Formal Iranian Persian often packages an action as a noun inside a multiword predicate: مورد بررسی قرار دادن “subject something to review” and به اجرا گذاشتن “put into effect.” This style is frequent in administrative, legal, journalistic, and academic prose. It is not simply a longer way to say بررسی کردن or اجرا کردن: the expanded predicate can change the discourse perspective, support a passive counterpart, or present an event as an institutional procedure.
English also has pairs such as “review / subject to review” and “implement / put into effect.” Persian uses them more freely in official prose, but dense chains of abstract nouns can obscure the actor. A skilled reader must recognize the whole predicate; a skilled writer must also know when a plain rewrite says the same thing more clearly. These alternations belong to the broader system of light-verb choice and meaning change.
The recurring formal patterns
| Formal predicate | Perspective | Plainer alternative | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| چیزی را مورد بررسی قرار دادن | an agent subjects an object to review | چیزی را بررسی کردن | formal/administrative |
| چیزی مورد بررسی قرار گرفتن | the item undergoes review | چیزی بررسی شدن | formal/administrative |
| چیزی را به اجرا گذاشتن | an agent puts a plan or rule into effect | چیزی را اجرا کردن | formal |
| چیزی به اجرا درآمدن | a plan, rule, or program enters implementation | چیزی اجرا شدن / آغاز شدن | formal |
| چیزی را مورد استفاده قرار دادن | an agent makes use of an item | از چیزی استفاده کردن | formal, often bureaucratic |
Only the final light verb inflects. In مورد بررسی قرار داده بودند, the participial morphology belongs to قرار دادن; مورد بررسی remains fixed. Nevertheless, the predicate’s meaning and participants belong to the entire sequence.
کمیته پیشنهاد تازه را در نشست فردا مورد بررسی قرار میدهد.
komite pishnehâd-e tâze râ dar neshast-e fardâ mowred-e barrasi qarâr mi-dahad.
The committee will consider the new proposal at tomorrow's meeting. (formal/administrative; active)
کمیته پیشنهاد تازه را در نشست فردا بررسی میکند.
komite pishnehâd-e tâze râ dar neshast-e fardâ barrasi mi-konad.
The committee will review the new proposal at tomorrow's meeting. (plain formal-neutral rewrite)
The first version presents review as a procedural status imposed on the proposal. The second directly names what the committee does. In many contexts their truth conditions are the same; their informational packaging is not.
Active and undergoer perspectives
With قرار دادن, the actor is subject and the affected item is a specific direct object, normally marked by را. With قرار گرفتن, that item becomes subject and loses را. This alternation resembles a passive, but it is also a lexical perspective pair: “put under review / come under review.”
بازرس هر دو شکایت را مورد بررسی قرار داد.
bâzras har do shekâyat râ mowred-e barrasi qarâr dâd.
The inspector examined both complaints. (formal; actor foregrounded)
هر دو شکایت پیش از پایان هفته مورد بررسی قرار گرفت.
har do shekâyat pish az pâyân-e hafte mowred-e barrasi qarâr gereft.
Both complaints were reviewed before the end of the week. (formal; items foregrounded)
The agreement in the second sentence is singular because the formal written norm often permits a singular verb with an inanimate plural subject. Plural قرار گرفتند is also possible when the complaints are individuated. That agreement choice is separate from the light-verb construction itself.
Putting a policy or plan into effect
به اجرا گذاشتن selects an implementing agent and a plan, policy, program, or decision as object. به اجرا درآمدن removes the external implementer from the clause and profiles entry into effect. The latter is particularly common in institutional prose.
شهرداری طرح تفکیک زباله را از ماه آینده به اجرا میگذارد.
shahrdâri tarh-e tafkik-e zobâle râ az mâh-e âyande be ejrâ mi-gozârad.
The municipality will put the waste-separation plan into effect next month. (formal)
آییننامهی جدید پس از ابلاغ رسمی به اجرا درآمد.
âyin-nâme-ye jadid pas az eblâgh-e rasmi be ejrâ dar-âmad.
The new regulation came into effect after its official promulgation. (formal/administrative)
اجرا کردن is often the best plain rewrite for the active construction. اجرا شدن can replace the undergoer construction when simple implementation is intended, but به اجرا درآمدن can emphasize the transition from plan to operative measure. A rewrite should therefore preserve not only participants but also the stage of the event.
مورد استفاده قرار دادن and shifting complements
Formal expansion can alter the surface marking of an argument. از این روش استفاده کردن uses a complement headed by از. Its administrative counterpart این روش را مورد استفاده قرار دادن turns the method into the direct object of قرار دادن. A mechanical word-for-word rewrite can leave both markers and produce an ill-formed hybrid.
