Standard third-person singular است is commonly realized as a weak ending in everyday Tehran Persian: after a consonant, خوب است corresponds to خوبه khub-e; after final ـه or ا, forms such as آمادهست âmâde-st and اینجاست injâ-st retain ـست. Final ی instead normally produces a glide-bearing form such as طولانیه tulâni-ye. The predicate still contains a complete present-tense “is.” Only its phonological and written realization changes.
The negative does not follow this positive reduction: ordinary colloquial “is not” is نیست, as in خوب نیست. Learn the positive host-conditioned pair and the negative series separately. The full standard system is established on The Enclitic Present Copula; this page controls the Tehran mapping (informal, regional: Tehran).
The Host Chooses the Shape
| Predicate ending | Careful standard | Tehran colloquial | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| consonant | هوا سرد است | هوا سرده | سرد + ـه |
| silent ه pronounced e | غذا آماده است | غذا آمادهست | آماده + ـست |
| â | او اینجا است | اون اینجاست | اینجا + ـست |
| u | مریم دانشجو است | مریم دانشجوست | دانشجو + ـست |
| i | جلسه طولانی است | جلسه طولانیه | طولانی + ـه, pronounced -ye |
| negative | هوا سرد نیست | هوا سرد نیست | independent negative copula |
After a consonant, ـه supplies the vowel of the copula. After final ـه and ا, the contracted third singular normally retains the consonantal ـست: آمادهست، اینجاست. ـست is also familiar after u, as in دانشجوست, although conversational -e realizations occur there too. After i, ordinary colloquial speech inserts a glide before ـه: راضیه، طولانیه râzi-ye, tulâni-ye. Vowel-final predicates therefore do not form one completely uniform class.
هوای اتاق خیلی گرمه؛ پنجره رو باز کن.
havâ-ye otâq kheyli garm-e; panjare ro bâz kon.
The room is really warm; open the window. (informal, regional: Tehran)
ناهار آمادهست؛ فقط سالاد مونده.
nâhâr âmâde-st; faqat sâlâd munde.
Lunch is ready; only the salad remains. (informal, regional: Tehran)
کیوان هنوز دانشگاهه؛ تا شش برنمیگرده.
Keyvân hanuz dâneshgâh-e; tâ shesh bar-nemi-garde.
Keyvan is still at the university; he won’t return before six. (informal, regional: Tehran)
ـه after a Consonant
The ending ـه is productive after consonant-final adjectives, nouns, and prepositional predicates: دیره، دکتره، روی میزه. It has no independent stress and belongs prosodically to the predicate. The spelling is solid because ordinary Persian letters join it to the host where possible.
این مسیر کوتاهتره، ولی شبها خلوتتره.
in masir kutâh-tar-e, vali shab-hâ khalvat-tar-e.
This route is shorter, but it is quieter at night. (informal, regional: Tehran)
اون آقا پزشکه، نه مسئول پذیرش.
un âqâ pezeshk-e, na mas'ul-e pazhiresh.
That man is a doctor, not the receptionist. (informal, regional: Tehran; noun predicate)
کلیدت روی میزه، کنار عینکت.
kelid-et ru-ye miz-e, kenâr-e eynak-et.
Your key is on the table, beside your glasses. (informal, regional: Tehran; locative predicate)
The last example shows that the predicate can be an entire phrase روی میز. The copula attaches to its final word, not mechanically to the sentence’s first noun.
Vowel-Final Hosts: ـست and ـیه
After final ه and ا, ـست is especially visible: خستهست، بستهست، خونهست، اینجاست، مال ماست. After و, دانشجوست is familiar, alongside conversational variants with -e. Final ی behaves differently: راضیه، طولانیه have -ye, not -st. Some careful-spoken forms with full است remain possible; this page teaches common conversational mappings, not a ban on fuller pronunciation.
در بستهست، ولی چراغ داخل روشنه.
dar baste-st, vali cherâgh-e dâkhel rowshan-e.
The door is closed, but the light inside is on. (informal, regional: Tehran)
الهام الان اینجاست؛ میخوای صداش کنم؟
Elhâm alân injâ-st; mi-khây sedâsh konam?
Elham is here now; do you want me to call her? (informal, regional: Tehran)
این چتر مال شماست یا همکارتون؟
in chatr mâl-e shomâ-st yâ hamkâr-etun?
Is this umbrella yours or your colleague’s? (polite informal Tehran speech)
The ست in ماست can also spell the noun “yogurt.” Syntax resolves the homography: این کیف مال ماست contains ما + copula, whereas ماست تازه خریدیم begins with the food noun.
Negative نیست Does Not Become ـه
Positive خوبه contrasts with negative خوب نیست, not invented خوب نه or خوب نیسه. Other persons use the نیستـ series, with conversational reductions in the plural endings: نیستم، نیستی، نیست، نیستیم، نیستین، نیستن.
