پوشیدن pushidan: to Wear | Farsi Grammar

پوشیدن pushidan covers both “put on” and “wear” with clothes and footwear. Its past stem is پوشیدـ pushid- and its present stem is پوشـ push-: پوشیدم “I put on/wore,” می‌پوشم “I put on/wear,” and بپوش “put on/wear!”

English separates the change “put on” from the resulting state “wear.” Persian often lets tense, aspect, and context do that work. دارم کت می‌پوشم describes the action of putting a coat on now; کت پوشیده‌ام presents the resulting state “I am wearing a coat.” The causative پوشاندن pushândan is a different verb meaning “dress someone” or “cover something.”

Principal parts and core paradigm

Item	Persian	Reading	Use
infinitive	پوشیدن	pushidan	to put on, wear
past stem	پوشیدـ	pushid-	پوشیدم، می‌پوشیدم
present stem	پوشـ	push-	می‌پوشم، بپوشم
past participle	پوشیده	pushide	perfect and result state
imperative	بپوش؛ بپوشید	be-push; be-pushid	put on, wear
negative imperative	نپوش؛ نپوشید	na-push; na-pushid	do not put on/wear

Person	Present indicative	Simple past	Present perfect	Present subjunctive
I	می‌پوشم	پوشیدم	پوشیده‌ام	بپوشم
you (sg.)	می‌پوشی	پوشیدی	پوشیده‌ای	بپوشی
he/she/it	می‌پوشد	پوشید	پوشیده است	بپوشد
we	می‌پوشیم	پوشیدیم	پوشیده‌ایم	بپوشیم
you (pl./polite)	می‌پوشید	پوشیدید	پوشیده‌اید	بپوشید
they	می‌پوشند	پوشیدند	پوشیده‌اند	بپوشند

Negatives are نمی‌پوشم، نپوشیدم، نپوشیده‌ام، نپوشم. Singular command بپوش uses the present stem, while negative نپوش replaces affirmative بـ with نـ.

برای پیاده‌روی طولانی همیشه کفش راحت می‌پوشم.

barâ-ye piyâde-ravi-ye tulâni hamishe kafsh-e râhat mi-pusham.

I always wear comfortable shoes for a long walk. (neutral standard; habitual wearing)

صبح کت بارانی‌ام را پوشیدم، چون هوا ابری بود.

sobh kot-e bârâni-am râ pushidam, chun havâ abri bud.

I put on my raincoat in the morning because it was cloudy. (neutral standard; completed change)

هوا سرد می‌شود؛ این ژاکت را بپوش.

havâ sard mi-shavad; in zhâket râ be-push.

It is getting cold; put this jacket on. (neutral singular command)

Garment as object

پوشیدن is transitive: the wearer is the subject and the garment or footwear is the object. A specific garment normally takes را. Bare لباس گرم می‌پوشم describes a type of clothing or a habit; آن لباس گرم را می‌پوشم selects an identified item.

برای مراسم امشب همان لباس سرمه‌ای را می‌پوشم.

barâ-ye marâsem-e emshab hamân lebâs-e sorme-i râ mi-pusham.

I’m wearing that same navy outfit for tonight’s event. (neutral standard; planned choice)

پزشک گفت تا خوب شدن زخم کفش تنگ نپوشم.

pezeshk goft tâ khub shodan-e zakhm kafsh-e tang na-pusham.

The doctor told me not to wear tight shoes until the wound heals. (neutral; negative subjunctive)

Common combinations are transparent but conventional: لباس پوشیدن، کفش پوشیدن، جوراب پوشیدن، لباس رسمی پوشیدن. جامه پوشیدن is literary or deliberately elevated. سیاه پوشیدن “wear black” is current, especially for mourning, but still refers to clothing rather than an abstract color change.

Putting on versus being dressed

Present می‌پوشم can express a habit, a planned future choice, or an act in progress when supported by داشتن. The perfect پوشیده‌ام commonly describes the resulting current state. Static به تن داشتن makes the state explicit and is useful in descriptions.

یک لحظه صبر کن؛ دارم کفش‌هایم را می‌پوشم.

yek lahze sabr kon; dâram kafsh-hâ-yam râ mi-pusham.

Wait a moment; I’m putting my shoes on. (neutral spoken standard; ongoing change)

امروز پیراهن سفید و شلوار مشکی پوشیده‌ام.

emruz pirâhan-e sefid-o shalvâr-e meshki pushide-am.

Today I’m wearing a white shirt and black trousers. (neutral spoken standard; present result)

مردی که کنار در ایستاده کت خاکستری به تن دارد.

mardi ke kenâr-e dar istâde kot-e khâkestari be tan dârad.

