For ordinary present identity or description, use a copular ending or third-singular است: دانشجویم “I am a student,” هوا سرد است “the weather is cold.” Use the هستـ forms especially for existence, presence, or contrast: اینجا داروخانه هست “there is a pharmacy here,” من اینجا هستم “I am here.”
The title uses two dictionary-looking labels, but there are not two regular infinitives that can be exchanged everywhere. بودن is the standard modern infinitive “to be.” The older infinitive هستن is not the normal standard citation form; its surviving present forms are هستم، هستی، هست، هستیم، هستید، هستند. Informal written هستن can also simply represent standard هستند “they are.”
The decision tree
Follow these questions in order.
1. Do you need an infinitive, past, subjunctive, or command?
Choose the بودن family. The infinitive is بودن, the past uses بودـ, and the subjunctive/imperative uses باشـ.
بودن کنار خانواده برایش مهم است.
budan kenâr-e khânevâde barâ-yash mohem ast.
Being near family is important to them. (neutral; standard infinitive بودن)
هفتهی پیش چند روز در خانهی مادرم بودم.
hafte-ye pish chand ruz dar khâne-ye mâdar-am budam.
Last week I spent several days at my mother's home. (neutral; past stem بودـ)
ممکن است فردا در دفتر باشیم.
momken ast fardâ dar daftar bâshim.
We may be at the office tomorrow. (neutral; subjunctive stem باشـ)
2. Is this a present identity, class, or ordinary property?
Choose an attached copular ending or است. These forms are compact and neutral: معلمم “I am a teacher,” خستهای “you are tired,” آمادهاند “they are ready,” کوچک است “it is small.”
من پرستارم و همسرم معلم است.
man parastâr-am va hamsar-am mo'allem ast.
I am a nurse, and my spouse is a teacher. (neutral; identity with compact copulas)
این اتاق روشن است، ولی کمی کوچک است.
in otâq rowshan ast, vali kami kuchek ast.
This room is bright, but it is a little small. (neutral; ordinary properties with است)
The full form is also possible with many predicates: من پرستار هستم is grammatical. It is useful after a vowel-final predicate and when the speaker wants the copula to carry weight. The distinction is about discourse, not a rule that makes every full form wrong.
3. Are you saying that something exists or is available?
Choose هستـ. Put the place or setting first when introducing the new entity: در این خیابان بانک هست “there is a bank on this street.” English uses dummy there; Persian does not. The location phrase frames the scene, and the existing item appears before هست.
نزدیک ایستگاه یک نانوایی شبانهروزی هست.
nazdik-e istgâh yek nânvâyi-ye shabâne-ruzi hast.
There is a twenty-four-hour bakery near the station. (neutral; existential هست)
برای همه صندلی هست؛ لازم نیست بایستید.
barâ-ye hame sandali hast; lâzem nist be-istid.
There are seats for everyone; you do not need to stand. (neutral; availability)
4. Is a known person or thing simply at a location?
For a neutral location, compact copula/است is natural: سارا اینجاست “Sara is here,” کتاب روی میز است “the book is on the table.” Full هستـ often makes presence or availability more salient: “is indeed here,” “is present.”
پروندهی شما روی میز مدیر است.
parvande-ye shomâ ru-ye miz-e modir ast.
Your file is on the manager's desk. (neutral location; known item)
مدیر امروز در دفتر هست؛ میتوانید با او صحبت کنید.
modir emruz dar daftar hast; mi-tavânid bâ u sohbat konid.
The manager is in the office today; you can speak with them. (neutral; presence/availability is relevant)
This is a preference, not an absolute ban. Word order, definiteness, and spoken stress can shift the reading. The strongest contrast is between introducing an entity with existential هست and locating an already established entity.
A minimal contrast: one room, two messages
در اتاق یک صندلی هست.
dar otâq yek sandali hast.
There is a chair in the room. (the chair is introduced; existential)
صندلی در اتاق است.
sandali dar otâq ast.
The chair is in the room. (the chair is already identifiable; locative predication)
English changes only the order around be. Persian also changes which copular strategy is most natural. The first sentence answers “what is in the room?” The second answers “where is the chair?”
When هست carries contrast
Full هستـ can receive contrastive stress. It is especially natural when correcting a negative expectation, insisting that a property holds, or contrasting two predicates.
این راه سخت هست، اما خطرناک نیست.
in râh sakht hast, ammâ khatarnâk nist.
This route is difficult, but it is not dangerous. (contrastive; full هست balances نیست)
— دکتر هنوز آنجاست؟ — بله، هست؛ تا ساعت پنج میماند.
— doktor hanuz ânjâ-st? — bale, hast; tâ sâ'at-e panj mi-mânad.
— Is the doctor still there? — Yes, they are; they will stay until five. (neutral dialogue; هست confirms presence)
Do not turn this into “هست is always emphatic.” It is the ordinary existential form, and the non-third-person هستم، هستی، هستیم، هستید، هستند can also serve as full copulas without dramatic emphasis. The contrast is clearest in third-singular property sentences: neutral خوب است versus insistive خوب هست.
