English puts the experiencer in subject position in I am cold, I am tired, I like it, and I forgot. Persian does not package all four experiences alike. The same person may appear as a pronominal clitic in سردم است, as the subject controlling the copula in خستهام, as the subject of transitive دوست دارم, or as the clitic experiencer of یادم رفت.
This is therefore a construction-choice page, not an enclitic paradigm or tense lesson. Learn the forms on Experiencer Clitics, and study tense and aspect on Experiencer Predicates with Enclitics. Here the task is to identify who experiences what, which phrase is the grammatical subject, and where agreement and object marking belong.
A role map for the major architectures
The English translation begins with I in every row below, but the Persian locus of first person changes.
| Persian construction | Experiencer | Stimulus, state, or event | Subject/agreement diagnostic |
|---|---|---|---|
| سردم است | ـم on the state word | coldness | copula stays third-person singular |
| خستهام / ناراحتم | ordinary first-person subject, often omitted | tiredness / distress | first-person copula ـام |
| از موسیقی خوشم میآید | ـم on خوش | از موسیقی is the stimulus | میآید stays third-person singular |
| موسیقی را دوست دارم | ordinary first-person subject, often omitted | موسیقی را is the object | دارم is first-person singular |
| یادم رفت | ـم on یاد | a lapse of memory | رفت stays third-person singular |
| فراموش کردم | ordinary first-person subject, often omitted | an event of forgetting | کردم is first-person singular |
| سرم درد میکند | inferred from possessor ـم | سرم is the hurting body part | the singular body-part phrase controls third-person singular |
The categories are not interchangeable formulas. Persian lexical convention selects a frame, and some close meanings select different frames. That arbitrariness is real: there is no semantic rule that predicts every adjective or sensation from its English translation.
Coldness versus an ordinary emotional or physical state
With سردم است, the experiencer is ـم and the copula is third-person singular است. With خستهام and ناراحتم, the ending is the first-person copula: the experiencer is an ordinary subject, usually unspoken because agreement already identifies it.
پنجره را ببند؛ سردم است، ولی هنوز خسته نیستم.
panjare râ be-band; sard-am ast, vali hanuz khaste nistam.
Close the window; I am cold, but I am not tired yet. (neutral standard; clitic experiencer versus canonical subject)
از خبر لغو پرواز ناراحتم، اما عصبانی نیستم.
az khabar-e laghv-e parvâz nârâhat-am, ammâ asabâni nistam.
I am upset about the flight cancellation, but I am not angry. (neutral standard; canonical-subject adjectives)
The final ـم in سردم and ناراحتم looks similar on the page, but the agreement test separates them. Change the experiencer to “we”: standard Persian has سردمان است with invariant است, but ناراحتیم with a first-person-plural copula.
بعد از سه ساعت انتظار خستهایم و سردمان است.
ba'd az se sâ'at entezâr khaste-im va sard-emân ast.
After three hours of waiting, we are tired and cold. (neutral standard; two person-encoding strategies in coordinated predicates)
An از phrase in از خبر ناراحتم expresses a cause. It does not turn ناراحت بودن into the special خوش آمدن architecture; ناراحتم still contains an agreeing copula.
Two ways to say that someone likes something
از چیزی خوشم میآید presents the stimulus as evoking a favorable response in the experiencer. The stimulus is an از phrase, the experiencer is a clitic on خوش, and میآید is third-person singular. چیزی را دوست دارم uses an ordinary subject and a را-marked object; دارم agrees with that subject.
از اجرای آرام این گروه خوشمان میآید.
az ejrâ-ye ârâm-e in goruh khosh-emân mi-âyad.
We like this group’s restrained performance. (neutral standard; stimulus with از, clitic experiencer)
ما این گروه را خیلی دوست داریم.
mâ in goruh râ kheyli dust dârim.
We like this group very much. (neutral standard; canonical subject and direct object)
The two sentences can describe much the same attitude, but substitution requires rebuilding the clause: از changes to را, the experiencer clitic disappears, and verbal agreement changes. دوست داشتن also extends readily from liking to personal affection or love. Its broader lexical uses are covered on دوست داشتن: to Like or Love.
