements near the adjective or rephrase a crowded chain.