A Persian negative question keeps ordinary declarative word order and puts negation on the verb: امروز نمیآیی؟ “Aren’t you coming today?” Such a question often checks an expectation, expresses surprise, or invites confirmation rather than neutrally opening both possibilities.
The most important answering contrast is نه، نمیآیم “No, I’m not coming” versus چرا، میآیم “Yes, I am coming.” In this special response use, چرا rejects the negative assumption and asserts the corresponding positive proposition.
Form: negative clause plus question contour
Persian does not invert the subject and verb and does not add an auxiliary corresponding to English do. Form the negative tense normally, preserve the clause’s usual order, and mark the utterance as a question through context, intonation, and ؟ in writing.
| Statement | Negative question | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| امروز نمیآیی. | امروز نمیآیی؟ | Aren’t you coming today? |
| پیام را نفرستادی. | پیام را نفرستادی؟ | Didn’t you send the message? |
| آماده نیستید. | آماده نیستید؟ | Aren’t you ready? |
| قبلا اینجا نبوده است. | قبلا اینجا نبوده است؟ | Hasn’t he/she been here before? |
هنوز جواب شرکت را نگرفتهای؟
hanuz javâb-e sherkat râ na-gerefte-i?
Haven’t you received the company’s reply yet? (neutral conversation; expected result still absent)
جلسهی فردا لغو نشده است؟
jalase-ye fardâ laghv na-shode ast?
Hasn’t tomorrow’s meeting been cancelled? (careful standard; checking remembered information)
شما برای کارگاه ثبتنام نکردید؟
shomâ barâ-ye kârgâh sabt-nâm na-kardid?
Didn’t you register for the workshop? (polite neutral speech; surprise or confirmation)
The negative morphology is exactly the same as in a statement. Review Negative Past and Perfect Forms if the distinction among نکردید، نکردهاید, and نکرده بودید is not yet secure.
What expectation does the question carry?
A positive question such as رسید را فرستادی؟ can be a relatively open request for information. Negative رسید را نفرستادی؟ normally makes non-sending salient and asks whether that negative possibility is true. Depending on context, the speaker may have expected the receipt to be sent and now be surprised, or may remember that it was not sent and seek confirmation.
مادرت را به مهمانی دعوت نکردی؟
mâdar-at râ be mehmâni da'vat na-kardi?
Didn’t you invite your mother to the party? (neutral conversation; likely surprise)
امروز بانک تعطیل نیست؟
emruz bânk ta'til nist?
Isn’t the bank closed today? (neutral conversation; checking an expectation)
There is no mechanical one-to-one mapping between negative form and a single attitude. A rising contour can sound like a genuine check; a narrower or more falling contour can sound more certain, surprised, or reproachful. Writing supplies ؟ but cannot record all of those nuances, so surrounding context matters.
Answering with نه and چرا
Answers are clearest when they state the real-world polarity rather than merely repeating “yes” or “no.”
| Question | Answer | What the answer asserts |
|---|---|---|
| نمیآیی؟ | نه، نمیآیم. | I am not coming. |
| نمیآیی؟ | چرا، میآیم. | On the contrary, I am coming. |
| نفرستادی؟ | نه، نفرستادم. | I did not send it. |
| نفرستادی؟ | چرا، فرستادم. | On the contrary, I sent it. |
— فردا با ما نمیآیی؟ — نه، باید خانه بمانم.
— fardâ bâ mâ nemi-âyi? — na, bâyad khâne be-mânam.
— Aren’t you coming with us tomorrow? — No, I have to stay home. (neutral conversation; negative proposition confirmed)
— رزرو را تأیید نکردهاند؟ — چرا، همین الان ایمیلش رسید.
— rezerv râ ta'yid na-karde-and? — cherâ, hamin alân imeyl-ash resid.
— Haven’t they confirmed the reservation? — Yes, they have; the email just arrived. (neutral standard; چرا reverses the negative assumption)
Response چرا here does not ask “why?” Its intonation and its position as an answer give it the corrective meaning “yes, on the contrary.” A following positive verb makes the correction explicit.
Speakers sometimes use بله / آره with negative questions, but the interpretation can be unstable: one listener may hear confirmation of the wording, another confirmation of the positive event. In any consequential exchange, repeat the verb: نه، امضا نکردم or چرا، امضا کردم.