این عطر را دوست دارم، ولی از بوی تندش خوشم نمیآید.
in etr râ dust dâram, vali az bu-ye tond-ash khosh-am nemi-âyad.
I like this perfume, but I do not like its strong smell. (neutral standard; transitive attitude versus stimulus-response frame)
Forgetting as a lapse or as a subject-centered event
یادم رفت construes forgetting as something slipping from the experiencer’s memory. فراموش کردم presents an ordinary subject carrying out—or simply undergoing—the event of forgetting. The latter does not imply that the forgetting was intentional; the contrast is grammatical perspective, and the two expressions overlap strongly in many everyday contexts.
یادم رفت پنجرهی آشپزخانه را ببندم.
yâd-am raft panjare-ye âshpazkhâne râ be-bandam.
I forgot to close the kitchen window. (neutral conversation; lapse construed with a clitic experiencer)
فراموش کردم پنجرهی اتاق کار را ببندم.
farâmush kardam panjare-ye otâq-e kâr râ be-bandam.
I forgot to close the study window. (neutral standard; canonical-subject eventive predicate)
A second contrast is about current accessibility in memory. اسمش یادم نمیآید says that the name is not coming to mind now. اسمش را فراموش کردهام says that I have forgotten it. These may describe the same situation, but the first profiles an unsuccessful attempt to recall; the second profiles the resulting state of a forgetting event.
چهرهاش آشناست، اما اسمش یادم نمیآید.
chehre-ash âshenâ-st, ammâ esm-ash yâd-am nemi-âyad.
His face is familiar, but I cannot remember his name. (neutral conversation; present failure to recall)
رمز قدیمی حسابم را فراموش کردهام.
ramz-e qadimi-ye hesâb-am râ farâmush karde-am.
I have forgotten my account’s old password. (neutral standard; subject-centered forgetting with a direct object)
See فراموش کردن: to Forget for its valency and conjugation. The constructional choice here precedes tense choice: decide whether you want یادم رفت or فراموش کردم, then inflect that predicate appropriately.
Pain centers the body part
In سرم درد میکند, ـم is formally possessive on سر “head.” The body-part phrase behaves as the grammatical subject of درد میکند, while possession lets the listener infer who experiences the pain. This is neither ordinary first-person verb agreement nor exactly the same syntax as سردم است.
از صبح کمرم درد میکند و نمیتوانم زیاد بنشینم.
az sobh kamar-am dard mi-konad va nemi-tavânam ziyâd be-neshinam.
My back has hurt since this morning, and I cannot sit for long. (neutral standard; possessed body-part subject)
دندانم درد میکند، اما تب ندارم.
dandân-am dard mi-konad, ammâ tab na-dâram.
My tooth hurts, but I do not have a fever. (neutral conversation; body-part frame versus canonical first-person predicate)
English my back hurts happens to resemble the Persian perspective, but English also permits I have back pain. Do not generalize that I must control Persian درد میکند: in the usual body-part frame, singular کمرم or دندانم supports third-person-singular میکند.
Agreement, object marking, and negation as diagnostics
Four quick tests reveal the architecture. First, locate person: clitic ـم in خوشم, copular ـام in خستهام, or verbal ـم in دوست دارم. Second, test agreement: clitic-experiencer predicates remain third-person singular. Third, inspect the stimulus: از with خوش آمدن, but را with transitive دوست داشتن and فراموش کردن. Fourth, negate the actual finite predicate.
| Architecture | Affirmative | Negative diagnostic |
|---|---|---|
| clitic state | سردم است | سردم نیست |
| canonical adjective | ناراحتم | ناراحت نیستم |
| clitic response | خوشم میآید | خوشم نمیآید |
| transitive attitude | دوست دارم | دوست ندارم |
| memory lapse | یادم رفت | یادم نرفت |
| subject-centered event | فراموش کردم | فراموش نکردم |
از جلسه ناراحت نیستم؛ فقط از نتیجهاش خوشم نمیآید.
az jalase nârâhat nistam; faqat az natije-ash khosh-am nemi-âyad.