قهوه سرده، ولی تلخ نیست.
qahve sard-e, vali talkh nist.
The coffee is cold, but it isn’t bitter. (informal, regional: Tehran)
ما آماده نیستیم؛ ده دقیقه دیگه راه میافتیم.
mâ âmâde nistim; dah daqiqe dige râh mi-oftim.
We aren’t ready; we’ll set off in another ten minutes. (informal Tehran conversation)
اونا خونه نیستن؛ رفتن خرید.
unâ khune nistan; raftan kharid.
They aren’t home; they went shopping. (informal, regional: Tehran)
نه can reject, coordinate alternatives, or answer a question, but it does not replace finite نیست inside an ordinary negative predicate.
Complete Predication and Register
English learners sometimes hear weak ـه as no verb at all. Persian still requires the copular relation unless the phrase is a label, headline, fragment, or discourse ellipsis. جلسه طولانی can be a noun phrase “a long meeting”; جلسه طولانیه is “the meeting is long.”
این جلسه طولانیه، اما بحثش مهمه.
in jalse tulâni-ye, ammâ bahs-ash mohemm-e.
This meeting is long, but its discussion is important. (informal, regional: Tehran)
این جلسه طولانی است، اما موضوع آن اهمیت دارد.
in jalse tulâni ast, ammâ mowzu'-e ân ahammiyyat dârad.
This meeting is long, but its subject is important. (written standard)
The pair conveys comparable content in different systems; it is not a word-by-word recipe for mixing. For staged conversion, see From Standard to Tehran Speech.
A Short Dialogue
— نیما هنوز سر کاره؟ — آره، جلسهش تموم نشده. — پس شام آمادهست؛ براش نگه میداریم.
— Nimâ hanuz sar-e kâr-e? — âre, jalse-sh tamum na-shode. — pas shâm âmâde-st; barâsh negah mi-dârim.
— Is Nima still at work? — Yes, his meeting hasn’t finished. — Then dinner is ready; we’ll save some for him. (informal, regional: Tehran)
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting the copula from a neutral assertion
❌ این اتاق خیلی سرد.
Incorrect as the intended complete statement — سرد needs a copula.
✅ این اتاق خیلی سرده؛ بخاری رو روشن کن.
in otâq kheyli sard-e; bokhâri ro rowshan kon.
This room is really cold; turn on the heater. (informal Tehran speech)
2. Adding another ـه after final ـه
❌ غذا آمادههه.
Incorrect — after vowel-final آماده, use ـست rather than adding another ـه.
✅ غذا آمادهست؛ بشقابا رو بیار.
ghazâ âmâde-st; boshqâbâ ro biyâr.
The food is ready; bring the plates. (informal, regional: Tehran)
3. Replacing negative نیست with نه
❌ این شماره درست نه.
Incorrect as ordinary negative predication — نه is not the finite negative copula.
✅ این شماره درست نیست؛ دوباره بررسیش کن.
in shomâre dorost nist; dobâre barrasi-sh kon.
This number isn’t correct; check it again. (informal-neutral)
4. Building a half-colloquial bureaucratic hybrid
⚠️ این درخواست مناسبه و متعاقبا مورد بررسی قرار خواهد گرفت.
in darkhâst monâseb-e va mota'âqeban mowred-e barrasi qarâr khâhad gereft.
This request is suitable and will subsequently be reviewed. Grammatical, but colloquial مناسبه clashes with bureaucratic متعاقبا... قرار خواهد گرفت without a motivated style shift.
✅ این درخواست مناسبه؛ فردا بررسیش میکنیم.
in darkhâst monâseb-e; fardâ barrasi-sh mi-konim.
This request looks suitable; we’ll review it tomorrow. (informal workplace speech)
Key Takeaways
- After a consonant, colloquial third-singular است surfaces as unstressed ـه.
- After final e/â, ـست is usual; after final i, use glide-bearing ـیه. After u, established ـست coexists with conversational variation.
- Negative نیست remains a separate form; do not derive it from positive ـه.
- A weak or attached copula still completes a finite predicate.
- Use these forms inside a coherent Tehran conversational system, not formal prose.
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Start learning Farsi →Related Topics
- Tehran Colloquial System OverviewB1 — See how everyday Tehran Persian coordinates sound patterns, pronouns, noun morphology, clitics, verb stems, endings, and copulas.
- From Standard to Tehran Speech: A Safe On-RampA2 — Convert standard Iranian Persian into coherent everyday Tehran speech in a staged, reversible order.
- Register-Pure SentencesA2 — Keep Persian morphology, vocabulary, pronouns, copulas, and object marking aligned within one speaking or writing voice.
- 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.
- Connected Speech: Cliticization and Boundary LossC1 — How the copula, object marker, conjunction, and pronominal clitics lean on neighboring words while their grammatical boundaries remain recoverable.