پژوهشگران از این روش برای تحلیل دادهها استفاده کردند.
pazhuheshgarân az in ravesh barâ-ye tahlil-e dâde-hâ estefâde kardand.
The researchers used this method to analyze the data. (plain academic prose)
پژوهشگران این روش را برای تحلیل دادهها مورد استفاده قرار دادند.
pazhuheshgarân in ravesh râ barâ-ye tahlil-e dâde-hâ mowred-e estefâde qarâr dâdand.
The researchers utilized this method to analyze the data. (formal/administrative)
The second is grammatical, but the first is normally lighter and clearer. Formality is not measured by word count. In academic argument, a direct verb often makes agency and responsibility easier to see.
Administrative density: useful and overused
Institutional prose repeatedly nominalizes because documents classify actions as procedures: a request undergoes review, a policy enters implementation, and equipment is placed at users’ disposal. This vocabulary supports parallel headings, impersonal presentation, and precise procedural stages. It becomes “bureaucratic density” when several such predicates accumulate without adding distinctions.
— این جمله خیلی اداری نیست؟ — چرا؛ بهجای «مورد ارزیابی قرار دادیم» بنویس «ارزیابی کردیم».
— in jomle kheyli edâri nist? — cherâ; be-jâ-ye «mowred-e arzyâbi qarâr dâdim» benevis «arzyâbi kardim».
— Isn't this sentence too bureaucratic? — It is; instead of ‘we subjected it to evaluation,’ write ‘we evaluated it.’ (neutral editorial dialogue)
نسخهی نهایی آماده شد، مدیر آن را تأیید کرد و واحد فنی برنامه را اجرا کرد.
noskhe-ye nehâyi âmâde shod, modir ân râ ta'yid kard va vâhed-e fanni barnâme râ ejrâ kard.
The final version was prepared, the director approved it, and the technical unit implemented the program. (clear formal-neutral connected prose)
Common Mistakes
1. Choosing the wrong fixed partner
❌ دبیرخانه پیشنهاد را مورد بررسی گرفت.
Incorrect — the active formal predicate is مورد بررسی قرار دادن.
✅ دبیرخانه پیشنهاد را بلافاصله مورد بررسی قرار داد.
dabirkhâne pishnehâd râ belâfâsele mowred-e barrasi qarâr dâd.
The secretariat reviewed the proposal immediately. (formal)
2. Leaving را on the subject of قرار گرفتن
❌ درخواست را دیروز مورد بررسی قرار گرفت.
Incorrect — درخواست is the subject of the undergoer construction and does not take را.
✅ درخواست دیروز مورد بررسی قرار گرفت.
darkhâst diruz mowred-e barrasi qarâr gereft.
The application was reviewed yesterday. (formal)
3. Mixing the frames of استفاده کردن and مورد استفاده قرار دادن
❌ پژوهشگران از این روش را مورد استفاده قرار دادند.
Incorrect — the expanded predicate takes این روش را; the plain predicate takes از این روش.
✅ پژوهشگران این روش را در مرحلهی دوم مورد استفاده قرار دادند.
pazhuheshgarân in ravesh râ dar marhale-ye dovvom mowred-e estefâde qarâr dâdand.
The researchers used this method in the second stage. (formal)
4. Combining two predicates into one
❌ سازمان طرح را به اجرا انجام داد.
Incorrect — choose either اجرا کرد or به اجرا گذاشت.
✅ سازمان طرح آزمایشی را در سه استان به اجرا گذاشت.
sâzmân tarh-e âzmâyeshi râ dar se ostân be ejrâ gozâsht.
The organization implemented the pilot plan in three provinces. (formal)
Key Takeaways
- Formal nominalization packages an action as a procedural entity inside one multiword predicate.
- قرار دادن / قرار گرفتن contrast actor and undergoer perspectives; را changes accordingly.
- به اجرا گذاشتن / به اجرا درآمدن contrast implementation by an agent with entry into effect.
- A plain rewrite must preserve participants and event perspective, not merely delete words.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Compound Verbs as Single Lexical PredicatesA1 — Learn why Persian noun- or adjective-plus-verb combinations function as one predicate and must be stored with their light verb and complement pattern.
- Objects and را with Compound VerbsA2 — Separate a compound verb's nonverbal element from its true direct object, then place را, complements, and clitics according to specificity and argument structure.
- Light-Verb Choice and Meaning ChangeB1 — Understand how کردن، دادن، گرفتن، خوردن, and شدن contribute causation, acquisition, affectedness, or change without becoming interchangeable.
- Formal Passive with گردیدن and گشتنB2 — Recognize administrative گردیدن and literary گشتن as marked alternatives to شدن in passive and change-of-state predicates.