I am not upset about the meeting; I just do not like its outcome. (neutral standard; first-person copula versus third-singular experiencer predicate)
In (informal, regional: Tehran) speech, common outputs include سردمه، خوشم میاد، خستهام. Those reductions do not change the role map. Edited prose uses سردم است and خوشم میآید; this page keeps the standard forms so that the structural contrasts remain visible.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting first-person agreement on a clitic-experiencer predicate
❌ از این محله خوشم میآیم.
Incorrect — ـم already marks the experiencer; آمدن must remain third-person singular.
✅ از آرامش محلهی تازهمان خوشم میآید.
az ârâmesh-e mahalle-ye tâze-mân khosh-am mi-âyad.
I like how peaceful our new neighborhood is.
2. Adding را to an از-marked stimulus
❌ از این آهنگ را خوشم میآید.
Incorrect — the stimulus is an از phrase, not a را-marked direct object.
✅ از تنظیم تازهی این آهنگ خوشم میآید.
az tanzim-e tâze-ye in âhang khosh-am mi-âyad.
I like this song’s new arrangement.
3. Treating every emotional adjective as a clitic predicate
❌ از این خبر ناراحتم است.
Incorrect — ناراحت uses an ordinary agreeing copula; the final ـم already means ‘I am.’
✅ از تغییر ناگهانی برنامه ناراحتم.
az taghyir-e nâgahâni-ye barnâme nârâhat-am.
I am upset about the sudden schedule change.
4. Replacing a recall failure mechanically with فراموش کردن
⚠️ اسم پزشک را فراموش کردم.
esm-e pezeshk râ farâmush kardam.
Grammatical: ‘I forgot the doctor’s name.’ It profiles a forgetting event, not specifically an unsuccessful attempt to recall it now.
✅ اسم پزشک الان یادم نمیآید.
esm-e pezeshk alân yâd-am nemi-âyad.
I cannot remember the doctor’s name right now. (present recall failure)
5. Combining two experiencer strategies
❌ من سردم هستم، بخاری را روشن کن.
Incorrect — سردم and هستم encode first person through two incompatible architectures.
✅ سردم است؛ لطفا بخاری اتاق را روشن کن.
sard-am ast; lotfan bokhâri-ye otâq râ rowshan kon.
I am cold; please turn on the room heater.
Key Takeaways
- Persian does not map English experiencer subjects onto one uniform construction.
- سردم است، خوشم میآید، یادم رفت place the experiencer in a clitic and keep the predicate third-person singular.
- خستهام، ناراحتم، دوست دارم، فراموش کردم use a canonical subject and person agreement.
- Stimulus marking diagnoses the frame: از with خوش آمدن, but را with transitive دوست داشتن and فراموش کردن.
- In body-part pain, the possessive clitic identifies the person indirectly while the body part is the subject of درد میکند.
Now practice Farsi
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Experiencer CliticsB1 — Learn how Persian uses pronominal clitics to mark the person who feels, likes, remembers, or undergoes a bodily state in patterns such as سردم است and خوشم میآید.
- Experiencer Predicates with EncliticsB1 — Analyze Persian predicates in which a clitic identifies the person experiencing a liking, aversion, bodily state, pain, sleepiness, or mental event.
- دوست داشتن dust dâshtan: to Like or LoveA2 — Use دوست داشتن for liking, loving, and preferred actions, with its stative present, direct objects, subjunctive complements, degree, and clitics.
- فراموش کردن farâmush kardan: to ForgetB1 — Use فراموش کردن with noun and clause objects, distinguish forgetting a fact from forgetting to act, and compare experiencer یادم رفت.
- The Enclitic Present CopulaA1 — Attach the six present copula forms to noun and adjective predicates with correct agreement, spacing, and standard or colloquial pronunciation.