Overloading Prose with Arabic Nominalizations | Farsi Grammar

Modern Persian has thousands of fully established Arabic-origin action nouns, including تصمیم، تغییر، اجرا، تصویب، اعلام، استفاده and تأمین. Their origin does not make them foreign, incorrect, or automatically difficult. The editing problem begins when several such nouns are stacked into ezâfe chains or paired with semantically weak support verbs, so that readers must reconstruct the actors and actions hidden inside one long nominal frame.

This is a register and information-design problem, not a campaign to remove Arabic vocabulary. A legal definition may need تصویب آیین‌نامه as a stable technical concept; a public instruction usually benefits from شورا آیین‌نامه را تصویب می‌کند. The right revision preserves precision while giving the audience a visible path from actor to action and result.

Diagnose Density, Not Etymology

Feature	Possible value	Possible cost
established action noun	stable technical label	event loses visible tense and actor
long ezâfe chain	compact classification	attachment becomes hard to recover
generic light verb	conventional predicate	adds words without sharpening meaning
agentless passive	focuses procedure or result	conceals responsibility
parallel nominal list	scannable policy structure	monotonous prose when every clause is nominal

The first sentence below is grammatical bureaucratic/formal Persian. The second is a clear formal revision for a general audience.

بررسی و ارزیابی درخواست‌های دریافت‌شده پیش از اتخاذ تصمیم نهایی صورت خواهد پذیرفت.

barrasi va arzyâbi-ye darkhâst-hâ-ye daryâft-shode pish az ettekhâz-e tasmim-e nahâyi surat khâhad paziroft.

Review and evaluation of the received applications will take place before adoption of the final decision. (bureaucratic/formal; grammatical but dense)

کارشناسان درخواست‌ها را بررسی می‌کنند و سپس مدیر تصمیم نهایی را می‌گیرد.

kârshenâsân darkhâst-hâ râ barrasi mi-konand va sepas modir tasmim-e nahâyi râ mi-girad.

The specialists review the applications, and then the director makes the final decision. (clear formal; actors and sequence restored)

The revision changes more than vocabulary: it names two actors and exposes the order of events. If the institution cannot truthfully identify those actors, a concise passive may be more accurate than an invented active clause.

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Count hidden events, not Arabic words. One familiar nominalization can improve cohesion; three new events packed into a subject usually delay the claim readers need.

Keep Terms That Carry Precise Institutional Meaning

Some nominalizations name legal acts, research variables, or recurrent procedures. Replacing تصویب with a vague native-origin paraphrase may lose the distinction between proposing, approving, and implementing. Keep the technical noun when later sentences must discuss its date, conditions, consequences, or legal status.

تصویب بودجه به معنای اجازه‌ی فوری برای همه‌ی هزینه‌ها نیست.

tasvib-e budje be ma'nâ-ye ejâze-ye fowri barâ-ye hame-ye hazine-hâ nist.

Approval of the budget does not mean immediate authorization for every expenditure. (formal/legal; nominalization is the precise topic)

پس از تصویب بودجه، شورا زمان اجرای هر طرح را تعیین می‌کند.

pas az tasvib-e budje, showrâ zamân-e ejrâ-ye har tarh râ ta'yin mi-konad.

After approving the budget, the council determines when each project will be implemented. (clear formal; one useful nominal background)

Here the action nouns organize information without hiding the main actor. The second sentence makes شورا and its new decision finite.

Prefer a Precise Finite Verb for the Main New Action

Heavy prose often combines a vague noun such as اقدام with انجام دادن، به عمل آوردن، صورت دادن، مبادرت ورزیدن, or نمودن. Some combinations are established formal predicates, but piling them up does not add precision.

خواهشمند است نسبت به ارسال تصویر گذرنامه اقدام فرمایید.

khâheshmand ast nesbat be ersâl-e tasvir-e gozarnâme eqdâm farmâyid.

You are requested to take action regarding sending an image of the passport. (high bureaucratic/formal politeness)

لطفا تصویر گذرنامه‌ی خود را تا فردا بفرستید.

lotfan tasvir-e gozarnâme-ye khod râ tâ fardâ be-ferestid.

Please send an image of your passport by tomorrow. (plain formal-neutral instruction)

The shorter version is not less polite. It identifies the requested action and deadline immediately. Verbal Density in Bureaucratic Persian develops the broader interaction of passives, auxiliaries, and light verbs.

Match the Audience

Dense nominal style is most defensible when specialists share the terminology and need compact cross-reference. It is least defensible in emergency notices, application instructions, patient information, and public-service messages, where processing time matters.

در صورت مشاهده‌ی نشانه‌های حساسیت، مصرف دارو را قطع کنید و با پزشک تماس بگیرید.

dar surat-e moshâhede-ye neshâne-hâ-ye hassâsiyyat, masraf-e dâru râ qat' konid va bâ pezeshk tamâs begirid.