The man standing by the door is wearing a gray jacket. (neutral descriptive standard; static state)

💡

Use دارم ... می‌پوشم for the process of getting dressed and ... پوشیده‌ام/به تن دارم for the resulting state. English “am wearing” normally describes the second, not the first.

Accessories choose other verbs

Persian does not extend پوشیدن freely to every object placed on the body. The ordinary expressions are عینک زدن “wear/put on glasses,” کلاه سر گذاشتن “put on a hat,” and ساعت بستن “wear a watch.” Shoes and socks, however, do take پوشیدن. These collocations must be learned; there is no single semantic rule that predicts every accessory.

برای خواندن نوشته‌های ریز باید عینک بزنم.

barâ-ye khândan-e neveshte-hâ-ye riz bâyad eynak be-zanam.

I have to put on my glasses to read the small print. (neutral standard; عینک زدن)

Causative پوشاندن

پوشاندن pushândan has past stem پوشاندـ and present stem پوشانـ. It can mean “dress someone” with the garment as direct object and wearer introduced by به, or “cover/conceal something” with the covered entity as direct object. It is causative in meaning, not a tense of پوشیدن.

Another current dressing pattern marks the person with را and leaves a nonspecific garment bare: مادر کودک را لباس گرم پوشاند. The verb is still causative پوشاندن, never simple پوشیدن.

This lexical causative belongs to the broader pattern explained in causatives with ـاندن, but learners should memorize پوشیدن → پوشاندن as a high-frequency pair.

مادر به کودک لباس گرم پوشاند و بعد او را بیرون برد.

mâdar be kudak lebâs-e garm pushând-o ba'd u râ birun bord.

The mother dressed the child in warm clothes and then took him outside. (neutral standard; causative dressing)

پرستار بیمار را با پتوی نازکی پوشاند.

parastâr bimâr râ bâ patu-ye nâzoki pushând.

The nurse covered the patient with a thin blanket. (neutral standard; covering)

Reflexive خود را پوشاندن means “cover oneself,” while ordinary “get dressed” is simply لباس پوشیدن. Persian does not require a reflexive pronoun merely because the wearer acts on their own body.

💡

Keep the argument frames separate: کودک لباس پوشید “the child got dressed,” but مادر به کودک لباس پوشاند “the mother dressed the child.”

Tehran speech

Everyday Tehran reduces endings but keeps stem پوشـ: می‌پوشه، می‌پوشین، می‌پوشن (informal, regional: Tehran). Past پوشیدم remains transparent; third plural پوشیدند becomes پوشیدن. Informal dialogue also uses object رو.

اون کفشای نو رو نپوش؛ هنوز هوا بارونیه.

un kafsh-â-ye now ro na-push; hanuz havâ bâruni-ye.

Don’t wear those new shoes; it’s still rainy. (informal, regional: Tehran)

Common Mistakes

1. Building the present from پوشید

❌ او زمستان‌ها کت بلند می‌پوشیدد.

Incorrect — present ‘wears’ uses پوش plus third-singular ـد.

✅ او زمستان‌ها برای رفتن به محل کار کت بلند می‌پوشد.

u zemestân-hâ barâ-ye raftan be mahall-e kâr kot-e boland mi-pushad.

In winter she wears a long coat to work.

2. Using the progressive for a continuing worn state

❌ من از صبح دارم همین پیراهن را می‌پوشم.

Incorrect for ‘I have been wearing this shirt since morning’ — this progressive describes the act of putting it on.

✅ من از صبح همین پیراهن آبی را پوشیده‌ام.

man az sobh hamin pirâhan-e âbi râ pushide-am.

I have been wearing this same blue shirt since morning.

3. Extending پوشیدن to glasses

❌ برای رانندگی شب عینک می‌پوشم.

Incorrect — ordinary Iranian Persian uses عینک زدن, not عینک پوشیدن.

✅ برای رانندگی در شب عینک مخصوص می‌زنم.

barâ-ye rânandegi dar shab eynak-e makhsus mi-zanam.

I wear special glasses for driving at night.

4. Conjugating پوشیدن when another person causes the dressing

❌ مادر کودک را لباس گرم پوشید.

Incorrect — causing someone else to wear something requires پوشاندن.

✅ مادر پیش از بیرون رفتن کودک را لباس گرم پوشاند.

mâdar pish az birun raftan kudak râ lebâs-e garm pushând.

Before going out, the mother dressed the child in warm clothes.

Key Takeaways

Memorize پوشیدن — پوشید — پوش — پوشیده, with بپوش and نپوش.
The same verb can profile putting clothes on or wearing them; aspect and context distinguish the readings.
Use عینک زدن، کلاه سر گذاشتن، ساعت بستن for common non-clothing accessories.
Causative پوشاندن means “dress” or “cover” and has its own participant frame.
Tehran می‌پوشه/می‌پوشن belongs to colloquial speech; standard writing keeps full endings.

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