مگر and colloquial مگه
مگر before a question foregrounds a prior belief or an inference. It often corresponds to “didn’t…?”, “isn’t it the case…?”, or a surprised “but I thought…”. مگر is neutral to formal; مگه is everyday Tehran Persian (informal, regional: Tehran).
مگر قرار نبود ساعت هشت حرکت کنیم؟
magar qarâr na-bud sâ'at-e hasht harekat konim?
Weren’t we supposed to leave at eight? (careful standard; recalling a shared plan)
مگه نگفتی امروز خونهای؟
mage na-gofti emruz khune-i?
Didn’t you say you’d be home today? (informal, regional: Tehran; surprised reminder)
مگر این پرونده محرمانه نیست؟
magar in parvande mahramâne nist?
Isn’t this file confidential? (formal-neutral; challenging an apparent inconsistency)
Because مگر / مگه raises the speaker’s commitment, it can sound accusatory in a disagreement. That social effect comes from stance, not from a different negative conjugation.
چرا as “why?” versus corrective “yes”
At the start of a full question, چرا normally means “why?” and requests a reason:
چرا امروز به کلاس نمیآیی؟
cherâ emruz be kelâs nemi-âyi?
Why aren’t you coming to class today? (neutral information question)
This is not the same speech act as امروز به کلاس نمیآیی؟ “Aren’t you coming to class today?” The first asks for a cause; the second asks whether non-coming is true. Corrective answer چرا، میآیم has no requested cause and is followed by the reversed positive claim.
آیا and register
آیا can introduce a negative yes-no question in questionnaires, official correspondence, and careful formal prose: آیا درخواست شما هنوز بررسی نشده است؟ (formal). It is not required by grammar, and casual conversation normally says درخواستت هنوز بررسی نشده؟ rather than mixing formal آیا with colloquial pronouns and verb forms.
آیا مبلغ پرداختشده هنوز به حساب شما برنگشته است؟
âyâ mablagh-e pardâkht-shode hanuz be hesâb-e shomâ bar-na-gashte ast?
Has the amount paid still not been returned to your account? (formal customer-service questionnaire)
A short exchange
— مگه امروز شیفت نداری؟ — چرا، دارم؛ فقط نیم ساعت دیرتر شروع میکنم. — پس با ما ناهار نمیخوری؟ — نه، امروز نمیرسم.
— mage emruz shift na-dâri? — cherâ, dâram; faqat nim sâ'at dir-tar shoru' mi-konam. — pas bâ mâ nâhâr nemi-khori? — na, emruz nemi-resam.
— Don’t you have a shift today? — Yes, I do; I just start half an hour later. — So you aren’t having lunch with us? — No, I can’t make it today. (informal, regional: Tehran)
Common Mistakes
1. Adding English do-support
❌ آیا میکنی تو امروز نمیآیی؟
Incorrect — Persian does not insert کردن as an interrogative auxiliary.
✅ تو امروز با قطار نمیآیی؟
to emruz bâ qatâr nemi-âyi?
Aren’t you coming by train today?
2. Reversing the negative imperfective prefixes
❌ فردا مینروی سر کار؟
Incorrect prefix order — the negative present is نمیروی.
✅ فردا سر کار نمیروی؟
fardâ sar-e kâr nemi-ravi?
Aren’t you going to work tomorrow?
3. Following corrective چرا with a negative verb
❌ — ایمیل را نگرفتی؟ — چرا، نگرفتم.
Internally contradictory as the intended corrective answer — چرا reverses the negative assumption, so the following claim must be positive.
✅ — ایمیل را نگرفتی؟ — چرا، صبح گرفتمش.
— imeyl râ na-gerefti? — cherâ, sobh gereftam-ash.
— Didn’t you get the email? — Yes, I got it this morning.
4. Losing the negative meaning after مگر
❌ مگر جلسهی امروز لغو است؟
Incorrect for the intended ‘Isn’t today’s meeting cancelled?’ — the positive copula asks a different question.
✅ مگر جلسهی امروز لغو نیست؟
magar jalase-ye emruz laghv nist?
Isn’t today’s meeting cancelled?
Key Takeaways
- A negative question is an ordinary negative clause pronounced and punctuated as a question; Persian has no auxiliary inversion.
- Negative questions usually make an expectation, remembered fact, or surprising negative possibility salient.
- نه + negative verb maintains the negative; چرا + positive verb corrects it.
- مگر / مگه strengthens the appeal to prior belief; آیا belongs mainly to formal yes-no questioning.
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