If you notice signs of an allergic reaction, stop taking the medicine and contact a doctor. (formal public instruction; conventional nouns plus direct actions)

مراجعان باید فرم را تکمیل کنند و اصل مدرک را به مسئول باجه نشان دهند.

morâje'ân bâyad form râ takmil konand va asl-e madrak râ be mas'ul-e bâje neshân dahand.

Visitors must complete the form and show the original document to the counter clerk. (clear administrative instruction)

Both retain Arabic-origin vocabulary because حساسیت، مصرف، تکمیل and اصل are ordinary and precise. Readability comes from clause structure, not purism.

Edit from Roles and Scope

A safe revision procedure is:

Mark every word that denotes an event.
Recover its actor, affected participant, time, and modality from the surrounding document.
Choose which event is the sentence’s main new assertion and make that one finite.
Keep a nominalization when it is already given information or a necessary term.
Check that obligation, possibility, and sequence have not changed.

پس از دریافت مدارک، دبیرخانه پرونده را ثبت می‌کند و رسیدی برای متقاضی می‌فرستد.

pas az daryâft-e madârek, dabirkhâne parvande râ sabt mi-konad va resid-i barâ-ye moteqâzi mi-ferestad.

After receiving the documents, the secretariat registers the file and sends the applicant a receipt. (clear formal process description)

This keeps one background nominalization, دریافت مدارک, and turns the two main commitments into finite actions.

Common Mistakes

1. Replacing an Established Light Verb with Generic انجام دادن

❌ هیئت یک تصمیم مهم انجام داد.

Incorrect collocation — تصمیم combines with گرفتن, not generic انجام دادن.

✅ هیئت پس از دو ساعت گفت‌وگو تصمیم نهایی را گرفت.

hey'at pas az do sâ'at goft-o-gu tasmim-e nahâyi râ gereft.

The board made its final decision after two hours of discussion.

2. Stacking Two Support Predicates

❌ بررسی پرونده مورد انجام قرار گرفت.

Incorrect blend — انجام شدن and مورد بررسی قرار گرفتن have been combined into one malformed predicate.

✅ کمیته پرونده را در نشست صبح بررسی کرد.

komite parvande râ dar neshast-e sobh barrasi kard.

The committee reviewed the file at the morning meeting.

3. Using اقدام کردن as Though It Named the Specific Action

The first sentence is grammatical, but it says only that the office “took action”; it does not mean specifically that the office sent the permit.

⚠️ اداره درباره‌ی مجوز اقدام کرد.

edâre darbâre-ye mojavvez eqdâm kard.

The office took action concerning the permit. (grammatical but nonspecific)

✅ اداره مجوز امضاشده را امروز برای متقاضی فرستاد.

edâre mojavvez-e emzâ-shode râ emruz barâ-ye moteqâzi ferestâd.

The office sent the signed permit to the applicant today. (specific intended event)

4. Omitting Written Ezâfe after Final ه

❌ درباره برنامه توسعه توضیح داده شد.

Incorrect standard spelling and unclear chain — درباره‌ی and برنامه‌ی require written ezâfe after final ه.

✅ مدیر درباره‌ی برنامه‌ی توسعه توضیح کوتاهی داد.

modir darbâre-ye barnâme-ye towse'e towzih-e kutâhi dâd.

The director gave a brief explanation of the development plan.

5. Hiding a Responsible Actor behind a Nominalization

⚠️ حذف سه پاسخ از تحلیل صورت گرفت.

hazf-e se pâsokh az tahlil surat gereft.

Three responses were excluded from the analysis. (grammatical academic agentless wording, but responsibility is hidden)

✅ پژوهشگران سه پاسخ ناقص را از تحلیل حذف کردند.

pazhuheshgarân se pâsokh-e nâqes râ az tahlil hazf kardand.

The researchers excluded three incomplete responses from the analysis.

6. Replacing a Necessary Technical Term Merely Because It Is Arabic-Origin

⚠️ آیین‌نامه پس از تصویب اجرا می‌شود.

âyin-nâme pas az tasvib ejrâ mi-shavad.

The regulation is implemented after approval. (grammatical, but actual implementation is not the same as becoming legally enforceable)

✅ آیین‌نامه پس از تصویب لازم‌الاجرا می‌شود.

âyin-nâme pas az tasvib lâzem-ol-ejrâ mi-shavad.

The regulation becomes enforceable after approval. (precise legal terminology)

✅ در متن عمومی توضیح دادیم که مقررات پس از تأیید شورا اجرا می‌شود.

dar matn-e omumi towzih dâdim ke moqarrarât pas az ta'yid-e showrâ ejrâ mi-shavad.

In the public-facing text, we explained that the rules take effect after council approval.

The final version addresses a different audience; it does not prove that the legal wording is defective.

Key Takeaways

Arabic-origin nominalizations are established Persian vocabulary, not errors by origin.
Density becomes costly when it hides actors, delays the main action, or stacks weak support predicates.
Keep exact legal and academic terms when their nominal status serves the discourse.
Make the main new action finite and restore agents when responsibility matters.
Plain-language editing must preserve modality, timing, and legal force—not merely shorten the sentence.

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