Two ambiguous English contexts resolved aloud
English There is time and It is time differ only by the dummy pronoun, but Persian chooses different structures:
هنوز وقت هست؛ عجله نکن.
hanuz vaqt hast; ajale nakon.
There is still time; don't rush. (existence/availability)
وقت آن است که تصمیم بگیریم.
vaqt-e ân ast ke tasmim be-girim.
It is time for us to decide. (formal predication with است)
Likewise, English Sara is here can answer two different questions. سارا اینجاست neutrally locates Sara. سارا اینجا هست naturally answers a doubt about whether she is present.
— سارا کجاست؟ — سارا اینجاست، کنار پنجره.
— Sârâ kojâ-st? — Sârâ injâ-st, kenâr-e panjare.
— Where is Sara? — Sara is here, beside the window. (neutral location)
— فکر کردم سارا نیامده. — چرا، سارا اینجا هست.
— fekr kardam Sârâ na-yâmade. — cherâ, Sârâ injâ hast.
— I thought Sara hadn't come. — She has; Sara is here. (corrective presence)
Negative choices: use نیستـ
Present negative identity, property, location, and existence all use نیستـ: نیستم، نیستی، نیست، نیستیم، نیستید، نیستند. Do not build نمیهستم or نمیاست.
امروز مسئول فروش در دفتر نیست.
emruz mas'ul-e forush dar daftar nist.
The sales manager is not in the office today. (neutral; negative location)
در ساختمان قدیمی آسانسور نیست.
dar sâkhtemân-e qadimi âsânsur nist.
There is no elevator in the old building. (neutral; negative existence)
The full paradigms and their spelling belong on The Enclitic Present Copula, Negative Copula, and the بودن Reference.
Informal Tehran forms
In everyday Tehran speech (informal, regional: Tehran), است often becomes ـه/ـست, هستند becomes هستن, and نیستند becomes نیستن. Thus written conversational اونا اینجا هستن means “they are here”; it does not show a freely used infinitive after the plural subject.
بچهها توی حیاط هستن، ولی مربیشون اونجا نیست.
bachche-hâ tu-ye hayât hastan, vali morabbi-shun unjâ nist.
The children are in the yard, but their instructor isn't there. (informal, regional: Tehran; هستن is reduced third plural)
Keep standard هستند in formal prose. A colloquial form is not ungrammatical inside a consistently informal dialogue.
Common Mistakes
1. Using هستن as the ordinary standard infinitive
⚠️ هستن در خانه برای من خستهکننده است.
hastan dar khâne barâ-ye man khaste-konande ast.
Historically interpretable, but not the modern standard infinitive in the intended sentence; use بودن.
✅ تمام روز در خانه بودن برای من خستهکننده است.
tamâm-e ruz dar khâne budan barâ-ye man khaste-konande ast.
Being at home all day is tiring for me.
2. Omitting the copula in a complete neutral sentence
❌ برادرم مهندس برق.
Incorrect as a complete neutral assertion — Persian needs a copula even though it has no word for English ‘a.’
✅ برادرم مهندس برق است.
barâdar-am mohandes-e barq ast.
My brother is an electrical engineer.
3. Giving هست the wrong person ending
❌ من امروز در اداره هست.
Incorrect agreement — first-person singular requires هستم.
✅ من امروز تا ظهر در اداره هستم.
man emruz tâ zohr dar edâre hastam.
I am at the office until noon today.
4. Negating هست with نمیـ
❌ هیچ صندلی خالی نمیهست.
Incorrect — present negative existence uses نیست, not نمیهست.
✅ در سالن هیچ صندلی خالی نیست.
dar sâlon hich sandali-ye khâli nist.
There are no empty seats in the hall.
Key Takeaways
Final checklist:
- Need the infinitive, past, or subjunctive? Choose بودن، بودـ، باشـ.
- Giving a neutral identity or property now? Choose an attached copula or است.
- Introducing something that exists or is available? Choose هستـ.
- Locating a known entity? Compact copula/است is neutral; هستـ highlights presence or contrast.
- Making any present form negative? Choose نیستـ.
- Seeing هستن in informal text? Check whether it simply means standard هستند “they are.”
Now practice Farsi
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- The Enclitic Present CopulaA1 — Attach the six present copula forms to noun and adjective predicates with correct agreement, spacing, and standard or colloquial pronunciation.
- Negative Copula نیستA1 — Negate Persian noun, adjective, and locative predicates with the inflected نیست series rather than prefixing the positive copula.
- بودن budan: to BeA1 — Master the irregular Persian verb بودن across enclitic and هست copulas, نیست negatives, past and subjunctive stems, perfect auxiliary uses, and Tehran speech.
- Saying What and Where Something IsA1 — Build basic Persian identity and location sentences with این, آن, prepositional phrases, the copula, and نیست.
- Predicative Adjectives and the CopulaA1 — Say that someone or something is adjective with no ezâfe, using standard, enclitic, negative, and colloquial copula forms.